Become a seed collector

How long will it take?

Creating a seed packet should take up to an hour. Thereafter, allow 15 to 20 minutes on a regular basis, perhaps fortnightly or every three weeks.

What you will need

• old A5 envelopes, one for each type of seed you want to collect
• seed-heads
• sheets of A5 paper, plain on one side

Step-by-step guide

1 To make the seed envelope, follow these steps:

• Take a sheet of A5 paper and fold it in half lengthways (with the plain side outside if you are recycling used sheets)
• Fold the outside pair of long edges over together (about 1cm/0.4in), and then again
• Turn it over, so that the folded edge is underneath, but still at the top
• Fold one end of the short edges into a triangle by bringing the top edge down to the bottom
• Fold this triangle in half upwards, tucking it in under the flap as you go. This means you don't need glue to lock it together

2 Go around your garden with your children and tell them to look carefully for plants where the flowers have fallen off and seed-heads are growing.

3 When they find some, they need to decide if they look big, fat and brown. If they don't, they must leave them for a while, as they are not ripe enough to pick yet. Help them to write the name of the plant on the front of the envelope. They could draw a picture of what the plant looks like when it's flowering.

4 If they do look ripe, they can carefully pick them and put them straight into an old envelope.

5 Leave the seeds in a warm place to dry out completely.

6 When they have dried out completely, they can sort the seeds from the seed-heads. They might find some insects in there as well! Get them to put the insects back in the garden, and the empty seed-heads in the compost bin.

7 Now put your seeds in the open end of your seed packet, then repeat the fold (steps three and four) to close the packet.

8 Don't forget to help your children write the name of the seeds on the outside.

9 Keep the seeds in a cool, dry place until they want to plant them in spring.

Tips and advice

• You will need to help with the folding of the seed packet. If you fold the paper widthways; your seed packet will finish up square!
• Aim to collect seeds from annuals. For example, poppies, nasturtiums, pot marigolds, candytuft, love-in-a-mist, poached egg flower, cornflower, morning glory and Californian poppy.