Organizing for Spring

I recently started reorganizing my file cabinet because it was over stuffed. Sound familiar? I could never find the information that I needed when I needed it. I read in the book, You Can Farm by Joel Salatin, how to organize a master file plan logically and then place the files numerically. It is amazing how simple his idea is to implement. I highly recommend the book. I was able to borrow it from the library. It was well worn and starting to mildew, but worth the read.

My next project is to find a way to organize my seeds as well as all of the planting information I have accumulated. The system I was using included:

• My planting tips were in a file box with other farming related information like animal care and fruit trees. The problem with this is that I never used the box except to add more ideas, and not when I was actually planting.
• I tried a tip from Pinterest in which you use a closet organizer from the dollar store for your seeds. It was sort of helpful because the seeds were placed in order of which ones were to be planted first. The problem was that I didn't look at the seed organizer often enough to plant on time. Another problem is that I now have seeds that I have collected in glass jars as well as those in packets that I keep in the refrigerator.
• I had a small graph notebook that I used as a garden journal since the spring of 2010. The positive thing about this journal was that I managed to write in it fairly often during the growing seasons in the last few years. I didn't really know what to include when I first started writing in it though so it lacks much of the data detail needed for future plantings. I didn't document very well what varieties of seeds I purchased or where I purchased them. (I did keep the receipts in my file cabinet though.) I wasn't very clear about how many plants I started verses how many survived. It also would have been helpful to know exactly how much my garden did produce each season. Some of the seeds I purchased for this spring did not come with detailed growing instructions either. I need to make sure that I develop some for these this spring for future years. 

One of my solutions to this was to transfer all of the note cards from the file box to baseball card protectors in a binder. It is a work in progress. The sections I have in the binder are the current garden plan, seed saving, seed inventory, preparing the soil, deciding what to plant, planting schedule, companion planting, crop rotation, pests, attracting beneficial insects and birds, herbs, veggies, fruit, animals, compost, and extending the season. Since old seed packets fit perfectly in the pockets, I will be able to add the empty ones as they are finished to the binder. This will help identify which varieties to order or avoid in the future. I can also photocopy quality garden journal pages that can be placed in page protectors. This allows me to take the binder outside without to much worry of it getting damaged. As the sections expand from year to year, I can eventually have separate binders for each topic. I think I would add a section on canning in the future as well. (This information is currently kept in my recipe file box.)

Do you have any ideas or suggestions to add for organizing seeds? Just leave a comment.