DIY Garden Ideas: Seed Organizing Binder
How do you organize your garden seeds? You don't? Well, I have a fairly inexpensive DIY solution that works for me!
TIP: Garden seeds generally germinate for years (for me) so don't throw them out. If you want to test germination, put a few in a wet paper towel zipped in a sandwich bag or lidded jar for about a week in a warm place. Little roots should shoot out in no time if the seeds are still in good shape.
I have quite a collection of seeds. It's even fun to just look at them and dream about them isn't it, or am I weird? It's ok. I embrace my weirdness most of the time.
My favorite online sources for seeds are
High Mowing Seeds (where I got some amazing powdery mildew resistant summer squash and zucchini seeds last year. My bugs must not have recognized these varieties because I had a gangbuster year for squash. (I am not getting anything for these referrals. I just REALLY LIKE these companies for seeds!)
Victory Gardeners - This is a local company where the infamous Ivan tomato is being rescued after near elimination.
Keeping my seeds organized has helped me so much! Like - I cannot tell you how much! I no longer have to wonder if I need more Boro Beet Seeds from High Mowing Seeds nor do I have to plunder through the junk drawer looking for lettuce seeds that I got free with my order from Baker Creek. I know exactly where my seeds are. They are kept in binders, one for vegetables and one for flowers. I even stash notes in the pages with the seed packets like "peppers grow best with a friend" (two or three pepper plants together) or "plant onions with cabbage to ward off loopers".
This could be the summer you organize your new seeds and then this winter when you are dreaming about the garden, you can organize the seeds you have stored in the basement.
Get those seed packets out of the junk drawer, find some old binders, gallon zip bags, some scissors and a permanent marker - and let's get started! This is how I organize my seeds AT HOME MY WAY.
DIY Seed Organizing using Notebook Binders and Gallon Zip Bags
Supplies needed:
- 3 Ring Notebook Binder(s) (I recycled some large notebook binders that were being throwing out.)
- Gallon Zip Bags (one bag for each category of seeds you want to designate)
- Scissors
- Permanent Marker
- Seed packets
Instructions: This is seriously so easy, that it's not much of a blog post but sometimes the easiest things make a difference.
- Lay a gallon baggie in the binder with the zipper on the right and the actual bottom of the baggie (fold) against the 3 rings of the binder.
- Mark where the holes go using the marker.
- Snip for the holes or poke holes however you prefer
- Make as pages as you want. (Each page will be a category of seeds.)
- Place baggies in the binder. Clip!
- Identify each page with the permanent marker using the categories you want to use. I used things like "Summer Squash", "Beans", "Tomatoes", "Annual Flowers", "Pollinator Flowers", "Cucumbers", "Carrots".
- Place seed packets in each page zipping them closed.
- I alphabetized my category pages in the binder because I'm overkill like that.
- I keep my binders in a tote with other various garden junk like gloves, recycled prescription bottles (cleaned and used collecting seeds), my garden journal, and a few larger bags of seeds that people have given me like cleome pods, zinnia and marigold heads.
I’m sure other folks have some amazing organizational techniques for seeds but for now, this works for me and was relatively cheap. I would love to have those little plastic cassette systems but I don't have those. I would honestly rather spend my money on seeds or plants rather than plastic cases to store seeds when I have something that works just fine.
I haven’t posted in way too long but since I enjoy other blogs so much, I decided to jump right back in!
Happy summer and happy planting!
Until next time, Enjoy!
2023 Marigolds grew to the top of this Schefflera. They were crazy beautiful!