Seed Collecting

     For me, seed collecting is one of the most important parts of building a garden and it can also be a form of currency in the gardening world. I must admit that seed collecting is where my OCD takes over-I see seeds where other people just see plants. My wife thinks my methods of collecting seeds can be bizarre but it brings me great satisfaction finding different seeds and knowing you have the beginning of a new life in your hands. A short walk around the block can have me stopping many times to see what seeds I can add to my collection.
     I play a lot of golf and the landscape displays at different courses provide a variety of seeds belonging to plants that will most likely be discarded or never given a chance to germinate once the cold weather hits and the plants die. Toward the end of the summer and into the fall,  I always bring plastic baggies with me to the course so I have a place to put whatever seeds I can find. Whenever I visit someone's house I always take a walk around their garden to scan for new or different seeds. Once you start looking for seeds you will get the hang of it and every garden you see will be more than just a garden, it will be an opportunity to expand your seed collection!

One example of how I store seeds. This is a Stanley compartment organizer that I bought at Home Depot for about $10 and it's perfect for seed storage. This is just a small part of my collection.

Paper bags, recycled glass jars, paper envelops and empty spice containers are cheap containers to store seeds in. Not fancy, but gets the job done!

Seeds undergoing cold stratification

Certain seeds need a couple of months of refrigeration to mimic what would be the natural setting for perennial seeds in the colder climates of the northeast. This is called cold stratification, and for seeds that require this, I store them in the crisper drawer in my refrigerator. 

The most important part of seed collecting is to properly label whatever seeds you find so you will be able to easily identify them at a later time. You might think you will  be able to remember later, but it's easier to grab a sharpie or pen and write label the bag or jar before a day passes and you can't remember what you picked-trust me, I've been there!

Later on I will get into the strategic methods of "Plant Whoring" which I am an expert at.