Recently, as I was pulling seeds to plant, I thought about my journey of storing and organizing my seed collection. Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of seeds. Of course, every year I add to that seed collection. Either I’m replenishing a variety, trying a new variety, or simply trying a new plant. In this article, I will share 4 different methods I have used to store and organize a seed collection.
Why do you need a method to store and organize a seed collection? Well, because you are likely to have leftover seeds. Now, the good news is that most seeds can be stored for 1 or more years. To learn more about the life expectancy of seeds, check out my article “Life Expectancy of Flower and Vegetable seeds”.
Seed Storage
In general, seeds need to be stored in a dry and cool location to maintain nutrients. Considerations for seed storage are temperature, moisture, and consistency.
- A temperature between 32° and 41°F is perfect. Storing seeds in the refrigerator is the option I choose. However, depending on the method you choose, seed storage can take up a bit of precious space in your refrigerator.
- To keep seeds dry, store unused seeds in their original package and then place them in an airtight container. It also helps to add a silica-gel desiccant to the container to absorb moisture.
- Lastly, store in a location that is consistent regarding temperature and moisture. For example, the garage or a basement are not good places to store seeds because the temperature and moisture levels are inconsistent over time.
Remember, where you store seeds will impact their viability in future years.
Method One – The Zip Lock Bag
If you only have a few seed packets, up to ~10, this is a good method. Simply place your seeds in a zip lock baggie and place the baggie in the refrigerator. I like to use a quart-size baggie. It’s easy enough to take out the seed packets and find what you are looking for. This is the first method I used for storing and organizing my seed collection. When we spend time in Florida, I still use this method. During our 6 months in Florida, I maintain a 4 by 8-foot community garden plot. This simple method works well for my small Florida seed collection.
The zip-lock bag does not take up too much space in the refrigerator. A big benefit of this method.
Method Two – The Narrow Container
At some point, I realized that I needed to not only store my seeds but also categorize them. In other words, it was getting too time-consuming to search through all my seed packets looking for a particular package of seeds. I found what I thought was a perfect container to store and organize my seeds. The cleaning cady from Grove Collaborative. The width and height (9.7 x 6.1 x 5.1 inches) seemed perfect for seed packets. In addition, I could use custom-made cards as separators (4.5” wide x 5.5” tall) for labeling the types of seeds. The other benefit of this method is that the seeds are stored upright. This method started my process of alphabetizing my seed collection. This method worked great until, once again, my seed collection outgrew the space.
The cleaning cady certainly takes up more space in the refrigerator than a baggie. However, I still felt it was manageable for the size.
Method Three – The Binder
As I outgrew the cleaning cady, I brainstormed what I might use next. I thought about printed pictures and the way we store (or use to store) our pictures in albums. I browsed Amazon for picture sleeves. As it turns out, I found a perfect-size picture sleeve for a seed packet. What does this mean? Well, most seed packets, regardless of the seller, are approximately the same size (3.25” x 4.75”). However, some can be larger. Therefore, instead of choosing the 3.5” x 5” inch picture sleeve, I chose a 4” x 6” size.
4×6 Photo Pages for 3-Ring Binder
The other thing I like about these sleeves is that I can insert a piece of paper with a description of the variety of plants. Why is this important? It allowed me to easily scan through the binder to find what I was looking for. I also stored the seeds in alphabetical order.
The binder method also worked well in the refrigerator. Because a binder tends to be taller rather than wider, it did not take up an inappropriate amount of space in the refrigerator. This method worked for a couple of years until the size of the binder was getting too big. If you are going to use this method, start with a 3-inch binder. It gives you the flexibility to add more pages.
Method Four – Photo Storage Craft Keeper
I must admit, I resisted going to this method for a long time. It was my daughter who pushed me over the edge by buying me a container. Now, after using this container for over a year, it is my favorite of the four methods. So, basically, this is a large plastic container that holds 16 smaller 4×6-inch plastic containers. These smaller containers are perfect for seed storage and organization. Here are some of the ways I make this method work for me:
- Store at least two different plant varieties in each of the 16 containers.
- Group similar plant seeds together. For example, I have a ‘herbs’ category and a ‘flower’ category.
- Create labels for each of the smaller containers and tape them to the container.
These containers can be expensive if you purchase them on Amazon or when they are not on sale. The good news is that Michael’s Craft Store routinely has these containers on sale. Here is a link to the container. If it’s not on sale now, be patient, it will go on sale.
The only downside to this method is the amount of space this container takes up in the refrigerator. It works for me because I have a second refrigerator that is rarely filled up.
Well, there you go. Four different methods to use for storing and organizing a seed collection. If you have another method that works, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!
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