Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Two For Tuesday - Garden Organization

Hello from Pam, and Kirsten!

We have a few thoughts to share with you on Organization, so you'll be hearing from both of us today! 

I've been thinking a lot lately, can the experts be right? Is there something to this idea of organization? I waste so many hours of my life looking for things I've misplaced. A knitting pattern, yarn, a certain knitting needle, a spice I need to make supper and flower seeds I bought on Good Friday!

I'm the same, and it doesn't help that Matt wants to help with the organization. We both think we're doing great things when we clean, but when you clean and organize without a good plan, or communication, it leads to even more items going missing.

The most recent incident that brings this to the forefront of my mind is from this weekend. Back on Good Friday I purchased some seeds and a few lily bulbs, when I couldn't find them again this past spring I ended up buying new seeds. Two nights ago I decided I would dye some wool, and while I was digging through my cupboards gathering my tools, I found the seeds and lily bulbs! Then wouldn't you know it, my dye pot had a pin hole in it.

Matt found a margarine bowl with onion bulbs in our dry food storage area the other day. I told him I knew they were there, but I'd completely forgotten. I've been keeping my seed packets in the pouch that they were initially shipped to me in. The bulbs didn't fit, so I tossed them in the margarine bowl after I finished planting the onions this year. Whoopsies! Glad I didn't have to replant any....

So, we have to think there is a better way.

Mom's story, and Matt's discovery, has me thinking that I might need some new organization as well. Especially if I plan on saving my own seeds this year. Recently I had a new infusion of seeds from Matt's Mom, so they have moved from their shipping package to a shoe box! Luckily, I have a great spot all picked out for my seeds and bulbs. In our dry storage area is a large plastic shelf system. It's taller than me (doesn't take much) and the top shelf is basically unused since I can't easily reach it. However, I am getting a stool soon, which will be helpful in so many ways, and will make that top shelf a viable storage option for the future. I've been planning on buying drawer storage containers for my Yarn storage, and now I'm thinking that a small drawer system could be great for my seeds too! I would just need to make sure the drawers are tall enough to hold an upright seed packet, and then put in some kind of dividers. Each drawer could easily hold three rows of seed packets, and they could even be organized by seed type! (The OCD tendencies are really kicking in now!) The other drawers could even hold vital garden information, like the three ring binder I started this year to record the seeds I grew, which includes in formation on how the seeds did, how long it took to germinate, how long it took to grow ripe vegetables, and plans/ideas for the future.

I'm still not sure what to do about my garden supply organization, but I have come up with a few new ideas in the garden itself, and the major one is that I stopped growing potatoes! I always planted them and then when the tops died off I couldn't remember where they were planted. So I stopped planting them and now I don't have to remember where they are! While the garden supply organization has moved to the back burner I have been working on the yarn, patterns and completed projects. I've sorted  finished projects in  recycling bags so I can tell what I have complete, and I have my loose patterns in three ring binders. Before our daughter Becky came to visit we found some of her treasures and then had her go through them. We carried two big bags to the trash and I have four empty drawers in the dresser in my craft room! We are still looking for her high school yearbooks...maybe in the next batch of organizing I'll find those!

What methods do you use? Have we inspired you to get organized? Let us know here in the comments, or on Facebook! Keep an eye out in the coming months for progress on our organizational trials!


A Hot Seed Mess


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