Sorting out seeds for the upcoming spring is one of my favourite jobs. It’s also the job I put off doing until the week after Christmas, as that’s the time when I’m really excited about the next growing season.
I thought I’d share how I go about sorting out my seeds for next year, so I hope it helps if you’re doing the same and need a little inspiration to get going, or just some simple advice.
- Assess what grew well last year. What worked, what didn’t, what grew well, what did you actually eat? This is an easy way of getting a small pile of your favourite, must-grow seeds for next year.
2. What do you wish you grew, but didn’t get round to? I keep a little list of things I’d love to have tried, but didn’t start in time, or didn’t know about until it was too late. Luffas is on my list, as is peppers and fennel!
3. What seeds have gone past their sell by date. Yes! Even seeds go off! So check the packets and discard anything that is off to save disappointment.
4. Consider drawing up a little plan of your garden so you know where things might go, remembering to leave some room for spontaneity. It’s all well planning your garden, but sometimes a pack of seeds gets thrown your way and you just can’t resist giving them a go. So leave some room.
5. Write down a little list of everything you are planning to grow, the times they should be sown and what you will replace them with once they have been harvested. That way, you’ll feel really prepared and wont have any empty raised beds through the summer!
Just a quick note at the end to say, my blog has made it to the top UK 60 Gardening blogs on Feedspot, which is just amazing. Thank you so much for your support with my blog and to Feedspot for featuring me. I’m currently number 10!! You can find it here!
Loved the idea of keeping a list of things you want to grow but for some reason couldn’t get to. My garden is small and I like to grow a variety of new things but I can’t squeeze them all in the garden in one season.
Don’t throw away seeds past the expiration. I still have seeds from 2017 that I grew this past season in 2021. germination may have been a little lower but I didn’t notice since I usually overseed older seeds to ensure I get germination. They usually last a couple years with good germination if stored correctly.
I’ve been enjoying your posts, thank you for sharing!! 💕
Ah thank you so much for the tip! I’ll hold on to a couple of the expired seeds and see how they do! x