Saturday, January 8, 2011

A daunting task....

Ok, so i admit it.  I'm almost a hoarder. Definitely a pack rat. I have a lot of seed packets.  Hundreds?  Amateurs....

Seed packets are a cheap thrill.  $1 here, $2 there... they hold the promise of a bowl of salad, a pot of stew, a 50' tree  or a 100' vine....all inside that little paper or glassine packet. 

Only problem is that they need to be sorted. Since i cannot sort them without getting all fired up, they must be sorted, alphebetized, collated, numbered and re-sorted. My memory is horrible so i have to properly sort things to stop me from buying duplicates.  They also have to be sorted according to when they can be planted and by what they are....and where they came from, and then by age among other things.


Wintersowing season is coming upon us, so i need to get in gear. Many seeds i bought at the end of summer or saved myself will be wintersown within the next 4 weeks or so.


Looks like i have my work cut out for me:



5 comments:

Faith said...

It's all in a ramshackle pile on the desk behind me...

~Faith

Mal's Allotment said...

Yup I know where you are coming from. I sort mine by group - whichever rotatinal group they belong to Brassicas, Roots, Other Roots, Beans & Peas, The rest. And then by expiry date. That way I can figure out what gaps I've got.

What are your first sowing? This year I have an electric propogator as a Christmas gift so I will have a new priority to set: when to get started!

icebear said...

Ramshackle- that should be my middle name!

Mal- yep, i have about 5 different methods of sorting, but they aren't all compatible and i still ended up with cajun delight okra from 3 different seed sellers! lol
at least i'm consistent on the cultivars.

i started to sort but felt overwhelmed. i need to make an xls spreadsheet again, or go to gardenweb and have a clearance trade. all my odds and ends for SASE.

ack :o)

icebear said...

oh, i meant to add- my first in-the-garden sowing might be purple sprouting broccoli or broccoli raab, i have never grown either before. i put some seeds in flats late last summer hoping for a fall crop but nothing at all sprouted.

for wintersowing, i have some berry seeds and things like echinacea that need cold stratification, most of that will be shrubs, vines or small trees that won't be going in the garden but in the periphery as edible landscape items if i am successful.

Leigh said...

Great post, LOL. I'm the exact same way. In fact, you've reminded me that I need to get my cabbage seeds planted. All I have to do is find them .... somewhere..... are they under this pile ...... or that one???