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alwaysagarden

How do you organize your seeds?!

alwaysagarden
15 years ago

Hi all,

After a few month of seed trades and Round Robin Seed Swaps I need to get some ideas on how to organize all these seeds! I have a small box and keep them in assorted labeled envelopes but still have to shuffle through all the packets in each envelope. Anyone have better ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Cindy : )

Comments (9)

  • love2gardennc
    15 years ago

    Hi Cindy,
    That happens to most all of us and this very question has been asked over the years. I did a search using your words 'How do you organize your seeds ' and this is what came up.
    Look them over but we will see new responses to your question here as well.

    Here is a link that might be useful: How do you organize your seeds

  • token28001
    15 years ago

    By letter. Either common name or scientific, whichever I am most familiar with. Flowers, veggies, herbs, shrubs, it's all in one box. Come spring, the box will be empty waiting for the next batch of seeds.

  • dorisl
    15 years ago

    My idea is to keep the seeds on my trade list in one box and the rest of them.....in another box....or two....not everything is to be traded some actually are going to get planted! My project for the week is going to be splitting the annuals from the perennials.

    :)

  • terrene
    15 years ago

    My seeds are stored in one of the refrigerator drawers. They are in zipper baggies labeled "Perennials", "Annuals", "Herbs", "Veggies", "Vines", with some extra baggies for seeds that I have a lot of, like "Asclepias". Within the baggies, they are organized alphabetically by botanical name. I throw the dessicants from vitamin bottles, etc. in the baggies and in the drawer. The drawer has a little lever for humidity, which I set on the lowest setting.

    This seems to work really well to maintain the seed viability, because last year I sowed some fairly old seeds with success. Had great germination on Parsley, Basil, Chile peppers, one type of Zinnia, and a few others that were packed for 1998 or earlier.

  • alwaysagarden
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Andrea, I am impressed! Wow, you really keep your ducks in a tight row. I've always been one to keep things very organized but the past few years I've let some things get a little messier than I like. Winter seems to be the best time to tackle these unorganized piles since I'm indoors so much more.
    Terrene, I do keep my seeds in a dark,cool,dry place. Wish my fridge had a drawer with a humidity setting on it! I can't imagine getting 10 year old Zinnia seed to germinate!
    Thanks everyone for the ideas, this is really helpful.

    Cindy : )

  • ruths_footsteps
    13 years ago

    I've just organized my seeds using a soft sided zippered CD case. I love it. I can sit down with a catalog and my binder at the table with a cuppa and shop!

    I also downloaded packets to print so that I could save my seeds.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Binder: Garden Organization Project

  • Red Willow
    6 years ago

    I use display-type binder pages for trading/collectible cards, thick plastic. It all fits in 1 binder for me, but you could have many by type or alphabetically or season or whatever.

    I put my seeds in good envelopes or small* plastic baggies if they're definitely dry. 1-4 pouches fit each card slot.

    I designated each page (or few pages) as the year of expiration/average viability, so as to enable efficient usage of seeds. When years end and pages get empty I move it to the back of the book.

    Within each page/s can be organized by season (by rows, like I do), or alphabetically or by type of plant, as to your comfort. I definitely recommend card binders be organized by viability expiration at least.

    Works like a charm!

  • Wood Sprite Gardens
    6 years ago

    I use seed bead jars in cases, 30 small jars per case, or 12 large jars for beans, etc per case, varieties alphabetized. The jars are clear, so the contents can be seen. The small jars can hold hundreds of seeds, the large jars, maybe 30 bean seeds.

    The cases double as a seed bank, are easily stacked, and don't take up much room, for hundreds of varieties, and thousands of seeds.

    It's easy to add a new variety alphabetically, simple by moving jars to open up a slot for the new variety.

    I use color coded dot labels to designate full jars, jars/varieties chosen for grow out, and the general rest of the varieties.

    I code the cases, to make it easy to find varieties. T1-3 means tomato case #1 3rd jar. T5-29 means tomato case #5 29th jar. I do the same with vegetables, herbs and eventually fruit, flowers & grains. V6-7 is vegetable case #6 7th jar.

    I write a list of all my seeds, and their case codes, so I can find any seed variety easily.


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