Tom - the labels come 30 to a sheet, 8 1/2 x 11 so they will run through a standard inkjet printer the same as a letter. There are templates in MS Word you can use to create labels with seed name, germination and general plant information. I collect seeds in paper cereal bowls that I set on racks inside my garage to dry and also to allow any hidden critters to escape. Once dry, the seeds are stored in salad dressing cups w/snap-on lids. I get those in the cafeteria where I work. They save milk jugs for me to use for winter sowing and are gardeners themselves. I asked the manager if I could buy the little condiment cups for seeds and he let me have 100 for $1.00. I use a paint pen (available at Michael's) to write the seed name on the cups. The small 2" x 3" ziplocs have so far been the best for mailing/trading seeds. To keep tiny seeds from sticking to the inside of the ziplocs from static, I also cut wax paper into 3" x 3" squares that I fold into pockets and seal with tape. WalMart sells the ziplocs @ 100 for $1 but they're also available from Michael's. WM also sells packs of the label sheets.

This year, I bought keg cups from Costco and will plant in individual cups. I think this will help with planting as well. I never did figure out how to get the HOS out of the milk jug, without damaging the sprouts and jug. Austinhannamom.. I did the keg cups indoors last yr to pot up tomato seedlings. I had a problem w/ Dap off when i moved them outside.. If I did not put a "weep hole" on the side of the cup about an inch up I found it retained too much water. I was putting 6-8 holes on the bottom, Just an FYI. And in MA at least it's very hard to get bread trays unless you steal em. The bread guys are mostly contractors and have to pay to replace missing trays. If you have an industrial bake site you could call them and ask for the ones that are deemed unserviceable..

Watering is my biggest problem. We only have one outdoor spighot. How expensive is it to have watering systems installed?? That would be such a timesaver!!! I have a heavy plastic "plant buggy" my MIL gave me years ago for Christmas. It came from Lowes and has a nice area in the middle to carry weed buckets, fertilizers, dirt... plus additional sections on each side including a section with a lid that opens and closes. It has 2 holders on the sides for shovels and stuff and a long handle. I keep everything in there and all I have to do is open the garage door and pull it out. At cleanup I just throw it all back in the buggy and cart it back inside. I couldn't garden without it! I think I'm going to invest in a gardening bag this year, too. That way I'll be able to keep that in the house but still have some items on hand when I go out for a stroll. Some days I wonder how I'm going to keep this up when I get older but I try not to dwell on it too long. I just try to enjoy the beauty I find in the gardens for now and as long as I look at it as a favorite hobby and not a chore, it really can be therapeautic. (Even though last night I laid in bed thinking "Where am I going to plant my new Queen of the Prairie? I hope the ground isn't too dry. Should I move my Russian Sage??" I finally did fall asleep. LOL)

Fact is, the original question is "why do you SAVE seeds," not why you don't trade seeds. If you don't want to trade, don't. Who cares? Just don't talk down to those of us who enjoy trading and growing traded seed. ***** Bill, since I was the first here to say I don't trade seeds I'm going to attempt to answer you. First, I was in no way talking down to anyone, and you know me well enough to know that. The question indeed was why do you save seeds. And I discussed the various reasons as to why I did save seeds, and I saw nothing at all wrong in saying that I didn't trade seeds other than with three other SSE members. And yes, all the reasons you gave for dealing with wrong varieties are absolutely true. I think perhaps you've forgotten that there are many here, usually lurkers trying to learn, that really don't know how to ID wrong varieties. Over the years, and I started posting at AOL back in about 1989, long before you or Keith or Trudi or others did, I've seen post after post about that and it's primarily b'c they grow varieties without knowing what to expect as to plant habit, leaf form, fruit shape, size and color. So trading seeds for them I think introduces an additional risk factor that they may not be aware of. The other issue I've spoken to before and will here again, is that I like to see folks buy at least some of their seeds, b'c the sources with the most varieties to offer are also those small companies that are so very dependent on tomato seed sales. Finally, I may not trade seeds with lots of folks but what I have done is to offer seeds for close to 350 varieties here and elsewhere. And you'll remember that each time I make a point of saying that I cannot vouch for absolute seed purity. I say the same thing for my SSE listings. If I process 20 fruits of variety X for seed and only one of them has been X pollinated, those F1 hybrid seeds may take a very long time to show up in someones garden. There are varieties that I thought were pure that subsequently were shown to have a few F1 seeds. So I am not talking down to anyone who trades seeds, but I do feel that there's nothing wrong with pointing out the possible pitfalls of doing so, especially for folks new to the game. Several who have posted in this thread will often look forward to wrong stuff b'c sometimes the wrong stuff turns out to be good stuff, but not all who read and post here would feel at all comfortable doing that, Carolyn