How do you organize your seeds?

[ottawagardener]

Pictures of tonnes of seeds makes me feel less like a freak as do the descriptions of needing to sort them. I sort mine in containers according to sowing needs (fall, direct sow in spring, direct sow in summer, big head start, small head start, under lights, outside, stratify etc...) and then in baggies by type (brassica edible green annual/biennial, aster family edible green, etc...)

I have taken to writing up a table for my seeds to which includes what I did with them - ie, sown, trade and any important growing characteristics such as 'small population, prone to disease, very vigorous, old seed.'

I need to improve how I order them though because even with this, I have to look in the appropriate box to find them which can take time with large seed requests. I like sorting by sowing type because theoretically, unless I miss filed, they are all where they need to be when I start to sow.

[mnjrutherford]

Feb 23, 2011 5:57:30 GMT -5 flowerpower said:

I also divide them by type- Lettuce/Greens, Peas, Winter Squash, Tomatoes. I have the maters sub-divided by color. It's the easiest way for me.

Lynn, you need to be flubbergated for being TOO good at this!

[mnjrutherford]

Feb 23, 2011 8:29:22 GMT -5 ottawagardener said:

Pictures of tonnes of seeds makes me feel less like a freak as do the descriptions of needing to sort them. I sort mine in containers according to sowing needs (fall, direct sow in spring, direct sow in summer, big head start, small head start, under lights, outside, stratify etc...) and then in baggies by type (brassica edible green annual/biennial, aster family edible green, etc...)

I have taken to writing up a table for my seeds to which includes what I did with them - ie, sown, trade and any important growing characteristics such as 'small population, prone to disease, very vigorous, old seed.'

I need to improve how I order them though because even with this, I have to look in the appropriate box to find them which can take time with large seed requests. I like sorting by sowing type because theoretically, unless I miss filed, they are all where they need to be when I start to sow.

flubbergated!

[robertb]

Makes it a lot easier, I agree. I've got peas in one tin, beans in another, and everything else in a third. The third tin has bags for different groups. I'll probably have to rethink again as the collection grows.

[bertiefox]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a chaotic system. I have a very systematic 'approach' and I've even written my own bit of software for a simple seed database with sowing, germination dates and notes etc. BUT when it comes to the things themselves, they are in boxes, tins, envelopes and old paper bags.
My worst 'vice' is that I cannot bear to throw ANY seeds away, so I have packets of things from seven years ago. I make notes like 'check germination in 2011' but never actually get round to it, so the same seeds sit there for the next year, to be duly recorded and then ignored!
I've got tins, unlabelled, full of white beans which could be dwarf, climbing, mangetout or podding types. As I don't know what they are I don't sow them, so keep them for another year... and so it goes on!
One year I should pluck up the courage to refuse to buy ANY new seed and exist for a year just on the old ones I've got.

[seedywen]

Like Bertie I nearly took the pledge NOT to buy ANY new seed this year. It didn't work.

Packets of seeds have been fairly easy to alphabetize and store. I use old computer floppy disc containers and wide but not deep wood boxes and plastic totes. And keep a record book and a computer file but nothing too detailed...most of that info lives somewhere in my head.

However I struggle with the storage of the bulk seed and my system starts looking a lot like Grunt's in this regard. Although over the years, have collected recycled plastic bulk tobacco cans, ice tea jugs etc, ice cream buckets that match so some containers somehow fit into old wire freezer baskets and others are stackagle. Everything ends up on shelves in designated dry, cold storage places, which at times, tend to overflowing.

Where my organizational skills really break down is when I'm out planting small amounts seeds from packages or small baggies and I put them in my jacket or pants pocket.

After planting that bit of cilantro, spinach or whatever, the package gets popped into a pocket until returning to the house.
WHich doesn't always happen

The question often arises...which jacket or which pocket???

Always have to remind myself to check all pockets before doing any laundry. Especially changing outdoor gear all through the gardening season. Sometimes seed gets into a winter jacket pocket before temps warm and then isn't 'found' again until the next spring, when the jacket is put back on.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I always take it as a good omen: When I put on my light spring jacket in order to plant peas, and find a packet of peas already in the pocket from last season. Giggles..... Reminds me of when my brother lost his bicycle. He signed up to work on the ditch crew and found his bike in the exact place he had left it the previous year when working on the ditch.

Wish I would find the bag of Painted Mountain X se+ seed which I misplaced this winter. Fortunately there is enough seed in the backup-archive. I aught to keep more backups.

[ottawagardener]

Love it. Do you store your spring jacket somewhere dry and cool? Guess people don't think ditch bikes are worth stealing

[wildseed57]

My system is pretty erratic, when I first started I had everything labeled and tagged with dates and how many seeds were left, but over time I have let things get mixed up and I now have peas and beans mixed with peppers and eggplants and tomatoes with spinach and carrots. I need to go through every thing before my March seed stating time and my early Pea planting in April. I have seeds that I will be getting pretty soon , I will also have to look at some of my soy beans and decide whether I want to plant them or a high protein Pea variety. While my brother is under the care of our sister I have to keep in mind some of what he is allergic to and soy products is one that gives him problems. I may plant peanuts instead which he is not allergic to.
George W.

[MikeM]

Sorted mainly by family, and then by "sequentially searchable collection" (aka Big Pile Of Chaos.) The piles of old Yoghurt containers at the right are mostly lettuce seed, so sadly most are too old thanks to the drought, awaiting germination testing. The room is really too warm, but there's just nowhere else...

Attachments:

[ottawagardener]

Nice looking assortment there

[mnjrutherford]

When we get our settlement from the fire we will be remodeling to add a porch and a greenroom instead of replacing some of the lost items that are actually irreplaceable.

[louisiane]

I use tin cans, so that even the mice cannot get at them - the tin that we get when buying soda crackers or Lion Club's cakes. One tin can for all the carrots varieties, another for the lettuces, etc for all my vegetables. For my tomatoes, I have a binder in which I placed some plastic sheets formerly intended for pictures and slides. When there are lots of seeds for a particular variety, I use transparent plastic jars such as for mayo or coleslaw.

But really, it all start in a Word document where I have listed everything, the whole content of every tin can. Then, in the list, I select in red the varieties that I will grow in the following season - this is done in the winter time.

When spring comes, I put in a ziploc bag the selected varieties and as time goes by and varieties get to be sown (inside or outside), I put the little envelopes back in the right tin can.

Before, it was a free for all and I was always searching for my seeds in the spring. Now, with this classification, I know where everything is and it is easy to reach for it when I make swaps or participate in an exchange.

[1066]

Feb 24, 2011 7:50:40 GMT -5 bertiefox said:

One year I should pluck up the courage to refuse to buy ANY new seed and exist for a year just on the old ones I've got.

not that would be a REAL challenge.....

[cortona]

if i can put the swapped /recived from friends/excanged seeds ...probably i can do that...but just for a single year ;-)