Can't have everything
It's time to begin inventorying my seeds.
Every year is another spreadsheet; I'd once thought I could have one spreadsheet for the garden and a couple columns for each year.
Then, I thought, maybe a tab for each category but still an enduring sheet (tomatoes. brassicas and greens. circubits. though non-overlapping categorization is hard).
Then, last year, one sheet for the annuals through one year, a tab per category.
Now, I start one sheet for 2022 with a tab for a simple list of carryover seeds and a simple list of incoming seeds that will no doubt be reworked into categories. We'll see how it shapes itself.
Annuals need a bunch of information: when did I buy the seed and from where? Do I plant it indoors, and if so when? When was it transplanted outside? What kind of food is it? If I plant it outdoors, when? Which garden is it going into? Am I doing any breeding work with it? When did it start producing? How many days to maturity does that make it? How much did it produce? When did it stop producing, when was it killed by frost? Did I save any seed? If I did, what are the likely parents? What was the plant growth habit? Do I want to grow it again? Was it particularly pest-susceptible?
Once I know what I have (I think I'll have at least a hundred varieties of tomatoes this year between trades, saved seed, and carryover seed) I'll need to decide what else to buy and what I'll actually put in the ground (tomatoes that didn't ripen last year will probably not be grown again, for instance).
I'd like to vacuum seal everything by planting date, so I can pop open Feb, March, and April's seeds just like that and have them all in one place.
It would be nice to sometime figure out how to organize all this in a very dry, cool place where I can access what I want, but that seems optimistic.
Meantime it's dreaming time. I'll plant a couple indoor tomato seeds and sort.
Every year is another spreadsheet; I'd once thought I could have one spreadsheet for the garden and a couple columns for each year.
Then, I thought, maybe a tab for each category but still an enduring sheet (tomatoes. brassicas and greens. circubits. though non-overlapping categorization is hard).
Then, last year, one sheet for the annuals through one year, a tab per category.
Now, I start one sheet for 2022 with a tab for a simple list of carryover seeds and a simple list of incoming seeds that will no doubt be reworked into categories. We'll see how it shapes itself.
Annuals need a bunch of information: when did I buy the seed and from where? Do I plant it indoors, and if so when? When was it transplanted outside? What kind of food is it? If I plant it outdoors, when? Which garden is it going into? Am I doing any breeding work with it? When did it start producing? How many days to maturity does that make it? How much did it produce? When did it stop producing, when was it killed by frost? Did I save any seed? If I did, what are the likely parents? What was the plant growth habit? Do I want to grow it again? Was it particularly pest-susceptible?
Once I know what I have (I think I'll have at least a hundred varieties of tomatoes this year between trades, saved seed, and carryover seed) I'll need to decide what else to buy and what I'll actually put in the ground (tomatoes that didn't ripen last year will probably not be grown again, for instance).
I'd like to vacuum seal everything by planting date, so I can pop open Feb, March, and April's seeds just like that and have them all in one place.
It would be nice to sometime figure out how to organize all this in a very dry, cool place where I can access what I want, but that seems optimistic.
Meantime it's dreaming time. I'll plant a couple indoor tomato seeds and sort.