Start up seed costs?

I just filled my cart with 19 things, herbs and veggies, and it came to $53! Does that seem right? Will I use all the seeds each season? Or do they last awhile?

Purchasing seeds for the first time can be costly. You will probably not use them all this season depending on how much you plant of any one specific item.
Seed saving really pays off and is probably something that you will start doing in the future.
The nice thing about gardening is that if you let one or two plants go to seed then you will not have to purchase it for the next planting season.
My method (as I am frugal/cheap), if I find a specific plant I really like, a specific lettuce for example, I simply let one plant bolt, it flowers and goes to seed. I collect the seed and do not need to purchase it again. I can then buy other types of seed! (this is how I justify buying new seed stock to myself, LOL)
I am sure that there are many people like me that save seed from almost everything I grow. It saves alot of money down the road. Happy Gardening! I am a seed addict and I know it, I probably need help but don't want it.

Happycamper.....The seeds you buy now will last up to 7 years depending on the crop. There are seed viability lists on google to check them out. Just put the unused portions of seed packs in plastic bags, closed tight, and store in the crisper of your refrigerator. You can store them also in lidded jars. I save mine by crop in alpha order in zipped baggies with a desiccant inside (dried milk wrapped in tissue) which keeps the seeds from getting moist.

There are also articles on how to save seeds. Different crops require different distances from other varieties of crops so they don't cross-pollinate. The safest way is to place drawstring isolation bags over the blossoms on those that are insect pollinated. Look up the articles. They make interesting reading. Some need only a few feet where others need 600 feet away and more.

Some gardeners, when saving seeds from the leafy veggies or root crops, plant one or two in a separate bed and let them go to seed to save at the end of the season.

This year I planted mostly last year's seeds and so far viability has been great with everything (in fact the only thing that didn't come up was a tomato plant from a packet packed for this year). I keep my seeds in an airtight plastic container with a dessicant in the refrigerator and only take them out to put new ones in or to plant. I keep a list of what I have in a spreadsheet so I don't have to go looking through the seeds. I spent a lot of money initially on the seeds, but it was well worth it.

I save tons of money at this seed co-op. They have many things that are under a dollar.

Their website is hard to use, but the savings are worth it.
go here:
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/ogs/search.php

and be sure to open a second browser window for your order form.

Thanks for the link!