2nd & 3rd Grades
School garden-science lessons on this page are appropriate for self-directed 2nd & 3rd grade students.
Creating your own private seed bank is easy for any home gardener to do. This easy method for cool storage should keep your seed viable for around 10 years!
Materials
- Dry seeds
- Paper bags.
- Air-tight container like a glass jars or a plastic freezer bag that is big enough to hold all your seed bags.
- Permission to use the refrigerator.
Method
1. Gather and dry your seeds.
2. Place your seeds in paper bags (paper will allow air circulation and prevent mold, rot, or germination). Place different seeds in different bags.
3. Label each bag with the name and any notes about your seed; like where your got the seed or what color the flower is.
4. Place your bags of seeds in an air-tight container.
5. Label the container so family members aren’t constantly taking it out and looking to find food.
6. Place your container in the fridge.
7. Take out seeds when you want to plant them and put the container back in the fridge.
Putting in the Seed
by Robert Frost (1874 – 1963)
You come to fetch me from my work to-night
When supper’s on the table, and we’ll see
If I can leave off burying the white
Soft petals fallen from the apple tree.
(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,
Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea;)
And go along with you ere you lose sight
Of what you came for and become like me,
Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.
How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed
On through the watching for that early birth
When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,
The sturdy seedling with arched body comes
Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.
