Spring is in the air and officially here! (We still have ample snow on the ground on the front range but at least the calendar says it’s spring!) Gardeners are looking forward to another promising year of growing and it is time to work on the final plans for this year’s garden. Check out this previous post on garden planning for some garden planning ideas. Seed catalogs are arriving weekly in the mail, tempting us to get our orders placed. The garden stores have this year’s seed displays prominently positioned to capture our eye as we stroll through the store. New seed packets are being purchased or delivered. And…the old seeds are still stashed haphazardly in a drawer or old shoe box. Now is a great time to organize those seeds!
Start by taking an inventory of what seeds you have and their age. Compare what you have against what you plan to grow. Old seeds can be kept from two to five years. There are many seed life charts available that give the different seed viability ages for different plants. To me, managing different seed ages and keeping a viable inventory of seeds is cumbersome to manage. I just go with two years max and buy fresh seeds beyond the two year age. Buying and testing different varieties each year will also keep a assortment of fresh seeds. This method is simpler and avoids poor germination due to seed age.
Next thing to do is get all those seed packets organized. I have tried simply sorting them into similar groups and use a binder clip to keep them sorted. But the bound grouping of seed packets ends up stashed in the same drawer or shoe box. Better, but not ideal! After taking the binder clips out of the drawer this year and discovering they got wet it was time to do something about my seed organization.
I landed on a concept of using plastic bead storage containers to store the seed packets. The plastic containers come in various sizes. The 3.5 x 2.4 x 1.2 inch box is ideal for storing a standard size seed packet. Choosing this size allows the seed packet to be stored folded in half. This keeps an open seed packet sealed at the fold. Eliminating the loss of seeds from an opened packet. Some larger seeds come in larger seed packets. Think corn, beans or peas. For these seeds, just empty the whole packet into the container, cut the seed packet label and store in the container with the loose seeds. Works great! Finally, label each bead container with the sorted seed category.
All of the bead box containers are now ready to be stored in a box that fits the containers. I found that my old metal lunch box from grade school works well. (FYI, my old lunch box is almost sixty years old and still looks and works great!) If you do not have your old lunch box, you can use any container that will fit the boxes. Now you are ready to take the well stored and protected seeds to the garden!
Folded seed packets or bulk seeds stored in bead boxes. 
3.5 x 2.4 x 1.2 inch boxes fit perfectly into the old lunch box. My 60 year old lunch box converted to my “new” seed organizer! Close up view of bead boxes. Note the folded seed packets and loose pea and corn seeds stored in the containers.
Here on the Front Range, March is great time to start planning and thinking seriously about this year’s garden. And using bead boxes to organize those seed packets will make the planning and planting much easier.
