Friday 2 August 2013

Repeat sowing - storing seed


I've just come up with this brilliant wheeze.  I repeat sow salad leaves and radishes every couple of weeks all summer long. [and would do under glass in the winter if I was here]

It is fiddly and time-consuming opening the little foil-lined seed packets, pinching out the bit of seed you want, returning the bits you find you actually don't want and then closing the packets back up again neatly to keep the seed safe.  Two small (3" wide) Ikea food boxes sorted that problem.  I now have easy access to the seeds and I can chuck them in a drawer in the kitchen (keep away from the light), ready to go when I want them.  My actual seed box is kept in the garage because the summer house (aka my garden shed) gets too hot so I also had to unlock the garage to retrieve the two packets every time.

The labels are my favourite labelling system for a lot of things - (painters) masking tape.  It is easy to write on, sticks well but comes off easily and cleanly so you can swap labels around without a fuss or great expense.  Indeed the right hand one has already been changed.  I needed to top up both boxes with a fresh packet of seeds so I decided to just buy whatever took my fancy and keep mixing it in with whatever was left in the the box.  My radishes are no longer just English breakfast - they are mixed varieties.  Salad leaves by their very definition are a mixed bag.  When I come back to the leftovers next year, ready to start again, it won't mater if one-year old seed isn't quite as viable as it will have fresh seed amongst it.  It might even help the plants if some doesn't germinate as I am rubbish at sowing thinly.

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