Keeping your seeds organized: saving and storing
To achieve a generous harvest this growing season, storing seeds effectively is key. Follow these tips for organizing your seeds so you can plant them whenever the time is right. Take care of your garden and prepare for success!
Below is an excerpt Heavenly Garden By Jane Hawley Stevens. It has been adapted for apply on the Internet.
My first step in the growing season is take inventory of the seeds I have left over from previous years. A digital spreadsheet works well for this task because you can add novel columns or tabs for each novel year.
Keeping your seeds organized
If you store seeds from year to year, store them in a frosty, dim place with low humidity. Heat, delicate and moisture can destroy viable seeds. I keep the seed packets in a tightly closed plastic container in the coolest part of a dim basement. I divide them into groups: herbs, vegetables, root crops and flowers.
Since I have been saving my own seeds for many years, I think it is worth doing purchase 2 × 4-inch (5 × 10 cm) manila envelopes in which to store them. As one of the world’s best recyclers, it took me a long time to give up my penchant for storing seeds in whatever envelope I had on hand, but uniformly sized packages are much neater and easier to organize.
After going through my inventory and making a list of things I need to buy, I order seeds as soon as possible, after January 1stto make sure my favorite products are still in stock.
Seed Starting Supplies
It’s a good idea to gather supplies for planting seeds in advance. You will need:
- seeds
- shallow flats/trays and 2- to 4-inch (5-10 cm) diameter pots.
- covers such as a clear plastic dome or plastic bag to retain moisture over the tray
- a watering can or the end of a hose with a mist/breaker nozzle
- vermiculite or other slightly filthy labels for the substrate (a good trick is to cut the blinds to the appropriate dimensions)
In general, you will be ready to sow six to eight weeks before outdoor planting time. Here in Zone 4, the earliest I sow seeds is around Valentine’s Day. These are plants that take longer to germinate and grow, and those that can be planted outside very early, when it may still freeze or freeze. Plants in this category include perennials, parsley and onions.
Cruciferous, like broccoli and cabbage, can be sown a few weeks later, around March 1st. When I calculate seed starting times and projected transplant dates, I take into account the hardening off period before transplanting, as I will explain later in this chapter.
Since I grow seedlings mainly for my own apply and not for sale in nurseries, I don’t need to make spectacular transplants; I focus on producing hardy plants!