If you're like me, you probably have to look up information on each kind of seed every year in order to get them started correctly. Some need heat, some need cool; many need to be planted 1/4" deep and others 1"; and so on and so on...
I love Edward Smith's book The Vegetable Gardener's Bible and I definitely use it a lot. However, have you noticed that several of the seed catalogs provide some of this same information right within their pages? Two that I know of do an excellent job at this; Seeds of Change and Territorial Seed Company.
I typically need this information when starting the seeds, so I decided to make some handy reference cards for my seed file by cutting out the information and laminating it.
I would have only used one of the two catalogs, but after comparing several vegetables, I found that both included and eliminated some really nice information, so I decided to use both. Seeds of change kept their information a bit more concise, but they retained the really important stuff, while Territorial Seeds broke the information down better and was easier to read and access.
I used white card stock and cut them all the same size, making sure they would fit the largest of all in terms of width and height. Don't forget that you want them to fit in whatever you are using to hold your seeds as well because you'll want these cards right where you keep your seed packets!
Then I glued one on one side...
and the other on the back side.
Once laminated, these should last me for years! I love organizing this kind of thing so that it makes things easier to do each year.
Now all I need to do is organize the seeds themselves and file the appropriate card with the seed. Simple. Organized. Practical. At my fingertips.
Gotta love it!
