How to read seed packets for planting your garden

Front of seed packet

Saturday, November 22, 2025

Seed packets are a wealth of information on the plant and its ideal growing conditions.  All give you the plant common and botanical name, many show you when to plant in your zone, when to plant in relationship to your frost date, how far apart to plant, what type of soil it grows well in, amount of sunlight needed for optimal growth, how many days from sowing until the plant is harvestable, and a detailed description of the highlights of the plant itself.  I love reading plant descriptions, looking for varieties that are "compact" and "prolific" for my small garden or "winter hardy" for winter gardening, or "heat tolerant" for summer gardening.  They give a wealth of information to decide what new variety or crop to try next.

On the front of the seed packet, you typically get the common name, the botanical name and a picture or drawing of the plant.  Some seed companies will also put a clay pot symbol on the front to indicate that the plant does well in a container (see pic of Burpee's seed packets below).  Many will also indicate if the plant is an annual or perennial (comes back every year).  Most also give a very short description of the plant.  They will also say if they are "organic" or "hybrid".  Some will also state if the plant is "open pollinated" or "heirloom".  

99% of what I grow is open pollinated or heirloom.  All heirlooms are open pollinated varieties that have been around for generations.  Open pollinated varieties come back "true" to their parents.  Hybrids won't necessarily come back the same as their parents.  I like saving seed from the plants that do well to plant again next year.    

What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?

Back of seed packet

On the back side of the seed packet there is a wealth of growing information.  You typically get when to plant the seed in relation to your frost date for both starting indoors and outdoors, germination time (how long does it take from when you plant the seed until it sprouts), how deep to plant the seed, any special treatment of the seed prior to planting, how far apart to space the seed, when/how to thin the emerging seedlings and days to harvest if it is an edible plant.  There is a longer description of the most desirable traits of the plant and which season it thrives in.  If a flower seed, it will give timing of flowering and height of the plant.   There will also be a date that the seed was packed for and a "sell by" date.  Unless you store in the refrigerator, germination rates dramatically decline after the first year and this varies by plant seed type.  I keep my seeds in the refrigerator in ziplock bags to keep them viable.  I have seeds that are over 10 years old and still have great germination rates.

Burpee's seed packet front even has the pot symbol for those that do well in  containers

Key attributes I am looking for to improve the productivity in my garden, I look for on the descriptors on the back.  Examples-if I want to maximize the harvest I get from a pepper plant, I will look for words like "prolific", "produces until frost", "continuous harvest".  If I am having a disease problem in my humid summer garden, I will look for words of "disease resistant", "powdery mildew resistant", "blight resistant" or whatever disease issue I am having.  For the best summer producers, look for terms like heat tolerant, thrives in hot temperatures, drought tolerant.  For the best cold season crops, look for terms like "winter hardy", "frost tolerant", etc.  If you want to harvest tomatoes all at once, look for the description "determinant".

With the crazy heat waves we are having now, I look for tomato varieties that do well in extreme heat.  Typical tomato plants produce sterile flowers at when temperatures are averaging 85F.  I'm going to buy a couple of new to me varieties that thrive in heat.  

For even more information about a particular variety, check on the seed company's web site or seed catalog.  When I first started gardening, I poured over Territorial Seed catalog.  Their catalogs have a detailed planting and growing guide for each family of vegetable seeds they offer.  Even now if a crop isn't doing the best, I will go back and look at all the great growing information that they have for every crop they sell seeds for.

I do look for varieties that have disease or pest resistance that I have experienced in my garden.  Squash bugs are a big problem in our area so I look for varieties that say they are squash bug resistant to try in my garden.  For example, I used to grow regular zucchini but they would also get ate up and diseased from squash bugs.  Now, I grow Trombetta squash that is not as attractive to squash bugs nor succumbs to disease.  

If you are growing flowers, what may be a strength for a vegetable can be a liability for a flower.  "Prolific" means it produces a lot which you typically want in a vegetable but in a flower that can be synonymous with "invasive".  A flowers that "self sows" means it produces many seeds that turn into more plants which can end up being invasive in your flower bed.  Think through what the descriptions mean for your bed and if it is a positive attribute or something you don't want to get started in your garden.

I use Johnny's Seeds web site for for their seed starting date calculator to plan out when to start my seeds indoors.  You plug in your last frost date and it spits out the dates for you on when to plant your seeds.  Baker Heirloom Seed puts out an enormous annual catalog that dives into the history and growing of different crops that I look forward to getting and reading every year.  They have a huge selection of all kinds of unusual varieties.  I try new varieties every year, along with the standbys that grow exceptionally well in my garden and garden conditions.