Any gardener has a seed collection. I have kept mine in a kitchen drawer. Then when that became invasive. And at the bottom of the bag was a bunch of seeds, some I could identify (corn). Others were a little harder, (spaghetti squash or zucchini) And further more down right impossible. (broccoli, cabbage, beets) I almost never planted them, occasionally I would just to see what happened.
I came across a "hack" to use a photo book as a seed organizer. It worked wonderfully until later in the year when I picked up corn, peas, green beans and squash seeds. Perfect for flower (minus sunflowers) I went thrift shopping and I always peruse for photo frames and albums, I found a photo box. Unopened. But I figured this was the solution to my problem. I like the box because I could even place my garlic bulbs that I had received from the Gilroy Garlic Festival. But still open seed packs manage to make a mess, if you're not careful. I've added more seeds since and used them, so they need to be reorganized.
First thing I do is take them all out of the box, and yes there were loose seeds. Thankfully I knew which seed packs they belonged to.
Then I group all the seeds by type. You can click through the gallery to see my entire seed collection.
The very last photo of the gallery is of a bunch of empty packets. I keep for a number of reasons. Now my seeds are all organized. Notice how much fuller my box is now from when it was first put together just 5 months ago. It my be time for a second box.
February is near which means in zone 9 almost all seeds can be started outside. After Valentines day clears out, all the stores will be preparing us for Springs arrival. Meaning everywhere I go, I will be stopping and looking at seeds. Grocery store, drug store, flea market, craft fairs... everywhere. This is one of the reasons why I like to go through my seed box and make a list of all the seeds that I have so that I don't double buy anything.
Feel free to ask my any questions on the seeds in my box, I have some that are unopened but majority I have grown. Send me photos of how you organize your seed collections.
You can tag me on Instagram and Facebook @veryexcitedgardener or Twitter @excitedgardener.
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