Thursday, May 26, 2011

A Remedy for Seed Packet Chaos

I have never been accused of being an organized person. In someways I'm really thankful for that, but it wasn't serving me well in the realm of seeds. 
Until recently, I kept all of my seed packets in a really pretty box. A box which I often lost. Yeah, I'm quite the chronic loser.
Good Grief
So, if confronted with seed displays while out and about I'd commonly buy stuff I had at home or, even worse, I'd freak out and not buy something because I thought I had it. 

SO, WHAT'S THE SOLUTION!? 

Well, I saw this awesome idea on "Gardening by the Yard." 
A Great Show hosted by a Tulsa Local

First, I grabbed the mystery box of seeds from under a pile of plastic pots in the garage or somewhere similar
Then I laid them all out 
(this picture keeps loading upside down, whatever.)
Then in one of my old school binders I filled plastic photo holders with the seed packets.

.
I held them in the little pouches with a piece of tape


 This was looking pretty good! So, now what?


Should I carry this binder at all times? 

Should I memorize it page by page? 

Should I just forget the whole thing and take a nap?




NO! I should do data entry... (lame)


So, I entered everything into MS Excel and made a spreadsheet (gag!)

The end result is that I am now able to print off a very portable list of my seed catalog. 
HEY! I can probably even load it on to my phone so I'll never be without this valuable information.

I envision a lot of efficiently purchased seeds in my future!!!



I still have all of my flower packets to do, but Pa'Sha to that!

7 comments:

  1. That is a great idea! So easy to see what you actually have.

    ~GonSS

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  2. Totally, now as long as I don't lose the book I'll have it made!

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  3. Oh, Rachael - you can never ever say you are not organized again! You have "outted" yourself as a master organizer!

    I love the system - I'm a big fan of Excel. If you really wanna get anal you can use Access. Then you can organize your seeds beyond all reason. smile.

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  4. Hi Raechill. I finally made it to your blog. Yours is pretty, too. I see you posted your own photo for the background, too.

    I had to laugh at things you said in this post. I am not a great organizer either, and I spend more time than I like hunting for things I've misplaced. I do have my seeds somewhat organized, though. I have flower seeds in one container, veggies for spring planting in another, and summer planted seeds in yet another. Still, there are seeds I can't find that didn't make it to the right container.

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  5. Wow! I must say, I'm pretty proud. Such a good idea!

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  6. Thanks All, I was proud of myself today because I actually added the new seeds I bought to the folder and excel.

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