I stopped by to say thank you for the gift, @wizardave, and got caught up in your companion planting and old seeds. Come spring, I think we need to do a small bed of corn (which we call mielies), some squash and beans - all makes sense to me. On the old seed: seems it's only a problem with commercial seed. The Husband planted some onion seeds - commercial - and none came up. Turns out that the entire batch - not just our measly sewing had not come up and that the brand had been removed from the shelf. Now he's started again. Now, to harvested seed: we got some fava (we call them broad) beans from a neighbour because we couldn't find commercial ones. Full germination. Go figure. Or, perhaps it's because they were last season and not older.

Thanks again for the gift - I am still learning my way around this platform and how it works - the community and the technology, so appreciate all the support I can get.