Umm... Well, I'm probably not much help here. I have an entire bureau packed with jars, envelopes and zip lock bags, all full of seeds. There are also seeds stashed in a couple other places around the house. Every year I find that I can't find something, when I want to, either plant, or mail out a sample. So, I just started picking up sturdy boxes and gathering the seeds, in a more systematic fashion. Last night I took one box, which was approximately the size of a box of copy machine paper, and filled it with nothing more than jars of beans. There are still more to be gathered and organized. I found two jars of rare beans from Mexico, which are now 11 years old. I will cook them for the chickens, as there is no hope now, of them growing, and I had no takers for them over the last decade. Next box I get will be for beans in zip lock bags, envelopes and stray jars. then I'll start on tomatoes, and squash, etc. Melons, cantaloupe, cucumbers, etc, will get lumped together in one box.

George
Tahlequah, OK

George, your method made me smile....something akin to what mine were only I finally made myself sort, organize and list mine on a spreadsheet.

I used various sized boxes. One is for ornamentals, one for garden vegetables and one for big seed, beans, corns, etc.

In the vegetables I sorted the packages alphabetically in a small box the size of the seed packs so they stand upright.

Most of the ornamentals are saved seeds in small prescription medicine bottles labeled with a permanent
marker pen. They are arranged somewhat alphabetically.

I am keeping them all outside in a very cool milk parlor.

At last I can go to one place and find my seeds in one of three different boxes!

Now I just need to pitch some very old flower seeds.....hard for me to do.

Listing is the real time saver for me. I can just check the list before ordering anything more....wish I had done that before ordering seeds this year.......

I'm not doing to well with keeping the actual packets organized. They're all in manila envelopes--one cool season, one warm season, one herb, one flower, and one of just tomatoes. It's doesn't work very well when they're al crammed together like that. I've been thinking about getting some little vials to keep them in instead.

I did finally get around to organizing all of the varieties in a google spreadsheet. It took a long time, but it has all of the growing information for each variety, as well as where the seed came from and when I got it. I'm hoping to get really organized this year and always remember to take my journal with me out in the garden to take notes that I can then transfer onto the spreadsheet. We'll see if I can stay that organized...

I keep all my seeds in their original seed packets, if they were purchased seed, and tape the packet shut with purple painter's type masking tape so no seed 'leaks' out. The purple masking tape peels off and then re-sticks easily. If the seeds are saved seed or from a trade, I still leave them inside their original packaging as I received them. All the related packets are kept together in one-gallon zip lock bags, by category in the case of vegetables: corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, etc. All the one-gallon zip-lock bags are lined up like file folders in a drawer, and they are inside a large Rubbermaid storage tote. The tote has grown over the years. The one I have now holds maybe 32 quarts. It is so full that I can't really add much more to it.

I keep all the herb seeds inside their original seed packets in a a one-gallon ziplock labeled herbs.

The flowers are kept in their original packets or seed-saver packets and are grouped in two one-gallon sized zip-lock bags....one for cool-season flowers and the other for warm-season flowers.

This system works pretty well as long as I remember to put every packet back into its 1-gallon zip-lock bag with the others of its kind.

I do keep a written log on paper in a spiral notebook and that log details not only which seeds I have of each variety, but how many seeds of each variety. (For tiny, tiny seeds like lettuce or carrot or a flower like verbena bonariensis, I guestimate.) When I run out of something by using up the last of the packet, I draw a line through it on the listing. The reason I keep track of the number of seeds is simple....if you've ever pulled out a packet of seeds to plant 'today' and discovered that is only has 3 or 4 seeds and you were expecting 20, you don't want to have that happen again.

As far as remembering garden performance, I mostly rely on memory and my memory works well enough in that regard, but I've been gardening a very long time and have used many varieties for many years. I am very careful to label my plants correctly every step of the way and I use a non-fading garden marker for all labels because a label with the words washed off of it by repeated rainfall is useless.

Before I got to the point that I could remember variety peformance easily, I kept notes on each variety on an index card....one card per variety. I think I stopped doing that in the mid-2000s. The cards were bundled together in alphabetical order by variety name and held together by a rubber band. I kept the cards in my seed box.

If I have serious germination issues with any given seed, I will go back and write on the packet that it was a slow germinator, or that it germinated erratically or that germination rates were low.

For a while, and this was before my seed collection became so large, I kept seed packets inside plastic page protectors inside a large 3-ring binder. The drawback to that is that if somebody picks up the notebook upside down, seed packets can slide out of those page protectors.

The seed crate, by the way, stays in the tornado shelter about 80% of the time (whenever I'm not using it) because that's a cool, dark area where the temperatures never get too high.

Dawn

I use canning jars and plastic Folger's cans. I then mark each with what varieties are in them. Then I always end up misplacing at least one variety. I spent a couple of hours looking for one variety a few weeks ago. I put all seeds in zippie bags and label them when they come in. I like the zippie as they are easy to open and remove seeds and reseal. Jay

I do just like Dawn (sorted by types in bags within a big tote) except I have a spreadsheet to go with the stash. Bigger seeds, like beans & peas, etc, go in jars within the tote.

Diane

To keep track of performance I simply keep a word processor file, on my computer; one for each year. The file name indicates the year and I keep all my garden note files in a folder called gardenotes. I make notes on just about anything, but especially how different varieties perform. Unlike Dawn, my memory sometimes "drifts." I'll think I remember, but my memory isn't exactly right. So, I write things down. This especially helps when, for instance, I gather data from years with different kinds of weather patterns, and then compare how varieties perform.

George

George,

Well, my memory does drift...but it does it in a selective manner. I'll forget to pick up a gallon of milk at the grocery store, but I'll remember how a particular veggie variety performed if it performed well. If it does not perform well, I generally don't remember it very well. So, I guess my brain remembers what it chooses to remember. Luckily for me, it remembers high-performing varieties.....so far. That could change in any given year though.

Dawn

I'm like George in that I keep a file in my documents on my computer. I always have a folder I keep close to the garden. I write down what and how many I plant. I make notes on any disease issues, when I spray for anything, performance and anything else note worthy. Then at least once a week I try to transfer it all to my computer file. I tend to remember tomato taste and performance well. Have more trouble with pepper varieties. Not sure why. And even with all the effort to document everything I tend to miss something. As I was removing some of the mulch cover from the garlic I found one marker I had left blank. I can figure out what it is by my notes. As I write down the number of cloves of each variety I plant. And also the markers on each side of it are marked. Without notes I would be clueless at times. Jay

Thanks, everyone. My brain had never made the connection between gardens and seed and computer spreadsheets. I have always kept the two in completely different parts of my brain. Gardening is fun; spreadsheets and computer work not so much. It makes sense though. Another spreadsheet----who knew?? I think I'll try an Excel spreadsheet. And no more scrabbling through all the seed packets and jars to see what I have.

Now if spring will just GET HERE.

Marcy

By the way, if anyone doesn't have MS Office, doesn't/can't afford it, or just plain gets their jollies out of getting stuff for free, here's a link to Open Office. One can download and use this for free. I made the switch last year and very much enjoy this program suite. Best of all... it's for free!

George

Here is a link that might be useful: Open Office

I've just organized my seeds using a soft sided zippered CD case. I love it. I can sit down with a catalog and my binder at the table with a cuppa and shop!

I also downloaded packets to print so that I could save my seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Binder: Garden Organization Project

I store seeds in the powdered donut boxes from Sam's Club. I wouldn't dare share photos, because you would count the number of bookshelves full and I would be embarrassed. No one needs to know how many powdered donuts this family has consumed to feed my seed habit. Admittedly, most of the packets in the boxes are empty. I keep all of them as a reference tool. When I see the empty packet I have confirmation that I am out, and haven't just misplaced them.

I also use cards, four to a sheet, I devised in Word. They give me all the key info I want about a plant, organized in the same place on the card for every seed I have. Very handy.

I like the CD case idea. This past week I've been hunting for my last order of seeds. I swear I had about $50 of seeds for fall planting from Baker Creek and I've only found a couple of packs.
There's got to be a better way than my haphazard non-method. I don't even have a place to put them yet!

I bought a SNAPWARE clear plastic storage box from Big Lots on clearance for $4.00 a couple of months ago. Can do an internet search and see a pic. It is a clear plastic square 12"x12"x5" with a snap-on lid w/carry handle, which snaps to an add'l plastic square. The lid fits either box. Within that I put cardboard dividers for all my seed packets, organized alphabetically. You can order plastic dividers for the boxes. Top box has all my vegetable seeds, bottom box contains all my flower seeds. When I go out to the vegetable garden, I take only that box, or a just a certain seed packet that I didn't have to hunt hours for! So far it works pretty well. I keep the entire box in the cooler part of our house. (I didn't realize how many duplicate packets I had until I got organized!)