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Melinda Schwab
Do you have a seed collection and hope to plant them really soon? Do you save seeds every year to keep fresh seed to plant later? Do you keep records on your seeds like when you acquired the seeds or how good they grew or maybe you have some germination tips…Where do you keep your seeds? Do you use computer software to keep things organized or a notebook/journal/scrapbook? Have any idea how long certain seeds can be stored and still grow into healthy plants? Do you have some special or hard to find seeds? What was the easiest way you prepared your seed choices for planting season?
Any tips or other contributions are appreciated… Thanks for sharing!
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Melissa Larmer
I love this post. My family calls me the crazy seed lady. ?. I am a little obsessed I guess. But, plants are amazing and they deserve the love. That being said, I save seeds every year. I make sure I label them with the year harvested and I use the oldest seeds first so they get cycled through. I keep them in the envelope they came in until they are gone and have saved the new ones in all kinds of things. Old medicine bottles as in your pic, mailing envelopes, zip lock bags (if you have a lot, such as pumpkin seeds), glass jars, plastic storage containers ect. And I keep them all in totes separated by when they get planted (spring, summer,fall). With a special one for flowers and herbs. As long as they are kept in a cool dry place they will last for years. As far as saving the best producers of the garden, I save some of everything and more the ones I really liked because as you save seeds they adapt to your growing conditions and usually grow better and better each year. Oh, and I try to plant one new thing every year. Most importantly is to have fun with it and enjoy the process. I started a journal one year with the best intentions to keep detailed notes but life got busy and it got forgotten. Maybe someday I’ll try that again. Lol.
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Dawn
I save seeds by making paper seed packets from unused bill payment envelopes. (I pay some of my bills electronically 🙂 My favorite are the envelopes that are preprinted to addressee so there is no window. I’ll try to attach a photo.
I save all my seed packets in a photo organizer case that I bought at an arts & crafts store. It contains two rows of separate containers so I can sort my seed packets. I some of my designated containers are for medicinal flowers, fall veggies, spring veggies, culinary herbs, etc. I hope my picture comes up 🙂
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Kyris2004
The medicine bottle idea is genius!
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Dr. Patrick Jones
Those are all good ideas. :0)
I have an elaborate system. What I do is ignore the plants and let the seeds fall onto the dirt. It sounds easy, but timing is everything. Ignoring the plants in June won’t make them self seed. You have to do it in the fall and winter when the seeds are ready.
All kidding aside, since most of my herb friends are self-seeding noxious weeds or perennials, I do very little seed collecting (unless the seed is the medicine of course). The only seeds I collect for re-planting are ashwagandha as it’s a tropical plant and I doubt they’d over winter successfully.
My wife sometimes saves veggie seeds. She’s just never been as good at ignoring things as I am so I don’t give her a hard time about it. She pokes them in a jar.
Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.
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Darcy Haas
I love your answer Doc Jones, as I can’t seem to get past the ignoring method either. I would like to improve my gardening and at least learn the process of saving seeds. Maybe someday!
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Jean
Life is short. There is never enough time. Garden work can be endless. So, why not let their seed fall in the same place year after year? The only down side I see (with letting seeds fall to the ground at the end of the season to reproduce the next year) is that it breaks the rotation schedule. But Tomatoes are really perennials anyway, right?
Sometimes I just want to gather up all the “old” seeds that I have saved and broadcast them all in one area. I have figured out that one could feed the birds with left over seed. (my seeds are probably bordering on too old though)
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Hippocrates' Garden
I’ve got shelves of glass jars or “ammo” cans full of seeds. Each can either has a type of seed (roots, corn, moschata squash, pepo squash) etc. Last check was over 400 varieties total.
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MicheleP
I am a seed nerd. I started saving seeds in my teens after joining the Seed Savers Exchange. I keep a cardfile with a card for each variety that I maintain (save seeds of). It’s a 4×6-inch photo box with alphabet tabbed dividers. It works great for me. I’d add a picture, but I am not sure how.
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Jodie Hummel
Usually I don’t buy seeds until I have a garden plan or place to put them in. (I’ve learned). I have a card file box with dividers for every 2 weeks of planting season, beginning with the first date I need to plant. I have an indoor and outdoor tab for each date. So May 1, May 15 ,June 1, June 15, etc. That helps with my procrastination/overdoing it to make up for procrastination. If I’m doing garden boxes and need to start seeds indoors, I take metal lasagne pans and use those as mini boxes…Can wrap in the beginning to make little greenhouses if needed. Then when it’s time to transplant, the whole tray goes into a box (I use 4×8 raised boxes. Or did. I moved and need to restart). I will find a way to nerdy up anything. I keep a 3 ring binder with a page for each plant, and I make notes. Not a ton, but like what bugs, if it didn’t germ well, the seed info/company, etc. That way, if I feel I’ve made a mistake, I can review over winter before I order the next spring’s seeds.
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Dawn
I refrigerate seed packets in Tupperware “shoeboxes” with lots of silica gel packets. Most seeds stored that way have lasted years and years. Not all seeds have long shelf lives, such as onion and lettuce, but it extends them too. For many years I had just a small space to garden and this helped keep my costs down. When I save seeds, I fold a simple origami pouch out of tracing paper. The thinner paper is easier to fold but thick enough to write the name, year and growing info. It can be reused if the year is written in pencil. Each year I plot out a garden plan on graph paper and write the varieties and planting dates for each crop/herb. There is room for notes there or on the back of the sheet. I keep these in a file to refer to as needed. It helps with plant rotation too.
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Joelle
Great input! I plan my garden out in an Excel document. Each cell is a garden section and I put what grew there that year, if it got compost addition, and if I cover cropped it. Definitely helps with crop rotation and soil building.
For seed saving, I store all my seeds in a disposable cooler in the freezer. It keeps them quite well. I save my own seed plus buy from an Amish company called E & R. Of course they don’t have a website so you have to mail order but they are quite cheaper than other companies. Then I buy from Fedco, another great company. And, thanks to the fact the my brother is Baker Creek’s plant breeder, I can get seeds there at quite a discount.
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Marianne Ray
I enjoyed reading all of the various ways people save and store seeds. I have kept seeds in the refrigerator in envelopes, often bill envelopes (I have a kindred spirit out there who uses them too!), stuffed inside ziplock bags. But now I just keep seeds in a box in the pantry, where it is cool, dark and dry. I allow tomato seeds to ferment in water, covered with a cloth for about a week. The viable seeds sink to the bottom of the cup. Then I rinse them in a strainer and dry them on a cloth or newspaper before storing them in a labeled envelope. I have had good success using that method. We use heirloom seeds for nearly all of our garden plants, so I save seeds from everything. I probably need to feed the birds with all of the surplus!
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