• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Seed Starting
    • Plant Profiles
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Raised Bed Gardening
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

Seed Inventory Complete

January 17, 2017 by Jeanne

I spent time this past weekend completing my seed inventory. What is a seed inventory? If you’ve been gardening for a while, you tend to collect a lot of half-full seed packages. Although my garden is big, I don’t use all the seeds that I buy each season. Instead, I save them for the next year.

The problem? I usually forget what I have, buy too much of what I don’t need, and find myself scrambling to locate specific varieties when the season is already underway and local garden centers are sold out.

Taking a Seed Inventory

A seed inventory is simply a count of what you have on hand and a list of what you need. I take my seed inventory by first mapping out what I plan to plant in the vegetable garden. Here is my list for 2017:

Spring

  • Lettuce – red leaf, mixes
  • Swiss Chard – rainbow mix “Bright Lights”
  • Broccoli Rabe
  • Radishes
  • Peas – Lincoln, our favorite variety
  • Beets – Detroit Dark Red
  • Onions – sweet
  • Carrots – Scarlet Nantes and Nantes Half-Long
  • Parsnips

Late Spring – Summer

  • Tomatoes – Beefsteak, Early Girl, Roma/Plum types, Sweet 100s (cherry).
  • Peppers – just four plants this year since we always have too many.
  • Green Beans – Blue Lake (our favorite variety, a bush type).
  • Sweet Potatoes – slips (starter plants) for “Beauregard”
  • Zucchini, squash
  • Cucumbers

Fall

  • Broccoli
  • Cabbage
  • Cauliflower
  • Lettuce
  • Garlic – Elephant type

Herbs

We have many herb plants but need more. This is a list of what I plan to grow, including some we already have.

  • Sage
  • Rosemary
  • Sweet Basil
  • Holy Basil (tulsi)
  • Cinnamon Basil
  • Parsley
  • Applemint
  • Mint
  • Spearmint
  • Clary Sage
  • Thyme
  • Lemon Balm
  • Chives
  • Stevia
  • Catnip
  • Lavender
  • Oregano
  • Dill
  • Calendula

On the list of herbs, above, I have all except for the basils, dill, and parsley. I do need more lemon balm, however, since the plants I have seem to be struggling.

Fruit

We already have an extensive orchard of apple, pear, plum, peach, nectarine, apricot, and cherry trees. Only the apples, peaches, and pears have produced fruit so far. I also have a raised garden bed filled with strawberries, which I make into jam.

I still have my heart set on a fig tree if I can convince my husband that there are varieties that do not need coddling. I also want to try my hand at growing blueberries in containers on the back deck, as well as adding an elderberry plant on the forest edge for medicinal foods.

Now that I’ve listed everything I want to grow, I compare the seeds in my stash with what I plan to grow. I found that I have everything except carrots, dill, parsley, basil, lemon balm, and sweet potatoes. Some of the plants, such as the tomatoes, I will buy at the garden center. They can grow stronger, healthier starter plants than I can in my cool basement seed starting area.

By creating this list and being thoughtful and careful in my planning, I’ll be sure to have exactly what I need on hand to start my garden in a few short weeks – six, to be exact! I can start weeding in March, and plant the first lettuce, peas and radishes around St. Patrick’s Day if the weather cooperates.

Another great reason for making a seed inventory and planning a garden is that you can make sure you have space for everything. As I map out the garden beds, it’s important to me to rotate where I plant my vegetables to outwit the bugs and diseases. I’ll also need to erect the pea trellis to support my peas and get frames ready for row covers to keep the bugs off the squash plants.

Now is the time to do your garden planning – and dreaming. Have fun. This is the kind of “work” you can do at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee or tea at hand and a fun way to start your garden year.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « How to Roast Chestnuts
Next Post: An Edible Front Yard »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Blueberry

    January 25, 2017 at

    Some of the new varieties of blueberries coming from Florida have less than 100 chill hours and can be grown in a greenhouse to produce two crops in a year.

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

As Seen in Porch

 As Seen in Porch

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Explore All Gardening Articles

a zucchini growing in a raised bed

Growing Zucchini in Raised Beds

kale growing in a raised bed

Replenishing Raised Bed Garden Soil

raised bed garden

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Using Raised Beds

a watering can next to a seed tray on a sidewalk

What Veggies Can I Plant Now?

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

Disclosure

Home Garden Joy participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy. Herbal information and recipes on this site are provided for educational purposes only.

Footer

butternut squash growing in a raised garden bed

How to Grow Butternut Squash Organically

Learning how to grow butternut squash organically ensures you know how to grow this tasty, nutritious vegetable in your home garden. I’ll share with you some basic information on growing butternut squash, followed by some organic gardening tips that have been helpful for me here at Seven Oaks Farm in dealing with the various pests…

Read More

herbs in a pink dish

How to Make the Perfect Cup of Herbal Tea

Make the perfect cup of herbal tea, right from your own garden! In May, I gave two free talks on how to grow, harvest, dry, and create your very own herbal teas. This lecture proved so popular that I recorded the narration and uploaded it to YouTube. You can view it below: Supplies to Make…

Read More

tent caterpillars on a pear tree

How to Get Rid of Tent Caterpillars

I spent last Saturday morning getting rid of Eastern tent caterpillars from the apple and pear trees in the orchard here on the farm. Malacosoma americanum, the Eastern tent caterpillar, is a regular visitor each spring. We first spot the shimmery webs on a clear spring day. The small ‘tents’ built by the caterpillars quickly…

Read More

kale growing in a raised bed

Replenishing Raised Bed Garden Soil

Raised bed vegetable garden soil soil needs to be replenished periodically. If you’ve done your job right and selected great soil, and amended it with nice compost, you’re going to have super garden soil for the first few years. Because you don’t walk on a raised bed garden the way that you do with typical…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme