![\"15875248_10155770996694768_4467176312334790916_o-169x300\"](\"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/15875248_10155770996694768_4467176312334790916_o-169x300-169x300.jpg\")
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Taking seed inventory is one of my useful garden planning tools. I never really found the need to take inventory when I had my small backyard garden because my seeds always fit in an envelope or a small plastic shoebox.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t too hard to see what I had on hand.\u00a0 Now that we have a larger garden, planning is a lot more important.<\/p>\n
I typically start recording my seed inventory after I am done with my fall planting. That is when I am done with my seeds and can safely begin to keep track of them without planting a pack and forgetting to record it.<\/p>\n
![\"15844732_10155763380059768_3630726973268555719_o-300x169\"](\"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/15844732_10155763380059768_3630726973268555719_o-300x169-300x169.jpg\")
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Keeping seed inventory allows me to see, at a glance:<\/p>\n
I printed a chart above that tells me approximately how many seeds are in each pack based on weight, which helps me figure out how many packs I need to purchase.\u00a0 I weigh my saved seed and use the chart to help me figure out how many seeds I have without having to count them.<\/p>\n
To start, I gather all of my seed packs into a large pile.\u00a0 They are rarely organized at this point, so that is the first step.\u00a0 I put all vegetable varieties next to each other, with seed packs of the same weight in the same spot.\u00a0 Different weighted packs are in their own pile for inventory purposes, but afterwards they all go in a bag.<\/p>\n
![\"15799860_10155763330124768_6825962891200601724_o-300x204\"](\"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/15799860_10155763330124768_6825962891200601724_o-300x204-300x204.jpg\")
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I use a chart to fill in everything I have. Varieties are grouped by vegetable, or herb, or whatever it is I am taking inventory on.\u00a0 If I have receipts, I write down how much each seed pack cost, and my total cost for each variety.\u00a0 Once I am done with inventory (not until I start planting but I will happily purchase seeds all year\u2026) I figure total expense to date.<\/p>\n
I look at previous years records to see what I grew, how much I planted, and how much it yielded at the end of the season.\u00a0 Then, I decide if I should plant more, less, or about the same (considering how the season went \u2013 one year my chickens destroyed my entire tomato crop \u2013 so I really didn\u2019t have much data to go by for the next year).<\/p>\n
I try to jot down the approximate number of seeds I have using the chart I linked to above.\u00a0 It helps to have a hard figure that says I have \u201cx many tomato seeds\u201d verses \u201cone pack.\u201d\u00a0 Then I write down the estimated yield, assuming we have a good year.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean I will actually see that amount, but it gives me a number to figure.<\/p>\n
![\"15776664_10155761988799768_7287862827609243023_o\"](\"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/15776664_10155761988799768_7287862827609243023_o-167x300.jpg\")
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Seed inventory isn\u2019t done yet \u2013 now I need to make a list of what I still need to buy and how many packs.\u00a0 I like to keep this list on my phone so when I\u2019m in a store and just happen to notice they have seeds I can make a thoughtful purchase.\u00a0\u00a0 My husband tries to keep me out of any store that might have seeds during spring because he knows I have a seed buying problem.\u00a0 How can you resist?!<\/p>\n
Anyway, after I make these very thoughtful, totally non-impulse seed purchases (insert throat clearing and wandering eyes here)\u00a0 I come home and update my inventory records.\u00a0 I always leave a few lines empty after listing inventory I have for each vegetable.\u00a0 Doing this allows me to keep my list organized without having to list a new tomato variety or a differently weighted package under another vegetable because I didn\u2019t leave space under the tomato category.<\/p>\n
Once all packs and containers are accounted for, it\u2019s time to nicely organize them in time for spring planting.\u00a0 Every gardener has their own way \u2013 I\u2019ve used a binder with those plastic sheets with pockets for pictures when I had a very small garden.\u00a0 Then I used one of my husbands ammo boxes and organized everything according to when I would plant the seed. \u00a0I then moved to one of those plastic storage bins with three drawers.\u00a0 Now I use a Rubbermaid tote and organize seeds in grocery bags\u2026.\u00a0 Silly, but for now it works.\u00a0 Ideally I\u2019ll have a nice potting station in my basement greenhouse one of these years so I can build some permanent and roomy storage solutions.<\/p>\n
When I organize my seeds, I organize them according to spring planting, early indoor starters, direct summer sow, and fall garden.\u00a0 This way, seeds that are planted at similar times are grouped together and I don\u2019t have to sort through seed packs to find a vegetable that is mixed in with many other vegetables that aren\u2019t due to be planted at the same time.<\/p>\n
So once the inventory is updated and seeds are put away, the next step is to map the garden to figure out where I am going to plant all of those seeds\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Taking seed inventory is one of my useful garden planning tools. I never really found the need to take inventory when I had my small backyard garden because my seeds always fit in an envelope or a small plastic shoebox. It wasn\u2019t too hard to see what I had on hand. Now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2056,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions\/2056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}