Here's an idea for seed storage that I've been tempted to try - although I haven't yet done so..
https://homesteadandchill.com/...

Mine are presently in zip-top baggies by category (tomatoes & peppers, root crops, cabbage family, etc.), in plastic shoe boxes.

Weedwhacker said: Here's an idea for seed storage that I've been tempted to try - although I haven't yet done so..
https://homesteadandchill.com/...

Mine are presently in zip-top baggies by category (tomatoes & peppers, root crops, cabbage family, etc.), in plastic shoe boxes.

Saw that idea and almost went with it. That's what I have now...zip-top baggies by category.

The more I think about it, organizing by time of planting might be a better idea (or maybe not, since some get started in "succession" planting times) ... and I really wish there was some kind of "standard" for seed packet size!

I hadn't thought about succession plantings. This year I'm trying to sow all the seeds that I've stashed for years to use them up - some are so old that they likely aren't even viable, but it never hurts to try. With the amount I have, it is easier just to sow the entire packet at once and see what I get. I'll likely refine things for next year and actually do some succession plantings. I think what I'll do is to divide up a single packet into how ever many succession plantings I'd do and still keep them grouped by planting time. It makes it easier for me to be able to grab the already sorted baskets for those sowing sessions.

I need to do that with some of my older seeds as well. Certain seeds, even if I have enough, I buy more to make sure I have them for next season the way things are getting you just never know. We are saving more of our own seeds, too.

I used the day to pick up two bags of cow manure that I ordered from Ace Hardware. Very hard to get good cow manure anymore. They mix it with peat moss at a rate of 10% cow manure, 90% peat moss.

Coast of Maine Schoodic Blend Organic Cow Manure 1 cu ft 2 ft³



Don't like it!

I was going to use Black Kow. I have used it in the past with success, but recently people are complaining of sticks, wood chips, rocks and ever plastic. I may buy one bag from the local Lowes or Home Depot to see for myself.

Have to think ahead for up-potting. It will be here before I know it.

Spent a while cleaning up. My brother is coming for Easter dinner, and he'll want to see the greenhouse. As the baby brother I guess I'm still trying to please or impress my oldest brother.

I also ordered 6 cubic yards of the 50/50 mix I'll use to add to the high raised beds as they settled a good 8-10" since we first filled them last year with wood, sticks, twigs, wood chips, grass, garden waste, and finally planting soil.

I'll also mix some of it with my up-potting mix. Delivery next week.

Expecting another cord of wood this weekend.

We're gearing up here!

I need to talk my dad into talking to the next door neighbor (not real friendly with them) to see if we can have their goat poo pile. I can easily make a couple compost spots and dump it to break down for next year. Would save me money and save our lungs also when they burn it like they usually do.

I made a real rookie mistake today. First day out for about 4 hours in the sun, and I forgot to wear a hat! The top of my head is on fire!

I can't believe how much work we got done today, but I can already feel the aches.

We took down the leaf fence around the food forest pond, folded it for next year, took out all the poles that were holding it up, and moved all the rocks away that were holding the netting tight against the ground.

We also got the solar pump and the electric pump/filter hooked up for the season in the Food Forest Pond. I need to clean the ledge of a lot of moss and dead plants from last year. I also need to vacuum the bottom. Those tasks will wait for a much warmer day.

Then, we moved a bunch of slates and paving stones we had lying where they shouldn't be.

Then, we raked all the chips and stuff the chickens scratch out of the coop, and all the stuff they have worked through in that area I built in the back of the coop two years ago, so it drops through the fencing to the ground. We wound up getting two full wheelbarrows (20 cubic feet) of good chicken fertilizer to put in out compost pile that will rot down over the summer. Most from their scratching area...what I call "the automatic mulching machine". We also have a pile of good compost ready to use in the gardens.

I didn't get any pictures. I will take some tomorrow if I'm not in traction! Blinking

Our wood guy just left. We got another cord of wood. It is in one of my parking spaces for 1 of our business vans, so I have to get working on it.



Aren't the daffodils pretty. I think I will pick some to put on the table for Easter Sunday.

You had a busy day, Jim - maybe overdid things a bit? And what is this "sun" thing you speak of . (We got about an inch of snow today - but it's almost all gone already.) Your daffodils are beautiful, and very "Easterish."

Weedwhacker said: You had a busy day, Jim - maybe overdid things a bit? And what is this "sun" thing you speak of . (We got about an inch of snow today - but it's almost all gone already.) Your daffodils are beautiful, and very "Easterish."

Definitely overdid things. I don't know what we were thinking. I feel like I got hit by a bus. Snow! That's obscene.

" Snow! That's obscene."

I would think so too, if we didn't need the moisture so badly! (and face it, snow is just more fun than rain is - or at least I think so!)

Weedwhacker said: " Snow! That's obscene."

I would think so too, if we didn't need the moisture so badly! (and face it, snow is just more fun than rain is - or at least I think so!)

We have had an abnormally wet year so far here in the East. Raining now and supposed rain Monday through Thursday this week.

Between the lack of snowfall this winter and the fact that it never froze over this year, the level of Lake Michigan has dropped around 3 feet (at least the part of it where we are, which is the "Bay of Green Bay" - that big bay in the NW area of L. Michigan that looks like it would close off and become it's own lake if the level drops much farther...). Not very many years ago when we had a really brutal winter - I think it was 2013-2014 - with a lot of snow and all the Great Lakes freezing over, even Superior - the level came up to where it was washing across the highways.

I have to tell you, I already don't like the binder with photo pages for storing seed packets, and I still have not received the binder. I received the photo pages two days ago. Yesterday I started inserting seed packets. They photo pages are a pain to open up, and if you put them down flat, the seed packets have a tendency to slip out, so the pages (and binder) will need to "stand up" all the time.

Instead, I bought what I first saw, and weedwhacker (Sandy) mentioned. I just bought one to try. I will probably return the binder and the photo pages to Amazon.

It's actually a photo storage box with 18 smaller 4 x 6 storage boxes. I read the questions and reviews, and a lot of people use them for seed storage. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C8YSWDR/



Happy Easter, everyone.

Popping in for the discussion of seed storage. I've tried a lot over the years but settled on Plastic File Boxes and paper seed envelopes. Some years I'd done a lot of seed trading and gifting and with much trial and error this is what works for me.



I'd tried the small plastic baggies and really can't stand them. I'm in a summer dry climate. If I'd needed to I suppose I could put desiccant in the file boxes, but it's not necessary. The boxes themselves keep bugs out. This second photo is just showing that I have a bunch out right now for sorting. I'm working to get back to just two boxes, one flowers, one veggies/herbs.

I presently have one plastic "shoe box" for veggies and one for flowers/ornamentals - with a slight overflow...

Jim, I'll be interested to hear how you like the "photo storage cases" for seed storage - it's really the only method I've seen that tempts me to make the switch! I'd love to invent something for seed storage that would have gardeners clamoring to buy... apparently I am just not that creative .

The more I think about it, the more inclined I am to get that storage photo box. My current method is great, but I think this will work out even better. I currently use 4 shoe boxes with 5 basket inserts in each, so a total of 20 - whereas this box has 16. I realized that I probably don't need 5 each for herbs or perennials, so 16 will work fine. Question - any reason you didn't go for the one with 18 inserts? It was a different brand but showed up on the amazon part that shows similar items.

I'm sowing all of my old seed stash, but starting with new acquisitions I want to store them in the refrigerator. This single box is a smaller footprint than my four plastic shoe box size bins. I am such a geek for organization stuff

The Florist in the Giant Supermarket has been giving us hyacinths for the bulbs when the plants are ready to be thrown out or haven't sold before they look bad.

She gave us more today. So far, she has given us 16 pots with 36 bulbs. (Yellow, Pink, and bluish/purple) I had to move them from the living room to the porch; they were taking up so much room. I will miss the entire house smelling like hyacinth. I love that scent. We will let the tops dry, store the bulbs until Fall, and plant a nice Spring Garden with these and daffodils.

This picture would make a great picture for a Belated Easter Card. They are so droopy.

@MoonShadows That is wonderful. Since the tops are still green - if you give them fertilizer and sun they'll have a better chance of blooming next year. Right now through top growth death is when they form the basis of the flower for next year. If they don't get enough sun or fertilizer, you'll get green shoots without a flower. But if the plan is to put them in the ground - and they get sun & food in a green shoot year, then the next year will give you flowers.

Thanks for the tips, Maggie. I appreciate them.

I think I'm in love.....
.....with my new seed saver box.

After sending back the binder and photo sheets, the plastic storage box with 16 smaller 4" x 6" x 1" locking boxes was delivered within the past hour. Rainy day, I tore into it!

It comes with each of the 16 boxes wrapped in their own plastic bags. Great to keep them clean if not using them. Also includes a sheet of 44 stickers to use on the boxes...more than enough. Here are my tomatoes and peppers in boxes.



This picture shows the little latches on the boxes.



And here are the first two boxes with stickers. BTW, there are 10 packets of tomato seeds in that tomato box and a handful of pepper packets in the pepper boxes.



This will provide more than enough room for my seeds in a very organized way. My OCD thanks Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C8YSWDR/

I am going to store this in the basement where it is dark 99.9999% of the time and I have heat, AC, and a dehumidifier. If you look around one company offers a similar box that is black to keep the light out.

Remember light, heat, and moisture are no-no's when saving seeds. Notice those Rapunzel tomatoes on top are from 2017 and they were still germinating last year. Sure they would this year too if I planted them.