Some years ago, as I read “The Cottage Garden,” by Christopher Lloyd, I noticed a photographic montage of cottage garden flowers that included some antique folded seed packets, and I set to trying to reproduce them. It turns out that this particular packet was a common way to save seeds, and I was able to find several sets of instructions.
Ideally, you could use some old writing paper, and label the plant name in Copperplate handwriting, but that’s ideally. You can also use pages from last year’s seed catalogues. Or, very unromantically, you could use a piece of 8-1/2 x 11 copy paper. There is something satisfying about making these packets because no tape or glue is used, and they can be opened and re-closed easily.
This type of packet is good for smaller seeds; if you wish to store big seeds, such as beans, or even whole dried flower heads, there is another way, and we’ll look at that tomorrow.
Something for (almost) Nothing 