I often look back at the seed packages after the initial sowing and I always have a big mess in a shoe box which usually takes a long time to find the original seed package for additional growing info. Picked this up today & plan to keep it handy in the greenhouse. Bought 3. Veggies & Tomatoes, Wintersowing and Indoor/Greenhouse seed starting. I should be able to find the package a little easier.
right now I have them in the gallon zipper bags separated by sowing date.... but would love to go even further with that... I thought about it a few times and came up empty ... not much help sorry
Thanks for the idea...I picked up two the other day and now have my unplanted seeds stored in one, and the seed packets of the sowed seeds stored in the other one.
Quick and easy to find things now.
I have containers very similar to the ones in your pic. I have the alphabet separators too. This year I did it with out using them and used zip lock sandwich baggies with a label for the starting time. (8 weeks or 6 weeks, direct sow, etc.) Then separated them into the correct bags. I also have bags that say try to use - for stuff I already grew but wouldn't mind more of. And saved for back-up,etc. Then I have a whole container with stuff I can trade in it. I have 4 containers altogether. :)
This message was edited Mar 21, 2009 10:36 AM
You mean people organize their seed packets? I had NO idea! LOL
Lol! Mine are organized with the vegetable seeds in the vegetable drawer of my refrigerator, does that count?
OK, this is going to sound a little nutty. I have mine in alphabetical order in a container with a lid, which I keep in a mini-fridge (40 degrees) in the basement. The up side is that, kept like this, I am able to get as much as 100% germination from ten year old seed. I put collected seeds in one-zip bags in the same fridge.
Donna
Wow! Mine are all tossed in a box on top of my bookshelf, loosely sorted into "edible" and "inedible" (more or less--there is some overlap, I guess, like the ornamental peppers).
At least at the end of the season I did sort out the seed packets that were completely empty and rubberband them together. Does that count? (wink)
Yeah, I guess I do sound a little nutty.
Donna
typo
This message was edited Mar 23, 2009 4:17 PM
I wish I had one of those mini fridges. I keep mine in the fridge too - they take up my entire bottom drawer. I have a tall side by side so there are still two drawers for food. Didn't want any one to think I am that addicted to seeds that I can't fit my food in there! lol I haven't had any problems germinating old seed either. :)
Oh dear! My husband got tired of my taking space in the regular fridge so he BOUGHT me a minifridge. I do let him put beer in it!
Donna
"edible and inedible" LOL!
I used to have two fridegs but the spare was full size -too expensive to run for just seeds. I need to get a mini fridge too. That is perfect! : )
I always liked throwing them in a bag and digging through it when I'm ready to start my seeds indoors. Gives me something to do when there's a foot of snow on the ground, not quite as much fun when I'm trying to sow my beds outside and can't find what I want. I think I'll take Bookerc1's idea and sort "inside" and "outside"
I've read of someone who had a baseball card binder with the pocket pages for their seeds. Mine are in bags in a straw storage box, and on the table next to me, and on the floor by the table, and some in my purse and.....
LOL I knew this would turn into a true confessions thread! I do like the baseball card binder idea--I think I'd heard that once before, but blocked out the mere suggestion that I should be organized!
Off to sow some tomatoes tonight, I hope. Realistically, it will probably be Friday, but I can hope I'll have time tonight, can't I?
Booker
Ever find that missing pack of seeds 3 months later when it's too late to sow....
I'm looking for one right now. I KNOW it came with the order, and I don't have it listed as planted. It's probably down in the couch cushions. I bought a pile a alyssum at the end of summer last year, no where to be found this spring. Bought more, luckily still cheap, found the earlier ones. I'm going to have lots of alyssum.
OK, this is really really bad. I started a document in 2004 that listed every seed packet I have and from whom I bought it, along with performance notes. I copy it down the sheet each year (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and in the winter do inventory and make changes to the current year's sheet. When spring arrives I know what is low supply, I know that I bought the same seed from Company A and Company B and that company A's had great germination and Company B's didn't. I bold any seed that is in low supply so that I can order it. I note duds.
So basically every seed packet I own is noted on a piece of paper that I can print out. This is the kind of twisted project you do in the middle of winter when you're dying to garden but can't.
This feels like true confessions.
Donna
I'm impressed, I don't do that good with my finances!
My true confessions
My actual seed packets are a mess, but.....I also have extensive notes on my plants. I keep track of everything I've sown indoors, how it did, etc. as well as everthing I've planted outside. I have a LOT of houseplants, I have specific notes on each variety,how long I've had them. Notes on shade in my yard, things I want to remember for next year, and on-and-on. Summertime-everything's scribbled but by winter- it's on the computer in charts when I have nothing else to do but think about gardening. DonnaMack-think I joined the 'twisted' club!
XMelissaX,
Thank you. I feel better. It's better to have company when you're twisted.
Donna
Wow, now I feel better, too! I keep an extensive database on my seeds, how I started them, when they germinated, where I planted them, etc. etc. etc. So my seed box may be a chaotic jumble, but at least I know which ones grew well! LOL
That's why I love DG--you guys make me feel normal!
Booker
Well, Bookerc1-to think I felt bad when I left your side and joined the club.....lol
It used to be a state law here in SC that if you drank liquor while you were out, you had to take your own brown bags. I still take brown bags, but now I just use them to collect seeds................
hahaha, too funny
I saw in a book about green living, I think, that Mini-Fridges were very inefficient and some actually use more energy than the larger ones. Wish I could remember where exactly I saw that....After school is out I will ahve more time to get things done. Kathy
A-ha! I just found a bunch of missing perennial sweet peas! They were still on the paper plate, drying in the window, behind a bunch of potted plants. No wonder I couldn't find them anywhere in my seed box.
Speaking of organizing the seed box, DH dumped mine off the top of a bookcase last week, when he was looking for lightbulbs. Talk about a mess! I need to find time to sort it back into vegetable and ornamental at some point. Maybe I'll even get inspired and pick up some filing boxes. . .
I started my broccoli, cukes, and melons today in poop pots in my cold frame. First time I've tried doing it this way, so I hope it is successful. The way my cukes took off last year, I think I'd better get the garden tilled soon. I'm craving spinach, lettuce, and fresh peas, anyway, so it's about time. Truly hoping we're done with the freezes for the year, but you just never know.
Booker
Oh! Must be time to start the lettuce!
Donna
I have an old coffee tin with the ones I plan to use in the order they will be planted. As I finish planting them, I put them at the back. When I get radishes back to the front, I am done for the year. A second coffee tin has extra packets and "hopefuls", in no particular order. A series of cream cheese containers have saved seed. Each type is in a labeled coin envelope (e.g. Garden Peach 2007), and the container is labeled by year.
While this sounds OK in theory, there are things I plant twice a season, and things, like lettuce, which I plant every few weeks. I really need a better system. Those file boxes look good.
I recently had to "dump" all of mine into a 3 drawer chest. ( don't ask why) Now I have no choice but to get them organized. It is the only way I will ever know what I have. LOL
