Keeping a growing diary & seed packet organisation - any tips/advice?

[Samuel1988]

Evening all,

I was just wondering if anyone kept a growing diary to help aid/perfect their crop growing? I am new to growing my own produce and I wish to learn from what I will be doing, so I would love any pointers of what things I should possibly make not of in order to learn from any potential future mistakes.

I have also been lucky enough to get my hand on a variety of veg and flowering plant seeds (which I currently keep in chinese take-away containers with holes drilled in in an area of the greenhouse which does not recieve direct sunlight - is this the correct way to store seeds?) and would love to learn from anyone the ways in which they may organise the storing of their seeds so they reduce any potential sowing mistakes/forget to plant them etc. I am lucky enough to have alot of packets but I feel quite overwhelmed with how best I can organise them to help with planning my growing projects.

Thank you for your help,

Samuel

[Tripmeup]

Hi...
With regard to your seeds, you might be better keep them in your house or shed if you have one... Greenhouses can get very hot ( hopefully!!)....
Some people store them alphabetically, some store them by type, others by the timing of sowing...

As regards notes, pick a method that you are comfortable with and more importantly, that you can maintain without making it a chore...
Some use notebooks, others spreadsheets and so on..

[binley100]

I keep trying to keep a diary but it gets a bit out of hand and like all good resolutions doesn't last.....maybe this year will be the year ....

The most organised my seeds get are that they are all bundled together by type....ie all toms together

[horticultural_hobbit]

I have a note book with the notes I tried to make. Has a few sketches in there. I was kindly given an allotment diary-which i try to use-fail, but I do note down dates there. And of course a blog. I have to write it down, so I can learn from it.

As for storage. Old sweetie tin and jiffy envelops that I keep moving so Ma doesn't fling them out the nearest window.

[Peppermint]

I managed to keep a diary last year (my first year) and I put everything in ice-cream boxes with a label for the month of sowing.

This year .. I keep forgetting to fill the journal .. and I've moved to putting the seeds in ice cream tubs ... but based on the type of seeds i.e. peas and beans in one tub, root vegetables in another, brassica's in another.

In other words, I can't settle on a system

[veggiechicken]

Storage of seeds - all seeds of a type like tomatoes, are kept together in a resealable plastic bag, and all the bags are kept in a big plastic box, in a cool room (definitely not in the greenhouse).
I try to do a daily write up in a diary, of what I've sown......I'm not very organised though and often forget. I do have diaries going back years though to compare (if I can find them)

[Hazel at the Hill]

I have a chart showing what to sow each month (e.g. parsnip feature once in March; lettuce feature every month from March to August), then I have an envelope per month. Everything I need to sow in - e.g. April - is in the April envelope, then when they are sown, the seed packets with the rest of the seeds are put in the month's envelope when they are next to be sown.

I would store seed packets either in the fridge (like a goody two shoes) or in a box in the lounge/spare room/frost free shed/attic room; all of which you stand a chance of losing (like normal people).

I have kept a diary before now of veg/variety/date sown/date germinated/date transplanted/first crop/last crop; but it all peters out in about July. Instead, I now do a plan of the plot in excel, and mark on as I sow what is where for this year.

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