by Susan Klatz Beal

Created on: January 18, 2009   Last Updated: September 08, 2010

Collecting seeds from your flowering plants, herbs and heirloom vegetables is a great way to share your bounty with friends, family and other gardeners. The process of collecting them is actually quite easy, but if you want to make sure that the seeds you spent so much time painstakingly harvesting will be nice and fresh when you go to share them or use them yourself, you must store them properly. This will ensure that the seeds are clean, free of chaff, dry and cared for properly.

Here is the information you need to know in order to make sure that your seeds are properly prepared for storage and that you store them in a manner that will ensure their continued freshness.

*Removing the chaff from the seeds -

After harvesting your seeds, it is essential that you separate the chaff from the seeds. Otherwise, you may wind up with some packets of seeds that contain nothing but chaff. Removing all of this debris will allow you to separate the seeds so that each seed will dry evenly.

*Counting the seeds -

You will want to count the seeds, if that is realistically possible. If not, you'll want to divide the seeds according to what looks equal. You want to make sure that you are making packets that are as close to equal as is possible.

*What to use to hold the seeds -

Many people who are experienced seed savers and traders will use small manilla envelopes. These envelopes can hold a reasonable amount of seed and you can label the envelope so that you know what its in each packet and when the seeds were harvested. Other people will use small plastic zip lock bags that are typically found in the craft department of stores like Walmart, or specialty craft stores. If you don't want to spend the money, you can always create your own envelopes by folding them, or by printing them from templates you can find on the Internet.

Unless you are very sure that your seeds are completely dry, using a plastic bag may not be the wisest idea. Once the bag is closed shut, you lock the air out, and if there is a build up of moisture, that can cause mold to grow, and this will ruin the seeds.

*Storing the seeds -

Having a filing system for your seeds is crucial. It will ensure that you know what you have, how much you have and where everything is. If you have a cardboard shoe box that is lying around, that will work perfectly. If not, you can find plastic shoe boxes with lids at most retailers for under $1.

How you arrange your seeds is something you will need to figure out on your own. Some people simply arrange things alphabetically. Others prefer to be more methodical. They may separate seeds according to annual, perennial, or biennial. From there, they may also group seeds by color, by height, or by how long the seeds take to sprout. Whatever you choose to do will work well for you.

Organizing and storing your seeds properly can be a huge undertaking, especially if you have a lot of seeds. Once you have everything organized systematically, you will be able to find anything whenever you need it. This will be especially helpful if you want to start seeds indoors so you can plant your seedlings outside the next spring.

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