Another great seed swap today in Hereford.
I really look forward to this day every year, I'm a bit addicted to seeds and I love seeing all the different sorts there. I also met up with a couple of friends who love gardening and then after a quick car picnic with Kirsty we went and watched another really interesting talk by Adam Alexander about being a seed detective. I think the stories behind seeds are fascinating and this man collects such wonderful tales as well as the seeds, I could listen for hours. 
He also talked a bit about how he was in Syria before the war collecting seeds and he's now breeding these varieties out to save the seed and sending them to Syrian refugees around the world so they can grow crops they are familiar with. Without his efforts some of these varieties could have been lost forever.
The other great thing for me was meeting lots of like minded people. I got talking to all the helpers/organisers of the event and I've put my name forward to become involved in the future. I'm pretty passionate about seed saving so it'll be great to be involved in a group and have their collective knowledge to pull on. As well as this I'll be trying to grow more for the seed swap in future years, and hopefully getting better at it!
Who else has been to a seed swap lately?
What plant do you always save your own seed from?
This looks like so much fun. We don't have any seed swaps around here. I wonder how one goes about starting one?
ReplyDeleteThere are pages and groups all over the internet, I bet there's something near you!
DeleteOther than flowers (Cosmos etc), the only seeds I regularly save are Pumpkins, Delicata, and some Squashes. Butternuts tend to revert to an inferior version, so those are always bought new each year.
ReplyDeleteDo you tie the flowers closed to save the seeds from your squashes to avoid cross pollination?
DeleteWhat a fun day, there is a seed swap held around here, but it has always fallen on the same day I do the craft market, I have been saving my own peas from an original batch 4-5 years ago I have just set some to see how well they germinate this year, pepper and chilli seeds I have from last year along with Yacon and Oco
ReplyDeleteI'm rubbish with peas - far too many mice, although I'm trying to do something about them!
DeleteI have my Yakon and Oca as well, although I've joined the guild of oca breeders so that will give me some new genetic material.
I save the seed from my runner, french, and broad beans. Also from tomatoes when I start to run low. Haven't tried anything else.
ReplyDeleteRunners and broad beans cross easily - do you have any problems with them crossing with neighbours? Tomatoes are a great one to save from. I'd forgotten about those as I have soem saved in the shed! I should have brought them along as well!
DeleteI love growing things from seed and pips, it's the challenge I love, I have a pomegranate seeds on the go here.
ReplyDeleteI love growing anything really, but the whole seed to plant to food journey is amazing. My girls are always saving their seed from their lunches and bringing them home for me!
DeleteDid you scoop any interesting seeds this year? In a couple of days I'll send you a list of what I've got see if you want any
ReplyDeleteCheers Tricky, I'll look forward to that. I got quite a few different dwarf french beans thast I'm looking forward to trying, some different tomatoes, kale and cabbage. The more exciting bit is joining a group of seed savers and by the sounds of it we're going to try to draw up a plan to get major veg groups grown and save seed from them then share the seeds out with each other. Should be good!
DeleteDid you scoop any interesting seeds this year? In a couple of days I'll send you a list of what I've got see if you want any
ReplyDelete