Seed Storing Diary

Words by Junkies team Photography Supplied

Akin with most gardeners, you will likely have a drawer full of random seeds. We spend many gardening hours attending to our much-loved plants, weeding, composting, fertilising, watering and making it all look pretty. Why not take some time to step back inside for a bit and document this beautiful pastime to create a keepsake that can be enjoyed for years to come.

Everything you will need for this project you will probably find lurking in your cupboards and drawers. Go hunt for those stashed small bags, or even empty seed packets, some colouring pencils, notes, scissors and some glue. For this sample project we used a photo album from the op shop, small paper bags and some sticky notes we found in the drawer, plus a lace doily to make our seed dairy look special.

Seed Storing Diary

This diary makes the perfect keepsake gift that can be handed down through the generations, passed on to family members and added to along the way. Perhaps it can be given to your children when they buy their first house, or as a special gift on a wedding day. Not only is it a thoughtful present, it is also a tangible record for the gifter of the many hours of pleasure that has come from cultivating plants, watching them thrive and then reaping the rewards from seeds every year.

Even if you don’t give your Seed Diary as a gift, it’s great to have a handy reminder of what’s in your garden, a journal that evokes the many hours of joy that went into its creation.

Here are some ideas on how you might organise your seed dairy and the headings you could use.

1. What sort of diary will it be? • a gift for your children’s first-home garden • a wedding gift • a moving-out-of-home gift • your garden journal

2. Organising and cataloguing your seeds. • colour of flowers or blooms • style; i.e., English cottage garden, Native Australian, birdattracting, etc • type; i.e., ground cover, shaded area, or full sun • edible; i.e., herbs, vegetables, fruit trees

3. Possible headings • What’s in my garden? • My favorites • A year in my garden • Seasonal planting

4. Facts & figures • date seeds were planted • height that plant grows • the amount of space a plant will need • the type of soil it will thrive in (include some details from the original seed packet, or if the seed is from your own garden, look up information relevant to its habitat and requirements) • where to plant

5. Nuts & bolts • watering needs, types of companion plants, what fertiliser to use, possible diseases or pests it could be susceptible to • when will it flower? • note any medicinal uses or cosmetic applications

5. Additional information • include a picture of what to expect when it blooms • note the date you planted it and keep a progress report • include a picture of the plant in its position at its best

6. Personalise your diary! • perhaps use a photo of your house and garden for the front cover • include a little bit of family history and information; i.e., this plant was a wedding gift from our neighbour, and it has been in the garden for 20 years • these seeds were collected from grandma’s garden • this seed is from the apple tree where we buried Bessy the cat.