In this video,
we are going to learn the best method that I have found for storing all of these
seeds for your garden. And why? It has something to do with this.
Kevin here from Epic Gardening where it's my goal to help you grow a greener
thumb. So let's talk about seed storage. Why is it so important?
I wish it wasn't so. I'm not the most organized person on earth,
but when it comes to seeds, number one, my budget seems to be infinity.
So I've purchased, this is just one company I bought from this year.
This is Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company with like 30 packs of seeds just from
one company.
And you saw the ones I did earlier in this video from Botanical Interests.
So I'm going crazy with them as usual. I think you guys can all relate.
And how do you store and organize them?
So in this video we're talking about the way I used to do it,
the way I do it now, which I think is infinitely better.
It's a tip I got from a friend of mine who you'll learn about in a second.
And at the very end,
I'll give you a couple bonus tips for storing your seeds as well as a secret
that I think a lot of seed companies don't tell you.
Or at least they just don't make it really obvious and it can actually save you
a lot of money. So without further ado, let's get into the video.
So here is the way that I used to store my seeds.
I still have some old seeds in here.
It is basically a little jewelry box where you could put like beads and stuff
like that in here. And you just open it up and you can see I can't turn it over,
which is one of the problems with this method.
But you can see tons of seeds in there, right?
And so what did I like about this method? Little compartmentalized areas.
I didn't have to store the actual seed packs.
But what I did not like about this method is number one,
I was just writing on the top. So if I ever swapped out any seeds,
then I would have to somehow wipe this off and rewrite it. I also didn't like,
at least in the particular one that I bought,
there were these little sectionals that are in here that aren't flush with the
bottom. They're not part of the actual thing. You have to slide them in.
What does that mean? Sensitive seeds,
small seeds can just kind of slide under and mix and match.
So I hot glued the whole thing, which it works. It just took a lot of time.
The other thing I don't like is you really can't turn this over.
You have to hold it like this. And then finally, the fourth thing I don't like,
I guess this wasn't as good a system as I thought,
is it's hard sometimes to get small seeds out. Like look,
these chard seeds not a big deal. They're very large, you know?
But if I go over here, let's say to the carrot seeds or these basil seeds,
sometimes I had to kind of put my finger down and get it to just stick to my
finger and then sprinkle from there. Which it works,
it just wasn't the most efficient.
So let's go ahead and teleport over to the better method right now.
Here we go. We've teleported to it. This is the new and improved version.
It's from my friend Deanna or Deannacat on Instagram. So please check her out.
She has some amazing tips for like urban homesteading. Very, very amazing,
amazing gardener. But this is a tip that basically I got from her,
it's inspired by her. So why did I show you a,
a camera lens at the beginning of this video?
Because this is not a seed storage box. It's actually just a photo organizer.
Back in the day when we used to take photos and we used to actually put them in
little containers like this. Apparently people still do that. I don't do that.
But I definitely will put my seed packs in it, right?
And so this is a four by six inch,
which perfectly fits all but the most extreme seed packs.
Almost anything's gonna fit in here. So what have I done? Boom, boom.
And I can just come along with my seed briefcase basically,
and go ahead and plant. Now, how do I actually organize the interior?
What you'll see is I've gone full obsessive compulsive and I have labeled every
single thing, which I never do, but for some reason in the world of seeds,
I've done it. Now I have two of these. Let me get the other one.
So how do you know what seeds to put in what. What I like to do is,
if you're in a cold climate that you have a true frost,
you should have probably one box can be your spring/fall and one box can be your
summer. I'm in San Diego zone 10B so I do kind of mix and match,
but to some degree they follow a natural trend.
So I have things like my herbs, my roots.
I have so many different radishes that I actually have a box for just the
radishes. Onions, lettuces, Asian greens, brassicas, flowers, double on peas,
double on beans,
because of course it's a large seed so you can fit less in them. Peppers,
tomatoes, squashes, fruits.
And then over here I've got some other stuff and admittedly I could organize
this slightly better. But the beauty of this method is that number one,
it's double protected. So you have this, right, sealing it off.
And then each of these is also in its own little container.
And within that it's still in the original seed pack.
So it's really three layers of protection. And if you want to swap things out,
you can just move the cucumbers one over here.
You can move the eggplants one over here and you can create the box that you
want. So really if it came to it, you could just go,
go into your seed vault and you could say, okay, today I want, you know,
I'm doing peas, I'm doing some herbs and I'm doing some lettuces.
And you can just bring this out to your garden.
And I have probably 40 seed packs right here that I can go ahead and use in a
really simple way. So that's what I personally really like about it.
And it's really that simple. The links are in the description for how to get it.
But let's go ahead and talk about some bonus seed storage and seed money saving
tips. So quick little bonus primer on storing your seeds.
A lot of people will say, can you freeze your seeds, store them in the freezer?
You certainly can. That's what a seed vault does. But then again,
a seed vault isn't gardening annually, right?
They're not pulling them in and out. So if you were to do that,
you would want to make sure it's in an airtight container.
These technically are not airtight, but if it's in a ziplock bag for example,
what you'd want to do is take it out,
let it get to room temperature before opening the bag.
Otherwise you could cause some condensation,
which might actually germinate the seeds if enough water condenses around the
seed, right?
So I would generally say don't store it in something that can change in climate
relatively quickly. So I don't store in the freezer,
I don't store in my refrigerator, I don't store in my garage or my garden shed.
I store indoors in here in my home. Right?
That's probably your best way. The three things you want to look for. Cool,
or relatively cool. At least 60-70 degrees or so.
Obviously the colder the better for optimal storage,
but we do what we can as gardeners. Uh, dry and dark.
And dark is kind of solved already because number one,
it's not extremely bright in here, but number two, it's triple sealed.
This is translucent. This is translucent to some degree.
And then of course it's in more or less an opaque seed pack.
So it's not pitch black, but it's pretty close. Now the tip,
the thing that a lot of seed companies don't tell you,
it's not like they're nefarious or anything like that.
But on the back of the seed packs, it'll say "packed for x" -
packed for 2020, packed for 2019.
Now do seeds just magically die the instant we turned from December 31st to
January 1st? No, they don't. Seeds are lasting for two, five, 10,
sometimes even longer. Decades at best, right?
And so what you can do is you can use your seeds way longer than you think.
You don't have to refresh your seed pack and your seed collection every single
year.
And another thing that I found somewhat helpful is if you contact some of your
favorite seed companies and you say, "Hey,
do you have any packs for 2019 seeds still left"?
They're not going to sell it this year.
They're not selling 2019 in 2020 but they may donate it if you run a nonprofit.
Maybe you're hard on money right now.
Maybe you just are looking for some sort of deal. It can be a good little hack.
And so I really hope that this was enlightening.
A lot of you asked how I store my seeds. Clearly I need some extra help,
but guys, let me know what you think. Until next time,
good luck in the garden and keep on growing.