How to Take a Seed Inventory

It’s that time of year, where the seed catalogs are coming in and seed orders are being placed. Before you order seeds, it’s important to take a seed inventory.

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Why Should Take a Seed Inventory

1. First and foremost, it will save you money. It is very easy to over order seeds. Trust me, I have been there. The seed catalogs and websites entice me and the next thing you know, I order packets of seeds that I already had from previous years.
2. Seeds don’t expire, but germination can decrease after years of storage. This is especially true of pelleted seeds. A seed inventory can help you use up your old seed or get rid of them.
3. Clean out the crops/varieties that you won’t grow. This step is often skipped because we spent hard earned money on those seeds and we always think we will plant them, but most of the time (at least in my experience) I don’t.
4. It will save you time and space. By going through your seeds, you know what you have and are able to use them instead of just ordering more and adding to the seed pile. This means less time managing and less space storing seeds.

What supplies do you need to take a seed inventory

You can make your seed inventory as simple or as complicated as you would like. You can put everything into Google Sheets or Excel or you can write it on a piece of paper and you can count seeds or weigh packets. In general, you need minimal supplies. The supplies you need are:

1. Spreadsheet or Paper & pencil
2. Scale (if weighing seed packets)

How to take a Seed Inventory

1. Develop an Excel Spreadsheet or Google Sheet for how you will track
   • The columns your spreadsheet should include:
     • Type
     • Variety
     • Quantity
       • Alternatively, if you are weighing your packets, you can use weight in ounces and then determine how many seeds/ounce. Johnny’s website is good for having this information. From there you will create a formula to calculate the number of seeds you have based on weight (ounces in inventory x # of seeds/ounce).
     • Year Purchased or what year the seeds were packed for
     • Notes- use this to make any notes you have about the seeds or if you remember anything about the plants that you liked or didn’t like.
2. Gather all of your seeds
3. Go through all of your seed packets one by one and make an initial decision on if you are interested in growing them or if you want to pass them on to someone/someplace else. This prevents inventorying seeds you don’t want to hang onto.
4. Sort Seeds by type (i.e. cherry tomatoes, beets, green beans, etc.)
5. Finally, Start adding seeds into your spreadsheet developed in step 1

What to do after you complete your seed inventory

1. Compare your current inventory against your crop plan to determine the gaps in your inventory and what you need to purchase.
2. You made an initial decision on which seeds to move out of your inventory, but now it is time to get rid of any seeds that don’t fit into your crop plan or that are older and have poor germination. Don’t fret, you don’t need to throw them away. You can donate them to: schools, daycares, public libraries, or even post them on local Facebook groups
3. Determine how you will organize your seeds moving forward. I will be sharing a blog post on how we organize our seeds in the coming days.

More Gardening Content:

• Steps to Take Now to Prepare for the Upcoming Gardening Season
• How to Start Seeds Indoors Using Grow Lights
• How to Start Seeds Indoors Without Grow Lights

SOme of our favorite places to order seeds:

• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
• High Mowing Organic Seeds
• Johnny’s Selected Seeds
• Osborne Quality Seeds

Some of oUr Favorite Gardening Books:

• The First-Time Gardener: Growing Vegetables: All the know-how and encouragement you need to grow – and fall in love with! – your brand new food garden by Jessica Sowards
• The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener by Eliot Coleman
• The Tiny But Mighty Farm: Cultivating High Yields, Community, and Self-Sufficiency from a Home Farm – Start growing food today – Meet the best … yourself, your family, and your neighbors by Jill Ragan