where do people store their seeds?

[zazen999]

Some in an old Gordon Ramsay Choccie egg aluminium container from a few years back; and some in an old glass pasta jar.

I always keep silica gel packets in them; mixed old and new packets.

[peanut]

Old Chocolate tins for mine......though come to think of it they seem to be getting a bit crowded!........off to buy more tins of chocolates!! yummy!!!

[TrishY]

mine are in a square biscuit box from christmas, not in any order but some packets are grouped together in elastic bands

[bramble]

Mine are in a long narrow tin. Don't remember what was in it but i have all my opened seeds in brown envelopes, labelled and in alphabetical order. Kept in the conservatory in the winter and in a shoe press in the summer.

[PAULW]

Plastic tool box, thinking of getting one of them snap on tool boxes with wheels.

[Alice]

I think your seeds will be allright next year Janeyo. If you have any doubts about them you can check their viability this way before you depend on them for your main planting.
Wet a sheet of kitchen paper and fold it in quarter. On one side lay out 10 seeds and fold in half over the seeds. Place the package in a freezer bag and clip it closed. Place in a warm place and check daily for germination - if successful you will see white wiggly bits coming out of the seed. The number that germinate will give you a % viability ie 7 from 10 = 70%.
You can do this as early in the year as you like and then you will know if your seeds are viable and worth planting or if you have to buy some more. Hope this helps.

I keep my seeds in a lock n lock box. In no particular order cos like Flummery I take them out and play with them.

[Snadger]

Two biscuiit tins, one for flowers and one for veg! Seed packets that the seed has been planted from for this year in a tupperware box. All seeds are stored on storage shelves in greenhouse!

PS Had a few legumes in a tesco plastic bag, but a mouse got in and noshed them!

[Growem]

Mine are in some cardboard wine boxes, one set of seeds has a wooden wine box! All these are kept in a larger cardboard box. They were divided into seeds for the garden, seeds for the allotment, seeds to propogate and flowers, but my daughter got into them and although all the open packets were rolled tight enough that I don't have a pix&mix of seeds in the carpet, I certainly have nothing resembling order in the ranks now.

[rustylady]

12 pocket concertina organizer thingy, labelled by month. Sounds good doesn't it? However I have to admit to having various other packets scattered round the kitchen, or near the potting bench. I do try to keep them organized though. My main problem is I hate throwing anything out - I really must get rid of the really old ones this year.

[deezyb]

mine are kept in empty cat food boxes, no order although I do try to separate flower from veg but inevitably they all end up muddled! stored at back door, seem to be fine there!

[janeyo]

Thanks all (and Alice, that's really helpful info - I get to play with the old seeds before playing with them properly -double the pleasure!)
I always have good intentions of keeping things tidy but get sidetracked by doing fun stuff instead!
When the packets say sow by 2009 eg, are they normally accurate? I know parsnips need fresh seed but the packet still says sow by 2011 or somethign like that.

I will keep the new ones closed and resist any urges to open them this year and have a play, got enough to keep me occupied with the ones I have already got going! OH is already talking about getting me a proper progagator for next year! - am excited already.

janeyo

[rustylady]

Check Dr Hessayon The Vegetable Expert for storage times for seeds. Good reference book.

[Alice]

Janeyo, Poultrychat posted this poem about how long seed will keep. Hope you find it useful and interesting.
Seed Shelf Life

[bluemoon]

A tupperware box, but its as deep as it is wide and has a handle for carrying. It lives in the shed.

[Bren In Pots]

I only started growing last year so I don't have that many leftover seeds just a few packets stored in a old icecream tub.