Seeds, Seeds, and More Seeds
Posted: January 30, 2023 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Gulf Coast gardening, seeds, Southern Gardening, Year-round gardening 24 Comments
I am usually somewhat organized, but for some reason, I can’t get a handle on the seeds I collect from my garden. The seeds are stored in several locations in the garage. I have them on the potting bench that I can’t use for potting anymore.
Seeds are piled on the stand where my plants spend the winter.
More seeds are stashed on a garage shelf.
And the shelf under that one.
Seeds even fill shelves inside my house.
If anyone has a great system, I would love suggestions. So far I haven’t found anything I like. In the past, I used wax sandwich bags, but the glue deteriorated and the seeds fell out. Keep in mind that high humidity makes things mold and rot quickly here. And bugs are everywhere.
My penchant for collecting seeds may be hereditary. The photo above is my grandmother working on her Dad’s seed farm.
Automatic Gardening & Real Gluten Free Food 
Seed fanatic!☺️. We eat the same tapioca pudding.
I save lots of containers which I always felt embarrassed that I was kinda cheap, but now it is called recycling. I’m great at it. I like to use the little cups when I collect the seeds. I drop a small piece of paper in them with the seed name and year.
Mary Beth does the same and as a dutiful husband so do I. We use ours as leftover holders. We are using those plastic deli containers that potato salad etc come in. Some are almost qualified as antiques by now.
That’s a great photo of your grandmother, and what an interesting bit of family history. Clearly, your love of gardening and plants generally has been influenced by more than your years of living in an area where some of our famous botanists were at work.
As for organizing: I haven’t a clue, other than suggesting a nice, big potting shed in the backyard with plenty of shelves, drawers, and cubby holes!
I dream of having a greenhouse/shed. Cubby holes would be nice too.
This doesn’t necessarily help with the actual organizing, but if you find yourself with too many seeds, do you have a local library with a seed bank? Or maybe, a school who would love to have the seeds?
I’ve long just let the seed drop, keep what germinates that I can actually use in the garden, maybe give some of the extra to willing participants, the cull the rest. I’m bad with seeds: if I try to germinate them, I fret and often fail. It’s too stressful. 🙂
Thanks,I will check into it.
My mother always called it the farmer gene, she had it, I have it and you clearly have it as well. My grandfather was a peach farmer. I have gone to cutting envelopes into pieces for saving seeds and stacking them in a shoe box.
I did start with the shoebox and wax bags until the bags fell apart. I would imagine that you have the same humidity problems that I have. I hate to mention bugs, but we live with them here, even with extermination.
Same, and lizards, though I think the lizards come in for the bugs.
Lol…. I probably shouldn’t be giggling 🤭,but I thought for a minute that was my seed mess. I have a cabinet here in the camper that is full of little cups,baggies,and what nots with seeds in them. Thankful ,I did mark everything. Love the old photo. Looking forward to spring…
I’m glad I’m not the only one! I’m just glad I collect plants and seeds and not cats.
I don’t collect cats either! However I do have one outdoor cat that keeps mice and rats at bay!we were having a real problem with those buggers . I caught 18 mice in one week with two traps and still couldn’t keep up! I think they were coming from the field outback where the farmer feed his cattle.
Oh no. Maybe you need more than one cat. Weirdly, I have never seen a mouse here, but we do have something call attic rats who move into your attic for the winter.
I use a 4×6 index card file box to store seed packets. There are alphabet headers, so I can organize them alphabetically for easy-finding. You can buy small envelopes if you collect your own seed. I let seed heads dry upside down in paper bags for a few weeks (if really humid, I’ll put them in the attic or inside the oven – just remember they are in there before using it!) Then I shake the seed loose, spread them on a cookie sheet and gently blow off the chaff. Put in envelopes with name and year collected marked on the outside.
Here is another idea: https://homesteadandchill.com/garden-seed-storage-solutions/
Thanks for the suggestions. I had to laugh as even our attics are humid. We cannot keep anything in them as even there mold grows.
Maybe you could use this: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Commercial-Chef-CCD100W6-Food-Dehydrator-White/858133927
I found it interesting to see the containers you use! We re-use anything with a lid, such as margarine tubs or jam jars. I keep my seeds in paper envelopes in shoe boxes – I have created a kind of mini filing system with bits of cardboard between sections. But I don’t have quite as many as you and we don’t really have a problem with the humidity here. I had to laugh when I heard your ancestors were seed merchants – mine too! LOL!
How interesting that we have seed merchants in common. Most of my ancestors that came to America from Germany were farmers and their children eventually moved into other work.
And my ancestors were mostly farmers too, from the East of England. My grandfather grew vegetables for the local market and sold Christmas trees in winter. And the other side of the family also farmed and had the seed business from the 1700s until early 1900s I think. 😃
I use small jewelry baggies usually, that you get at a craft store but also regular sandwich bags, too. For seeds I collect I try not to collect more than I’m going to sow in one season and just let the rest deal with nature. What a cool photo to have of your grandmother!
I was concerned about mold in plastic bags. I think it was unusual to take a candid shot like that.
I don’t have any suggestions, but I love the photo of your grandmother!
I had a lot of comments on my grandmother’s photo. I thought it was unusual as most photos from that time are formal.