7 seed storage ideas to help make storing, sorting, taking inventory, and planting easier — whatever the size of your collection.
My husband and I both had experience gardening before we met. When we combined households, we also combined our garden seeds. Mine were stored in a manilla envelope, his in a shoebox, ziplock bags, and various glass bottles.
This seems a pretty common way to store garden seeds, in disparate boxes, mailing envelopes, and bottles, but I dare say it’s not the most efficient or organized.
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Our seed storage evolution
We started our life together on a quarter-acre lot in a mid-sized town — with an HOA that restricted everything. Our seed collection consisted of a few garden vegetables and a lot of herbs. The seeds were fairly easy to sort and store at this point, and a simple box was enough to keep our seeds contained. Our goals of becoming self-sustainable, however, trumped any desire to live in town and we jumped at the chance to move to a bigger plot of land.
As we began planning out our mountain homestead and seeing our self-sustaining ideas come to fruition, our seed collection grew. We upgraded to a cute and decorative metal seed box. We built a greenhouse and a small gardening area that we could protect from deer and other garden-predators. And we bought more seeds. We ended up with a dozen tomato varieties and no corn, a few types of carrots and one type of melon, all scattered between our metal seed box, a small basket, and a new shoebox. Obviously, we needed a better seed storage solution.
We chose a plastic photo box to organize our seeds and we’re thrilled with how easy it makes storing, sorting, and taking inventory of our seed collection. And yes, planting. This particular seed storage idea simplifies planting time. I mean, we don’t collect seeds for the joy of gazing at beautifully packaged seeds alone.
Read our complete photo-box review: Seed storage organizer box.
You may prefer another solution, so here are a few seed storage ideas to consider.
7 seed storage ideas
Some common problems we’ve found when storing seeds include:
Seed packets are inconsistently sized.
Our self-harvested seeds may be stored in various sizes of envelopes.
Seeds from others often come in homemade envelopes with illegible labels.
1. Photo box
This is our favorite of all the seed storage ideas we’ve found to date. This photo box contains several smaller boxes within it and each can be labeled independently. It fits all sizes of seed packets so all seeds of a particular type can be stored together (e.g., tomatoes, winter squash, leafy greens). Small packets don’t get lost at the bottom of the box or drawer and big packets don’t get “bent out of shape.” Seeds won’t spill into common space to intermingle either.
This is a simple way to add self-harvested seeds to our collection, right along with commercially-sourced seed packets, and seeds we’ve gotten from our gardening friends. If you want to store seeds in full color, check out this colorful photo box.
2. Library card catalog
I’ve seen a number of people use a small card catalog cabinet for seed storage. This is by far the cutest way I’ve seen to store seeds. Not in an effort to discourage anyone from going this route, but there are some drawbacks to this idea if you’re storing a large number of seeds:.
Not all seed packets will fit inside the drawers equally.
There may not be enough drawers to sort by variety.
If you have a small urban garden or herb garden set up, this solution may, however, serve you well! And, there are various sizes of card catalogs, such as this 16-drawer cabinet.
3. Ammo cans
This seems to be another popular seed storage idea, possibly because ammo cans are secure and they’re able to keep seeds dry. With ammo cans, you’ll need to create dividers, or buy one that’s already set up for seed storage. Smaller seed packets may get lost in the bottom of the can or packets could spill if they’re not kept upright. There’s also the possibility that ammo cans may be a bit too airtight. Some seeds may need to breathe more than others.
You can also get ammo cans in metal or plastic. Ammo cans stack pretty well and keep out the elements — great features when it comes to long-term seed storage.
4. Spice jars
Some people use spice jars for seed storage. This can be a cute and attractive way to store your seeds, but this idea has some drawbacks to be aware of. You can’t store your seeds in the original packets so you lose some valuable information about planting and variety. And, since you have to empty your packets into jars, you can’t keep seeds separated by date/age.
One more thing to note is that if seeds are exposed to light over a period of time, they may begin to deteriorate.
5. Binder and photo sleeves
For a smaller collection where you can see every seed packet at the turn of a page, consider using a photo album or binder with photo sleeves.
Binders fit easily on shelves or workbenches and having the flexibility to turn to any page and view seeds is actually quite appealing. Since each seed packet could have its own pouch, smaller packets wouldn’t get lost or overlooked. And, there are a variety of photo sleeve sizes (3.5x5, 4x6, or 5x7) it’s simple to find options that fit all sizes of seed packets.
6. Small chest with dividers
A small chest with custom dividers could also help organize your seed collection. I’ve seen people craft dividers out of thin slats of wood and permanently mount them inside a chest that suits their needs. View this post to see how one gardener made a seed storage box. I’ve also seen dividers made from cardboard — but I don’t see cardboard holding up well. Individual spaces would likely be limited, so seeds may need to be grouped into larger collections (e.g., greens, squash, herbs) to use this storage idea.
7. Recipe box
This may be a great way to begin a seed collection, but a standard-sized recipe box won’t hold many packets once your seed collection expands. But, for a small collection, a recipe box could be an idea you could run with — and they often come with their own dividers.
Seed storage ideas: envelopes
If you’re harvesting your own seeds or trading with friends, you’ll want to have some seed envelopes on hand. We use these a lot! There are several options for this. We use a simple manila envelope, but there are other options that have prompts for important information to record about the seeds inside.
These white seed envelopes measure 3.25 x 4.75 and have spaces to write in the type, variety, date, and notes.
These resealable, manila envelopes measure 4.7 x 3.15 and have spaces to write in the name, variety, date, origin and notes.
If you plan on sharing seeds, these decorative envelopes have a cute print on front and contain space to write on the back: type, variety, date, and notes. They measure 3.25 x 2.25.
Just getting started?
There are a lot of great seed storage ideas, and some actually come fully stocked with a great selection of seeds.
Seed storage ideas that come with seeds
Heirloom seeds in a wooden box
If you want to purchase your seeds and storage container in one bundle, check out this wooden seed box. This box comes with 100 seed packets and 45,000 seeds that fit perfectly inside — all in uniform packets. Note: once you begin adding new seed packets to this storage solution, they likely won’t fit as beautifully as the seed packets it came with. You’ll also want to create dividers so you can find the seeds you’re looking for without digging through the length of the box.
Heirloom seeds in an ammo can
This seed and ammo can set comes with a large number of heirloom seeds in a plastic ammo can so you have a great selection to choose from. The biggest drawback is that the seeds are all in plastic bags that don’t stack well and are difficult to sort through.
Essential garden seed collections
Survival garden
This survival garden collection of heirloom seeds is an essential addition to a long-term gardening plan. Whether you're buying these seeds for this year’s garden or storing them in a temperature-controlled climate for future use, the importance of this seed collection can’t be overstated.
Heirloom seed garden
This heirloom seed garden is another great choice for this year’s garden or a longer-term gardening plan. It’s a great assortment of 30,000 non-GMO open-pollinated seeds. Whether you’re just starting with a garden or you’ve been gardening for years, these seeds are a great addition to any seed collection.
The most important seed storage advice
Get started. Don’t wait. Make sure you have seeds. Plant what you can with the space and time you have. Know how to nourish them and help them grow. Your seed storage and gardening strategy will evolve as you do.
One day, producing your own food may save your life and the lives of the people you love. For now, producing your own food provides better nutrition and helps you develop life-saving skills before the pressure builds.
If you’re not sure where to start with gardening, check out Huw Richard’s book, Grow Food for Free.