How do y’all store and organize seeds? I had gotten one of those photo storage cases, but wasn’t working with all the different bags, envelopes and baggies. So I grabbed a plastic shoe box sized container, made some labels with cardstock and post-it labels. But this is just unwheeldy!
So how do you organize your seeds?
I have a large storage tote. In the tote is glass and plastic jars. If there is just 3 packets of something it goes into a glass sauce jar with a scotch tape label on the front/lid saying “onions” for example. But corn I have alot of so that is in a big plastic jar (from peanut butter or cashews or pretzels) that can hold alot of packets or sandwich bags of grexes.
For some things I have large jars of a single thing; like maxima squash, moschata squash, corn,… And others there is alot of individual things in the same jar like “early direct seed”. Which I’m growing but not focusing on yet and have a packet or two of but all fits into the same category or theme.
In the future I imagine this will shift into jars of each landrace. Moschata, Maxima, grain/cornmeal corn, sweet corn, etc. And with few jars that are back up seed or jars of bags from individual plants.
Hmmmm…. I’ve got ideas now! I go through peanut butter about 2 lbs in 2 weeks, so my kitchen abounds with those jars. And we always have ramen boxes from 12 pks that are being collapsed for storage (until the garden needs cardboard!). But I can see a system that might work. Thank you!
I use ammo cans. One for each main crop/species. Perfect size for seed packets, stackable, watertight seal.
Ha! I have 2 that contain various sundries, so maybe summer seeds & winter seeds. Luckily today if the kind of day that I can play with these ideas.
So far I have a cardboard box with twisted-up grocery bags in it, with whatever seed packets and jars and bags in the bags. A bag for cucurbits, a bag for legumes, a bag for flowers, a bag for greens and “cool season crops,” a bag for grains and “warm season crops,” and maybe something else. It’s in the garage for now because it stays cool and we don’t struggle with pests.
I used to use a small cardboard box that I kept in the fridge. Then my daughter spilled water on it! 
So I moved my seeds to a plastic tupperware with a lid to keep any liquids from spilling on it, thank you very much. 
Nowadays, I have four of those tupperwares in my fridge, because my seed stash outgrew the one. Here’s how each of those tupperwares is organized:
Sow in fall
(June through December)
Sow in winter
(January through March)
Sow in spring
(April through May)
Beans and corn to sow in spring
(April through May)
I kept forgetting to sow things that I had intended to sow at a particular time, so I finally decided organizing them based on when to sow them made the most sense. Now I can grab a tupperware based on the time of year it is and browse through it for ideas.
Meanwhile, the seeds are grouped together in large ziploc bags within each tupperware, each bag labeled based on the microclimates available in my growing space. These include:
Sow in fall box:
Needs stratification: dry shade
Needs stratification: moist shade
Needs stratification: partial shade (I put all “full sun” perennials that aren’t drought tolerant here)
Needs stratification: full sun (only perennials that are highly drought tolerant go here)
Winter sun
Winter shade
Sow in winter box:
Winter sun
Winter shade
Greenhouse: full sun
Greenhouse: moist shade
Greenhouse: dry winters (plants that will rot and die if they get lots of water in winter, so they have to spend winters in my greenhouse, whether or not they’re hardy to my zone)
Sow in spring box:
Beans: full sun
Beans: partial shade
Corn: partial shade
Squash: partial shade
Full sun (for everything else: if something can’t handle frosts and it isn’t a staple I’m willing to water regularly, it’s only realistically going to survive in my garden if it’s highly drought tolerant and can handle full sun)
I think that’s accurate, but I didn’t open them up to check, so I may have organized things a little differently, and I may reorganize them on a whim at any time.
For right now, anything that needs cold stratification goes in my “sow in fall” box. So do any winter crops that I’m trying to select for being able to germinate and survive the last half of our hot, dry summer growing season (which lasts through September) before flourishing as winter crops.
Anything that needs to be planted after the last frost goes into the relevant “sow in spring” box. (I have to use two boxes because squash, beans, and corn are all annuals with large seeds that take up a lot of space.)
Any new winter crops that I want to semi-coddle in order to get more seeds go into my “sow in winter” box. I have found it’s much easier to keep winter crops alive if I sow them in January or February, but they don’t get as big or produce as much food as the ones I sow in August or September, so I hope to be able to adapt all my winter crops to be happy to germinate during our (one and only) week of summer rain in August, and then sail through our coldest winter temperatures without even noticing. 
I used to separate things based on them being annual or perennial, but I eventually decided that distinction mattered very little to me — and it’s not even clear-cut with some species, such as Brassica oleracea, which can be annual, biennial, or perennial depending on that particular plant’s genes.
I also tried separating things based on plant family, but I also eventually decided that didn’t matter to me. Plant family didn’t tell me when or where I wanted to place things, after all. Especially with highly diverse families like the carrot family — I mean, skirret wants to be in moist shade, lovage and dill are both fine in full sun, and carrots seem to do best for me in partial shade. I eventually decided to only separate the annuals with very large seeds (corns, beans, and squash) into their own bags, and I only did that because it was a necessity for stuff to fit.
Eventually, I hit upon the idea of organizing things based on when and where to sow them, and I think that’s working very well. Then I can browse the relevant category for ideas to add into a polyculture that isn’t yet sufficiently severely overcrowded (
), and/or for ideas to fill a row that is currently sitting empty because I just finished removing the weeds and/or harvesting the crops from the previous season.
Your own microclimates will vary based on your own climate. For me, there is no category for “full sun with lots of water,” because nope. But for other people, there may be. Also note that my greenhouse has only three microclimates available: full sun, moist shade, and stuff that needs to be dry in winter but doesn’t really need extra warmth (so those can go in the coldest spots). When it comes to tropical and subtropical plants, I have specifically gone looking for tasty edible plants that are highly drought tolerant, and those are for the full sun canopy. I don’t have a partial shade option ’cause my greenhouse is small and therefore crowded: it’s either part of the canopy layer and therefore getting baked by our severe sunlight, or it’s not.
Eventually, I would like to downsize my seed collection because I have most of the perennials planted and growing merrily, so I only need to save the annual seeds for replanting. But . . . in practice . . . I want to landrace everything, so I’ll probably always have freshly-harvested seeds of perennials that I’m eager to find a place to squeeze in.
I got to thinking that a container by when to sow might be nice. Somethings are shoulder season things, some are hot weather, some are cold weather. Being in central Texas, our winters are variable, but summer is fairly reliable. E.g. last year,we had 14’ and 17’ mornings in late Feb. Plus had 90’ days that month. This year we have upper 70s and 80s in the 15 day forecast. 
So sorting by sowing time might be the way to organize my self!
I’m glad you like that idea! I think it’s been helping me.
Granted, I’m still highly distractible and can easily miss sowing windows . . . 
Oh, and by the way, the reason I store seeds in the fridge is in order to extend their viability. I keep a box of my garden backup archive (a few seeds from all my best plants, labeled with lots of details, one tiny ziploc bag per fruit, all put into one large ziploc bag per year) in my freezer. The fridge seeds are convenient; the backup archive is inconvenient. Which is fine, because I only need to get into it to add things a few times a year. The point is that those frozen seeds should still be viable in fifty years, in case I want them.
Hmmmm, I gotta think on that. Summer is hot and we only AC to 80’. But I’m not sure my fridge has that much space! But I have lots of freezer space. But my pantry is on the north side of the house and stays cool, as it never gets any sun.
Hubby mentioned if I have too many of any one kind of seed than will fit in a baby food jar, I have too many seeds. 
He doesn’t get my gardening love, but he supports it. He doesn’t get my hoarding tendencies, but he is gentle in encouraging me to be too grabby.
Can tomato and pepper seed be frozen and still good? So many questions! I might have to do some investigations on this!
I believe any seed can be safely frozen, as long as it’s full dry. If anyone knows of species that can’t be safely frozen after they’re totally dry, please let me know. 
Tomato and pepper seeds are definitely fine.
The seeds you can’t safely freeze are the ones you can’t safely dry. A lot of tropical trees are more or less viviparous: their seeds never go dormant. They can’t be dried. They can’t be stored in a cold place. They have to be kept moist at room temperature and planted within a week or two, and that’s all there is to it. Mangos are like that. So are ice cream beans.
There are occasionally temperate seeds that need to be kept constantly moist. Pawpaws are said to be that way (although arguably pawpaws are a tropical tree that learned to grow in temperate climates). I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a reasonable number of aquatic plants with seeds like that.
I second ammo cases they come in varying shapes and sizes. I use the regular small ones which are perfect for packets and then I have lager ones for things like fabaceae and poaceae.
I organize by plant family, but within the plant families I also organize when things will be sown, and species for example brassicacea is separated by spring sown, fall sown and things I sown in succession like mustards and Asian greens. And within spring sown I have that separated into broccoli, cabbage, kale etc…
All of my flowers are separated not by family but by germination temperature as this is by far the most helpful, this is similar to organizing by when to sow, I guess really the same thing but just how my mind went about it!
I also use rubber bands to hold together for example all the broccolis or all the cucurbit moschata. If I have two many of the same species those get put into open gallon ziplocks (I don’t fully close them and separated by like type for example beans or peas… and cucurbit Pepo has a bag where the zucchini are rubberbanded and the winter squash are rubberbanded… I also try to put the oldest seeds at the front of the bound together stack so I can either use them first of bring them to the next seed swap!
one note on storing seeds in the freezer is the airtight container must be taken out and allowed to acclimate to the room temperature before you open it or condensation will commence. It’s also important to not let the boxes be in direct sunlight or condensation will commence. Your pantry is probably a great place for storage !
Sorting by plant family makes great sense. I decided I was going to work at learning the scientific names of all the stuff I grow, so this might be one way for me to learn!
That’s exactly why I started organizing in this way and now it’s just second nature and I know most thinks down to the species which is so helpful for knowing what can cross with each other!
I also throw a silica pack into each of my containers to help prevent any potential moisture.
I didn’t have a good way to sort my seeds between the 2 ammo cases. But I had this nice blue plastic bin that fits things nicely. I sorted by family in ziplock bags. I have fewer families than I thought! I discovered that “Indian basil” is tulsi. Woot! I love growing nightshades. And asteraceae needs a gallon bag bc zinnia elegans is bulky. I’m wondering if I can use okra roots bc it’s a mallow plant.
Looks nice!
Looks amazing! My only qualm with the ziplock is be sure to not get it in any direct light to prevent condensation! also I leave them slightly open!
the ammo cases work really well once you have e a ridiculous amount of seeds like me lol I usually have one or two plant families per ammo case lol, but I also have the opportunity to be sharing seeds with many different farms around my area and I’m a bit obsessed with variety trialing.
I Store my Seeds fully dry in Plastic Bags according to Species, with Scientific Name & Variety or Relevant Info like Size, Taste/Flavor, Color, Year & where I got the seeds from, all of which is Labeled on a Small cut up Index Card I insert into each plastic bag. Every Seed is stored in a Metal box which keeps seeds Cool, Dark & Dry.
I also put Plastic Bags inside Plastic bags, to put all varieties of a single species in just 1 Plastic Bag. That way 30 small Plastic Bags of Tomato seeds becomes just 1. I also organized each type into it’s own plastic bag like Cherry-Grape, Large-Beefsteak, Roma-Plum, & everything else.
Every Seed is Organized by the Family it Belongs to. I have my Cool Season Legumes/Beans (Fava, Lentils, Peas, Vetech, ect) organize into 1 Metal Box & All my Warm Season + Tree Legumes Organized into another Metal Box. I have so many Squash seeds that 1 Metal Box only Hold Kabocha Squashes, another box for all the other C. maxima, and 2 More boxes for C. pepo and C. moschata with C. ficifolia. I also have a Metal Box dedicated to Peppers, a Metal Box Dedicated to Melons (Cucumis melo) and another dedicated to all the other Cucurbitacea Crops like Watermelons, Kiwano, Wintermelon, Luffa, Edible Bottle Gourd, ect.
Oh and of course, every seed is entered into my Phone & organized by Plant Family & Scientific Name, so I can know everything I have without having to open each metal box.
Granted I may be a little crazy & this level of organization might not be for everyone but this is what works for me (I’m very used to Scientific names, sometimes I know the scientific name better than the common name). Eventually when I actually start gardening for real, this will probably change & adapt to my gardening habbits.
But what I think everyone can take as notes from my method of organization is
