Yeh, We do this too. Try to have our favorite and most eaten products as heirloom seeds - just in case.
What I learned this year about heirlooms.
My heirloom BUSH green beans were no longer viable after two years in storage. It may have just been that particular package - but it has made me cautious.
Heirloom tomatoes seeds I had sitting around for two years came up nicely. I’ve never grown tomatoes from seed before, just always purchased heirloom plants from the nursery, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
I should have started them earlier - by about three weeks. And they seem to grow a bit slower than the non-heirloom plants my husband brought. They come back nicely after deer attacks- but slowly. I am hoping the tomatoes have time to ripen. I also planted some six or seven year old seed for grape tomatoes, and I figured they weren’t viable, but after six weeks they sprouted. I don’t think the fruit will have time to do much though, but it has been a good lesson to me.
Heirloom cucumber seed (straight eight) seems to do fairly well even after three years in storage, beets not so much. Pole blue lake beans seem to hold up better after storage than the bush variety, but I’d say had about a 60% viability after two years stored.
I scooped up a good bunch of heirloom seed packs at the Agway this summer on sale. They were out of most beans, which bummed me out. I wanted to try beans next year.
I planted a couple of zucs in early summer - after most of my garden had been consumed by varmints and horrid weather - and I am happy to say that I have two lovely zucchinis just about ready to be picked. I really don’t care for zucs, but I knew they are vigorous growers, have a short season, and I wanted to harvest SOMETHING this year LOL. Husband makes amazing zucchini bread, so that’s the bonus. While I know that I should have expected more than two fruits, after the horrid season I have had I am content with those. Hell, I feel like having them bronzed.