Keeping organised with seeds

[Chuckles]

I'm getting quite a collection of seeds these days and it drives me mad when I sit and go through them wondering what I can sow at a certain time/month and then a few days/weeks later I do the same thing again

Well an idea just popped into my head it hurt too ;D

I'm going to keep them in some sort of container that is sectioned off by month, like a box with dividers, a shoe box might be thing with some card dividers with tabs that stick up showing the month. You know the sort of thing, may brain can't think of the words

A seed box sorted by month probably sums it up.

How do you organise yours ? got any other ideas ;D

[Rosefriend]

Hi Chuckles, I must admit that I have an old large ice cream tub and all my seed packets get thrown in there.No order or anything - most unlike me.

I remember Fozzie saying something about having a Shoe box with a monthly register in and then the seeds in the respective months when they ought to be sown - well I think that was what it was anyway.

Must admit that I ought to find a better system than the one I have already.

RF

[Plocket]

I keep mine in a box, sectioned by month!!! ;D

The trouble is that I don't look in it before I go to the GC and end up buying more seeds, forgetting what I've already got

[Tig]

You will probably think I am ott, but I keep a spreadsheet with all the relevant information on, including the year the seeds should be sown by!
The seeds are then kept alphabetically in boxes, 1 for flowers, 1 for veg, and a tin for peas and beans - am I sad?

[Deleted]

tigridia said:

You will probably think I am ott, but I keep a spreadsheet with all the relevant information on, including the year the seeds should be sown by!
The seeds are then kept alphabetically in boxes, 1 for flowers, 1 for veg, and a tin for peas and beans - am I sad?

I think it is terminal!

I have a "friend" <yesIknowitisquitehardtobelievesmiley> who keeps spreadsheets on veggies and ornamentals. Noting everything you said plus date of sowing, observations etc. Also giving a graded system on the seed merchant (quantity of seeds, germination results, flavour etc).

He keeps his seeds in some plastic clampdown boxes separating by month to be sown, perennial, annual, hardy veg and non-hardy veg, then sorted into the individual veg families.

That I am sure you will agree is quite sad

Me? I rely on my imaginary friend memory to help me sow. Honest guv! ;D

[Chuckles]

Mine are in a similar sort of state system to yours RF ;D

Well Plocket you know what they say "Great minds think alike " ;D I think I may need to go buy a new pair of shoes so I have a box

Not OTT at all Tig (hope short name OK) at least you know at a glance what you have etc. I kept a spreadsheet this year of what I'd sown and when, when it germinated etc etc etc. May not be so detailed with it next year though, it was a good learning curve for me.

[Chuckles]

CPC you are a beast

[Deleted]

Seeds? What are they? Don't plants come fully formed from the garden centre?

[Deleted]

To be fair to me Tiggy and Chuckles.....whilst I do do all this.......I do have hundreds of seed packets. I get the spreadsheets spot on by February (I also copy various web descriptions of the plant into the spreadsheet). Then sort out the seeds. Then I do nothing until the Autumn as I'm too busy when I really do go off memory.

Normally this is a really pleasant past time, but I fear this Autumn might be a bit depressing!

[jean]

CPC I'm so impressed, all my best laid plans in the New Year don't even last as long as Feb lol. I really must get more organised with keeping a record of what variety I have sown. Maybe keeping the packet with a note attached might be the best way forward for me in the short term as I seem to be getting too many "CRAFT" moments these days

[Tig]

I don't feel half as annually retentive now!
I am a bit of a newbie with my veg growing, so please forgive my early enthusiasm, I'm sure it will wear off in a couple of seasons.

[Deleted]

Annually retentive? That's a cracking <Help!Ican'tremember theposhterm.It'sabitlikeaSpoonerismlet'scallitaHildaOgdenisnsmiley>

[Plocket]

Oooooo new shoes - why didn't I think of that???

"OH hunnie - I need a new box to store my seeds in - somehow this one's been stamped on got broken" ;D ;D ;D

[bagpuss]

I should organise my seeds a bit better really, and the box idea sounds great. At the moment, I keep mine in the fridge (maybe I could make some dividers to go in one of the salad drawers!!!?)

[Cheerypeabrain]

I just pop the opened packets in little brown money envelopes (Wilkinson's), label them and keep them all in an airtight tin in the bottom of the fridge.
I also keep a gardening journal, noting down seed % germination (roughly), and how the plants 'perform' (and whether I like them) if I decide I don't want to grow stuff again, for whatever reason, I give that seed away...otherwise there wouldn't be any room in the fridge for food.....

[Chuckles]

Found a shoe box and no I haven't been and bought a new pair to get it ;D Just need some dividers now. Mmmmm what can I recycle ;D

[isabella]

Reading all the above makes me feel a bit unorganized
My seeds are kept in a carrier bag I sort the pkts into flowers,veg and others and these are kept in freezer bags in the carrier bag
When I have sown the seeds I put the pkts into a plastic box and keep them until the following year so that I can remember what I sowed.

What is a spreadsheet?

[jean]

Don't worry about it Isobella, you are in good company I haven't time to sow my seeds on time let alone organise spreadsheets. Perhaps someone would be kind enough to set up a template that we could all use - any takers (and keep it relatively simple please)

[rosagalicia]

I have two airtight boxes which I store my seeds in. I have one for seeds I buy from UK, (Chiltern and Plant World) and one that I keep the free seeds from Amateur Gardening in (I have a subscription and - No, you don´t get them here but my daughter in UK is the recipient of the subscription and she sends the magazine and the seeds to me). I also store the seeds I collect from the garden in there. I wrap them in a piece of kitchen roll, fastened and labelled with masking tape, easier to get than paper bags! I tend to store them alphabetically by type, eg, grasses, herbs, vegetables etc, so I can find them again easily Well, thats the theory anyway). I don´t have room in the fridge for them so I store them in a cool dark place and hope for the best.

[Tig]

Well it's taken me a while to work out how to make this available - so I hope it works (I'm sure you will let me know if the link goes nowhere)

The spreadsheet I use - very simple - left my entries in as an example - just over type them, or clear all the contents below the headings. You need MS Excel software to open and use the spreadsheet, sorry but it won't work without it!


www.snapdrive.net/files/477981/Seedlisttemplate.xls

[Chuckles]

It worked Tig and looks good. Thanks for sharing it I might just use that for my seeds

There is a section in How To called Sharing Word and Excel Docs

[Tig]

Putstuff.com was out of action when I tried to use it Chuckles, and according to the 'conditions' they remove any docs that haven't been downloaded in the last 30 days! The site I opted for didn't specify any download frequency, so I hope it may stay there for anyone who could find it useful. I could have built in automatic look-up tables, but thought that might be too complicated for some?
Tig

[Shrubrose]

Hi tig, I've done something similar too, only I keep forgetting to update it

[Tig]

My spreadsheet gets a complete upgrade and lots of attention through the winter months ;D, and I am quite good at updating my records once I start sowing , once it starts growing though I am not so good as I am too busy in the garden/tending the veggies if the sun shines

[Deleted]

Hi all,

The other day OH was cursing when he opened a kitchen drawer to find a jumbled mess of seed packets - and came up with quite a good solution. Rummaging in the attic, found an old floppy disk box, with dividers that you can write on ... now have them all sorted according to when to sow, and within that alphabetically ... has definitely made life much easier (and cleaned out the kitchen drawer ;D) ... cheers ...

[Chuckles]

Nice find CC and a brilliant container for the job ;D

I've got as far as putting all my seeds together in one of those small plastic mesh baskets so far (Wilkos). Have got a nice large shoe box, OH size 11 it's hinged on one side and now waiting for me to make/find something to use as dividers.

[Rosefriend]

I've got two boxes and I am also waiting for someone to give me an idea as to what I can use for dividers.

I even got two new pairs of shoes out of it all but as I only have size 37 I have ended up having to use two boxes.

RF

[Chuckles]

RF shame on you buying 2 new pairs of shoes ;D (jealousashellsmilie)

Guess you could use one for veggies and the other or flowers though.

I'd thought of using cereal boxes for dividers, you could probably get at least 4 from a box. I keep forgetting to save mine though, I've got into the habit of putting them in the compost bin

BTW I found an old thread where Foz had suggested using a shoe box to keep seeds in

[carolann]

I use the boxes that my cat sachets come in, just cut one side down a little. I have 1 for opened packets and 1 for seeds collected they are just the right size for me and they just fit on the work bench in the GH.
Carol.

[Rosefriend]

I finally sorted my seeds out - can't say that I am so happy with the result but I can find things at least although I think I preferred my ice cream tub and a little basket that I used before.

The seeds that I have saved from the garden are drying in greaseproof paper bags, then my seed box and then a box full of card and labels. How awful to be so efficient.



RF