Some Seed Inspiration For You

If this week’s post on seed starting in the summer didn’t get you all jazzed, maybe this will spark just a little inspiration!

Last week, as I do every year, I made an inventory of all my seeds… sprawled in the living room, taking stock of all the varieties, categorizing and even color-coordinating. Call it my inner OCD at work. I feel a strange satisfaction seeing all my tomatoes arranged from Black Cherry to White Duggin and all shades in between. (As I’ve come to realize, oddly, I have very few red tomatoes but plenty in black, pink, orange, green, and white… even stripes!)

I’ve also collected quite a few seeds on my own, saving my favorites to grow year after year. There is something so comforting about having a personal seed vault of sorts. Just in that little $2 packet exists a lifetime of food security and self-sufficiency; and while I’m far from being self-sufficient, being able to walk into a store to buy only meat and dairy is a very empowering feeling.

I store my seeds in old ammo boxes stashed in the walk-in closet, where it’s always at least 10°F colder than the rest of the house. At current count there are just over 200 varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers, mostly heirlooms, with another 100 on order this week. And I’ve grown almost every single variety I own. What can I say? I’m obsessed with seeds.

I love pulling out these boxes every spring and summer, flipping through the packets and choosing what to sow in the garden. I love trying new varieties I’ve never seen before, from countries I’ve never visited but somehow, somewhere, these seeds have crossed the oceans and passed many hands before making it into mine.

In 10, 20, even 30 years, I’ll still be saving some of my favorite seeds. I’ll hand them down to family and friends, and maybe those will be passed off to strangers. And who knows, those same seeds might make it back around the world to some other garden in the future, spawning a new generation of seed collectors.