Buy enough seeds that you can experiment (say from Geoseed). Plant at different times of the year. Plant seeds as they would reseed in nature. In other words when do they drop their seed? (usually spring, summer, maybe, maybe the fall). Most seeds just drop to the ground. Most are exposed to the sun; some drop under the mother plant, thus need shade to germinate but that is not as common. Give your seed looser soil so they have a fair chance to shot their roots into the ground. (Ants can carry off seeds.) Consider where a plant orginates. Always plant 25% more varieties then you need to make up for those that do not germinate. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Feel lucky if you get some seedlings from each variety. Plant seeds in 1 ft squares. Then move them. A neighbor walked passed the yard today and told my wife that she will start a garden next year to compete with my flower gardens. I know I had a puzzled look on my face when my wife told me. She thought I didn't like the challenge. I told my wife, no I would be glad to help guide this neighbor anyway I can. The weird look I gave her was because I didn't really plant the speculator parts of our garden. The plants planted themselves. No one could have a garden like this unless they introduced self seeders and let the plants plant themselves over the years. My role is to keep them under control and move the seedlings around so that they are organized. Example, I have some amazing vincas this year. No, not from the 6 varieties of seeds I bought, but from a fluke Cora Vinca who should not reseed, but did. I moved her seedlings all over the garden. The different colors and size of bloom are breathtaking to me. That's one example. Another is Guaras which look really great in a garden. I tryed to plant them from seed; had no luck. A plant I bought on the discount rack at Lowes reseeded at it's perfect time. Now I have self-planted guaras every year. Incidentally the down side of having a garden of reseeders is that you really can't disturb the soil much or you will bury the seeds. Bob Here is a link that might be useful: Geoseed

What a great thread and since I've come out of my lurkdom here and have a fair amount of experience in packing seeds to trade/share, and have received seeds in, in a multitude of ways, I'll just add my 2 cents. I see there are certainly multiple ways and some consider one way to be the best, while others consider it to have cons. I don't think any one way is considerably better than another. As far as economical, the ones using pages from catalogs, or printer paper (new or used) are probably by far the most economical to make. What works well for one, might not work for another. What is economical (or considered to be) for one, might not be economical to another. Getting the seeds out of its packaging is yet another part of the equation. Resealing, if need be, is another part of the equation. There is patience (which I have little of) and time as well as convenience to be considered. I have and use the small zip lock baggies. They are found to be what works best for me. They are a little more than 2/3 cent each when I ordered 3000 of the the discounted Blue Line ones Here. Maybe Trudi has an even cheaper source, of ordering in bulk without having to order a million. This winter, I've pondered the problem of static electricity with certain seeds or with particularly tiny seeds like sedums and butterfly bushes. What I opted to do on those two are to wrap the seeds in a 4" square of tissue, folded and labeled, and then inserted in the zip baggie. Nice instructions and pics pitimpinai and monte. Thanks for sharing! I'm sure that many will benefit from them both. Now...you know my preferred way to pack the seeds that I send out and the cost, we'll move on to how I like to receive seeds packed. Like quilt said above, " I promise you if you send me a pack of seeds in a straw, an envelope, a zip lock baggie, a coin envelope, a bubble mailer, or a tin can I will throw them in dirt and water them just the same. " Whatever one chooses to send them in is fine by me. I do kind of like the zip baggies for bigger seeds, and either reuse or recycle them along with other plastic bags...yes I am OCD (or is it CDO?) when it comes to recycling. The brightly colored ones made from recycled catalogs always brighten my day when I see them. If the seeds are properly dried, I think that any kind of packaging is fine and not detrimental. #What is most economical for one person might not be to another person, variables being the purchase of zippies, coin envelopes, straws, printer paper, printer ink, stick on labeling of some sort. #What one prefers to pack in is indubitably not preferred by all, also for numerous reasons. As important as seed packaging is, I think that the labeling is of just as much or more importance, but that is maybe food for thought for another time and thread. Below is a pic of several of the packs of wonderful seeds I received in the 2009 WLOMWL swap. Lots of different packaging, and labeling. Something I had not seen before were glassine baggies and what looked like folded glassine. Both suited me fine/great because of what they contained. Happy gardening, collecting, sharing/trading, and dreaming of your 2010 gardens! Sue...rbb as Terenne said, "This thread is a great example of different strokes for different folks. I so agree. Oh...if you're still with me, my vote for the most economical ones would have to be those made from recycled paper. EEK...have I had too much coffee again? Sue...rbb and loquacious as usual. (kcqrna and monte, it was aliska12000 above that spoke of the rosary pliers in her post showing her potential seed sowing tools.)

I tend to go overboard in this kind of situation so for me the challenge is not turning the person off to the conversation. But I would tell him that botulism is the only food-borne illness that scares me, and try to convince him to at least add lemon juice to the jars. Then again, if he's not heat processing, he would need a lot more lemon juice. I guess I would tell him not to give his tomatoes to people with weak immune systems, but then again pretty much everyone is weak when it comes to botulism (as opposed to say eggs...I don't serve partially-cooked egg dishes to pregnant women or people with weakened immune systems). Tough one Elaine...at least you gave him some info. The bigger question is, what do you do if you know he gives canned tomatoes to other people at work? That would be a good question to send in to Randy Cohen, the ethicist who answers questions in the New York Times and on NPR. Melissa

For large scale seed extraction of chile peppers I use this process. Pick fruit only when fully ripe or just past ripe. De-stem and cut in half. Place in a tall glass or plastic container and mash down. Only fill half way. Cover with water (Not city water) to just over the top of the mash. Cover top of container and let sit 7-10 days. Give a stir once or twice a week. The mash should ferment and "boil". This does two things. Brakes down the pulp and helps kill some seed bourn diseases. Use a potato masher on the end of a long stick and mash the mash to help separate the seed from the pulp. Fill the container with water and stir. the seeds will settle to the bottom. Pore off the pulpy liquid and refill with water again. Do this until the water is clear. The seeds that do not sink fast are not worth keeping so don't worry about losing light weight seeds. Pour water and seeds into a large sieve or screen to capture seed. let sit and drain well. Spread wet seeds on paper towels or news paper in a thin layer to dry. Changing the paper and a slow speed fan speeds drying. Let dry for at least one week or longer before bulking together. Seeds can mold if dried to slow or not enough before bulking. This processcan also be done on a small scale using 1/2 gallon caning jars. Enjoy the heat, Uncle Steve Here is a link that might be useful: Uncle Steve's HOT Stuff