No Susanne you are not alone, LOL, !!!
Alberta

You are not alone. This will be my first year. I have more seeds than I could possibly start and/or plant. I have everything I want except what's on my wish list and I still keep trading. It's insane!

Oh my, what have I done...

MWAHAHAAAAHAHA.

Here is a link that might be useful: I can't help you with the addiction, but.....

No you're not alone - you have LOTS of company! I started organizing my seeds, entering them into a database so that I know what I have, and trying to organize the packets in shoeboxes as well.

Six shoeboxes and an obscene amount of seeds packets later, I still have a shopping bag full of seeds that haven't been catalogued yet, and stray envelopes and packets all over the place. Plus seeds that I've collected, in various stages of drying out.

There is no way I'll ever sow all these seeds! Not ever!

But I still keep buying 'em .........

PV

Yes, Trudi, mostly YOU for being so clear on winter sowing, and then all the generous traders...

pvick: EXACTLY...that's me. I've told myself several times over to just dump those seeds in the trash or something and the mere thought of it gives me the willies!

Susanne,
LOL! You are not alone : )
I collect and trade way too much. I sometimes trade for seed I forgot I already have!
Then I of course WS way too much and have a pot ghetto all season!
There are worse addictions we could have. : )
Remy

Nope, not me, I'm not an addict, uh-uh...

I've gotten my "Seeds I Have" file (I am pretty organized, I guess) down to 24 pages single-spaced.

But then, I'm waiting on a few big swaps to come in.

I get organized, then disorganized, then organized...and once the WSing season starts, I'm organized, then disorganized, disorganized....
I probably do need a four-drawer file cabinet just for all the seeds and plant stuff I have.

You are so not alone, Susanne :-)

Linda

Collecting seeds - isn't it fun?! From our own plants, from trading, buying, etc... I'm expecting a "round robin" this week - with LOTS of seeds!

Are we supposed to be organized? And PLANT the seeds???

Nope your not alone, Last year was my first time trading seeds and winter sowing..Now my husband tells me i'm a seedaholic, I'm always trading seeds and I probably do trade too much but I LOVE IT!!!! If someone wants my seeds and they don't have anything I really want I trade with them anyway for something I already have..That's bad isn't it!! ...lol...Wow I guess I am a Seedaholic, But I agree with Remy, We could always have a worse habit..:))

I was outside collecting balloon flower seeds and I saw some daylily seeds that I had missed, and when I grabbed the daylily seeds I saw that one of the new hostas had set seed, and when I reached for them I saw that the asclepias were about to burst their pods, and when I reached for them I saw that the gaura was dropping its seeds, and when I reached for them I saw that the marigolds had some browned heads, and when I grabbed them I saw that the daisy heads had dried and when I went for them....

LOL, Trudi, sounds like adult-onset ADD...happens to me all the time in the garden. Invariably I get back indoors without doing the original thing I went outdoors for in the first place...

You know, I always bought seeds. The packages are SO seductive, you know...those beautiful pictures of the flowers on the front. And they are so cute and handy. Well, I bought them and once in a while I would even "plant" some. That is, I put them out on/in the ground. And that was that. Seldom did anything come up and nothing ever bloomed.

But now...wintersowing allowed me to GROW things from seeds. I actually had plants that grew up and bloomed (some ten feet tall!) and, yes, I guess I am addicted. Now, instead of one lonesome package of seeds propped by my computer where I can gaze at the picture and dream I have paper bags all over my living room and dining room (gotta move those before Thanksgiving). Mostly these are seeds saved from plants that grew in my garden this past spring and summer. I do have a big box filled with packages - in no particular order.

I've decided not to participate in any swaps or exchanges this fall - partly because I know I don't need any more seeds and partly because I don't trust my (amateur) ability to gather seeds yet. That's not to say I couldn't use seeds for low growing plants for the edges (totally missing from this year's garden). And that is not to say that I am not breathlessly salivating for seeds from the gorgeous flowers you all have put up pictures of from your gardens. (LUST, LUST!)

Still, gardening is the one thing I do that is full of hope. It feeds thousands of butterflies and bees and other little critters. I have my own tiny ecosystem going here! I could take root myself on the front porch watching the hummingbirds and lizards and mantids and stunningly beautiful butterflies. I consider that my best time.

If this is a bad thing...well, so be it. I have worse vices. And they don't look nearly as nice in my front yard!

gawdinfever - dump seeds in the TRASH?!! Are you MAD????

LOL!!

PV

I signed up for 3 big swaps. One of them I sent in over 300 packets to. Since they haven't got shipped back to me, I have been restless and ordering off the internet. Not to mention the bags and bags I've collected from my own garden. I have way more seeds than I'll ever be able to use and it's too time consuming to SASE all of them!

No addiction here lol!

See--I think I figured it out! All you addicts (not talking about myself, mind you!) enlist all these unsuspecting poor souls...so YOU won't stand out so much!

I got 'most' of my seeds back in order (except for the bags, cups, coffee cans, and baggies and such that weren't in plain sight at the time). Now all I have to do is go through and catalog them. I had already stayed up way too late for three nights, and it's taking it's toll! I do give lots of seed away now and again, but Shimla--you are so right about 'time consuming'!

Bakemom, Trudi, and others who do sasbes on regular basis:

How do you all find the time to do so many sasbe's???
pvick: I DO hate to throw them away...hence my many boxes. My first two years in collecting seed, I think I collected like over a pound of cosmo seeds, a small baggy full of nicotiana, and well, you get the picture! ;0

This year I've been adding all the seeds from trade, sase or commercial right into my access database AS SOON as I receive them. As of today this years database contains 105 different entries and I'm still waiting on 3 trades to come in! It's gonna be a fantastic next season :D
I actually traded away 90% of this years harvested seed, but I still got tons from the last 5 years. I haven't traded any of these but still use my stash yearly with good germination....I'm not throwing anything away LOL!

Vera

I've got SASEs down to an organized science.

I prepack seeds--I don't do twenty packs, I'll do a hundred and twenty packs of a variety. I have multiple varieties packed and ready to share. Sharing is easy--I've got toms in trays and non-toms in a clear vinyl CD holder tacked to a door closet in my office. Opposite the door is a table where I fill the SASEs...which I lay out in rows and do en masse. Currently I am doing three SASEs of which the Your Choice Tomato SASE I do one envelope at a time so I don't get confused.

I don't ask for bubble-mailers, I have people send me long #10 envies, but I still have to pad those seeds. I buy huge rolls of bubble-wrap and cut them to size. The bubble-wrap pieces I keep in a tray on the table I fill the SASEs, along with address labels, various stickers, etc that I need for the SASEs, including a really nice tape gun for taping over the back flap--I stuff the envies well and the envie flap glue just doesn't do it.

Today I sent off a very big box of seeds to a community garden project in Milwaukee. I had the seeds on hand and ready to go--all I had to do was bundle them and list them on a letter which went inside the box with the seeds.

The key to doing SASEs is to remember that you are in charge...I want to share seeds but I am not going nuts by doing it, so if someone wants seeds they have to accept what I send to them, but as I do send a large variety there's never been a complaint.

I rarely ever take requests because that means waiting for a list of requests to arrive. Nada. NADA! I chose the format of Six Packs of my choice some years back and it's been very successful. I do yearly offer a six pack choice list of tomatoes but even then I do ask for a list of four defaults, so again by having that default list I lower my stress level significantly.

Sharing seeds is not done casually, it's an organized process that runs smoothly because I keep large amounts of pre-packed seeds ready to go. The seeds and mailing supplies are organized and at hand. When you promise to send seeds its up to you to fulfill that promise--when the envelope or mailer arrives you fill it ASAP and send it back on its way. I fill within 24 hours because I don't know how many are coming in the next mail. I've had the PO guy stagger up the walk with mail buckets of SASEs and then it dries up to a trickle a couple of weeks later, then a month later it's another hundred on a Monday. I never know how many are coming.

Sometimes SASE senders will drive me bonkers by asking if I ever got their SASE, but only give me their online name or forum, so next I have to ask for them for an address and a real name so I can begin looking through the stack of outer envies that I hold onto. When I find their envie I let them know that their seeds are on their way and I also let them know that as they sent it to me LAST WEEK it's a bit much to ask where their seeds are. Harummmph! But that doesn't happen too often.

The joys far outweigh the work that goes into it. Last week I got an email from a nice lady who wants to send her butterfly bush seeds to me so that I can share them through SASEs, that's wonderful--even better is that she learned how to save those seeds with info she read on WinterSown.Org.

It just doesn't get any better than that!

I envy those of you who actually find this fun. I detest cleaning seeds, which explains why so many drying seed heads still clutter my house. I like having the seeds, I just hate the cleaning, drying, and bagging them up. They were actually dry long ago, ready to be cleaned, I just can't force myself to get it done. And of course I make a mess in cleaning them, chaff all over the house every time, then I have to clean the house. My messiest one so far is Yvonne's Salvia- what a mess I make! And many I do only if my husband is not home (which in itself is very limiting) so that he doesn't see all the bugs that I've brought in the house.

I am basically a disorganized procrastinator. I do some trading, but not nearly what most of you do. And I also have no idea of what seeds I have. Or where I might have gotten them. I started a document listing trades sent and received this year; It sits somewhere on the hard drive, unfinished and not up-to-date, of course. I just last week finished up typing and storing my database document from last year. Has anyone collected this information this year?

And I agree that offering SASBE is a lot of work. Just wresting with our nasty falling apart envelopes (kills my husband that I'm that cheap) takes a long time. Occasionally someone sends me one and I destroy it in opening, then it's easier to just replace from my stash.

I agree, I can't imagine how Trudi and Bakemom do all that they do with seeds. No matter how organized and efficient one is, this is a time consuming process and they deserve medals. Hats off to both of you.

Karen

Karen, you and I have more in common than I realized! ;)
And I totally agree with your last sentence about Bakemom and Trudi (my enablers...He! He!)

Susanne

I only tried winter sowing for the first time last year. However, before that I filled every flat surface in the basement with flats of seedlings, so I had collected a lot of seeds, although not many were suited to winter sowing.
Last year I discovered winter sowing and started a whole new seed collection.
This morning there is snow on the ground here, and I feel the urge to go plant some seeds.
I have my seeds loosely organized by categories (perennials, annuals, vegetables, trees, etc.),and I don't have all that many anymore, once I tossed all the ones I'd been saving for the last 10 years.