Attending a Gardeners' Seed Swap
A Guide to Trading Annual and Perennial Flower and Vegetable Seeds
Jan 21, 2008
Every year gardeners swarm their local garden centres and other retailers in search of new varieties of plants to grow in their gardens in the upcoming season. Starting seeds indoors is a great way to extend the growing season, and obtaining some new seeds from your fellow gardeners makes the winter seem shorter.
A seed swap is an organized gathering of gardeners, sometimes in a public location, and sometimes in one of the gardeners’ homes, during which the participants trade some of their seeds for those grown in other gardens.
Seed Viability
Before giving any seeds to a friend or stranger, it’s good gardening etiquette to test seeds to make sure they are viable, that is, to make sure they will actually sprout! To do this, place a couple of the seeds on a damp paper towel inside a Ziploc bag. Use a permanent marker to label the bag with the date. Check the bag a couple of days later to see if they have sprouted. If they sprout, they're swappable!
Packaging Seeds
Show some creativity when packaging seeds. Craft shops and dollar stores sell tiny, plastic, airtight bags that are perfect for storing seeds. Label these small seed bags with a permanent marker, or slip a small label inside the bag along with the seeds, providing the seed type and brief instructions for sowing. Office supply stores also sell small paper envelopes that can be sealed and are ideal for storing seeds. When using these, write the name of the seed variety and the instructions for growing on the envelope itself. Add a logo or a business card to the seed packets to personalize the design.
Attend a Seed Swap
Check the internet and local newspapers for announcements of local gardening seed swaps in the area. A good source for finding local seed swaps are the Seeds of Diversity Seedy Saturday and Sunday site and the You Grow Girl Exchange forum. Usually seeds can be traded for something new at no additional cost!
Round Robin Seed Exchange
Members of a garden club or gardening website forum might already be familiar with the concept of a round robin seed exchange. One member collects the names of the participants, and provides the final list of participants to everyone involved. The organizer starts off by sending a package filled with his or her seeds to the next person on the list. Once it arrives in the mail, that person takes the seeds he or she wants to keep from the package and replaces them with some of his or her own. Then that participant mails the package on to the next person on the list. The round robin continues on until the last person on the list mails the package, now containing a completely different combination of seeds, back to the organizer. The only cost incurred is the price of postage.
Swapping seeds with other gardeners is a fabulous way to expand a seed collection, almost without spending a dime. For gardeners who are hoping to grow some new and interesting varieties in their garden this season, trading seeds is the way to go.
 |
