Taking Seed Inventory

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.  - Robert Louis Stevenson

It is too wet to even think about doing any gardening right now - too early to do much to prepare for the spring garden, but that doesn't mean that there aren't things to do to get ready.  Saturday morning, I did just that.  As with many facets of life, it is best to start any serious undertaking by taking inventory.  In this instance, I'm talking about seeds.

Time is flying by and it won't be long before it is time to put seeds in the ground.  I don't want to be caught without seeds and rather than just ordering, I want to take a look at what I have on hand.  First, I'll take everything out of the freezer - my cold storage.  I store seeds leftover from prior years in the freezer as sometimes I over-order.  It is a delicate balance, as you don't want your seeds to get old as the germination percent drops over time.  You definitely don't want to run out of seeds when it is time to plant.

Saturday morning I removed the sealed packages from the freezer and laid them all out on the carpet in stacks of similar vegetables.  All of the varieties of beans in one stack, all of the varieties of squash in another, peas in another, and so on and so forth.  In past years, I just wrote down all of the names and quantities on a sheet of paper that I kept in my Garden Binder, but this year, I created an Excel spreadsheet where I have the seed variety names in one column, quantity in another, and a RE-ORDER alert that pops up if the inventory levels fall beneath a threshold.  I always want to have enough seeds on hand.

Taking inventory

This practice allows me to plan ahead so that I order the seeds I need in advance of the recommended planting dates.  I plant all open pollinated heirloom varieties (non-hybrid) and that allows me to save my own seed.  I have lots of seed stored away that I've saved over the years and that serves as an 'insurance policy' of sorts.   still try to order a packet or two of seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for those varieties that I have been unable to save seeds from.

Once I have taken inventory, I'll look at my records of what I planted last spring and compare against my inventory and I'll know what I need to order for the upcoming crop year.  Simple enough.

Once inventory is complete, I seal the seeds tightly in the bubble-wrapped packages that they were shipped in and I label the outside of the package, so I know exactly what is within.  All of the wrapped up seeds go back into the freezer where they will continue to slumber until that time this spring when I'll place them in the ground and they will awaken and grow.  

Cold Storage

Now that the inventory of seeds is complete of all the seeds in cold storage, I'll turn my attention to taking inventory of my saved seed.  These seeds tightly sealed and are tucked away in vitamin & supplement bottles in a dark, dry location in a utility room cabinet.  I have those medicine bottles labeled with the name of the seeds contained and the year that the seeds were saved.  I try to rotate them, using First-in, First-out (FIFO) accounting.  I've got this on my list of things to do in the next few evenings.

Once done, THEN I'll make a seed order of those items where my inventory levels are low or depleted AND I always order an item or two that I'd like to plant on an experimental basis.  I'm sure there are more sophisticated methods to do this, but it works for me.