41. Storing seeds

Storing seeds started off being a relatively straightforward exercise at first: a small seed tin for Christmas to hold the few herb and flower seeds I needed for my courtyard garden. When I started growing vegetables I had to upgrade and used a lovely old metal Weet-Bix tin given to me by my father.

Things became a lot more complicated when I started collecting my own seeds from plants, mainly flowers. The variety and seed volumes increased exponentially. I started using an old metal cash box to store all the collected seeds, but it wasn’t ideal. Sorting and maintaining them into any sort of order was tricky.

Which brings me to a brilliant Christmas present from my mother this year. It is set of old card catalogue drawers that were originally commissioned and used by the British library until the early 1990s. They now house my seed collection; 6 x deep card drawers that allow me to sort and store the boxes of seeds easily. A practical as well as a beautiful seed storage solution.

It is perfect for what I need, and will be useful storage if / when my seeds outgrow this one too. My brother has some identical drawers and uses them to house his weekly wine collection. The bottles fit perfectly.