How do you sort your seeds?

With so many packets, what do you do to keep them all straight?

;)

Looking for how you store them until they're ready for planting. Do you keep them in cans? Boxes? Divide them by categories, divide them alphabetically, by planting date? Divide them by genus? etc....

Violet, the ones in packets, I keep in the cookie tins one gets so many of at Christmas. I sort them by annuals, perennials and tropicals and keep each group in a separate tin. For my loose seeds, I make giant envelopes out of used copier paper and store them in a shoe box. That way when I need to package some up, I just pull out the shoe box and scoop out what I need, put it in an envelope and send it on it's way. Some perennials keep better in the freezer like hardy hibiscus, abutilon, liatris and daylily seeds. I put the packets in a baggie and put it in the freezer.

i sorted my veggie seeds by month to be planted and stored in a plastic betty crocker card cataloge box. my flower seed is just dumped in a box for now but i am getting so many i really need to try to figure a way for these to be stored. i'm thinking about doing it by color or maybe by size? or? lol. you started a good thread.

Hi Violet!
For seeds that I'm going to plant this Spring,
I use a 3-ringed binder
with those plastic trading card sheets for baseball cards
(the ones with little pockets).
Each pocket gets a pkt./envelope of seeds,
and are sorted (by page) with
annuals, perennials, etc.
It makes it easy for me, I can tell
at a glance what I have to start.
For seeds that I'm going to trade,
I do pretty much what Calalily does.
I store my seeds (to trade) in marked paper bags,
and store in a cool, dark cupboard.
If they're a seed that needs cold stratification,
they go in some moistened potting mix, and stay in the frig until Spring, or a trade, whichever comes first! :-)
Then when I need seeds for a trade,
I print up and fill my seed packets and mail them out.
'Hope this helps!
Melissa :-)

I too, sort mine by date to be planted. If I have 12 packets to be planted 10 weeks before last frost, I put them all in one larger envelope marked 12 weeks. All the envelopes go into a tupperware (generic) container in the fridge that also contains kitty litter to keep the moisture out. The dates are marked in my daily planner so I know when to plant them. The extras are in another container in the refrigerator. Cala, how do you know which seeds to refrigerate, which to freeze, and which to keep at room temperature? thanks, vic

I have a peg board on the wall by my desk. On that peg board are 3 bins with 9 slots each. I have my trades in those divided alphabectically. Hanging on pegs are brown envelopes with each kkind listed on it. like annuals, perrenials, herbs , spring garden etc. This way I keep everything in order and out of reach of my cat who loves to plunder.

Boy I really needed to read this thread...b/c all my seeds are in a basket right now, with no way of telling what is what. LOL There is alot of good ideas here!!

I have an expandable file that I keep my seeds in; by name if there are more than 3 varieties, then, by color for the one or 2 packets that I can't quite place. Trades are already in packets in a box ready for mailing.

I have two separate boxes for my seeds-1 for seeds I want for myself, and 1 for extras I plan to trade. Both boxes I sort alphabetically and separate with cardboard dividers. When collecting seeds from my garden, I put them in regular white envelopes labeled with name and date collected, as these are easy to file in my box. I've gotten so many seeds this year that I'm in the process of setting up a chart listing all of my seeds alphabetically with planting directions, so when I pull out my seed packets to plant I'll just need to pull out my list to decide what i want to plant, and all my directions will be in one place! My husband got me a label printer last year and I started making labels for all my seedlings and outdoor plants to keep track of everything. I've found that using plastic knives as plant markers is working really well and seems very economical too !

Since my stock is not much, I'm presently keeping them in labeled little round plastic boxes in a shelf on the wall. Lots of brainy ideas I have got in this thread. I liked the peg-board thing -- it's a space saver as well, I believe.

I found that coin envelopes fit perfectly into Rubbermaid silverware drawer dividers (the modular type, I call them bins) I made plastic tab dividers to identafy seeds, if I have more than on kind per bin. I then put the bins into a Double shoe box size, solid color plastic box w/lid I put some Desiccant Silica gel packs in each box. I have 4 of these main boxes labeled Annuals, Perenials, Veggies, & Misc. I then put all these boxes in a 15 gal. Rubbermaid storage box and put it in the crawl space under my house which is accessable through a trap door in the closet floor of the room where I have my desk (perfect light & tempature conditions for storing seeds) Until I find time to label the coin envelopes I store my seed in baggies w/ a Desiccant silica packet in each, tossed in the big box.