Tilth Alliance – King County Seed Lending Library

February 14, 2024

Join Tilth for Learning at Seed Swap

The Great Seattle Seed Swap is just around the corner — coming on Saturday, Feb. 24, 1-4 p.m. at the Phinney Center. Bring your home-saved or leftover packets of seeds, or just come to pick up some new varieties and talk seeds with other gardeners.

This year a series of presentations by Tilth Alliance will deepen your understanding of seed-saving.

Make some time for these hands-on activities and fun educational presentations:

1:30 p.m. — Beginner Friendly Seed Saving
- We’ll discuss the basic biology of seed saving and share some beginner-friendly recommendations to get started saving (and then sharing!) your own seeds.
2:30 p.m. — Harvesting Seeds
- How do you know if your seeds are mature and ready to harvest? We’ll discuss how to assess seed maturity and some strategies for harvesting.
3:30 p.m. — Basics of Wet & Dry Processing
- Join us to experience a demonstration and explanation of common wet & dry seed processing techniques. We’ll share a demonstration and give folks an opportunity to get some hands-on practice.

There will be a table with seeds and screens where you can try your hand at seed harvesting–and take home some freshly harvested seed!

You can also ask questions and learn from these great nonprofits that will be tabling: The Garden Hotline, Master Composters/Sustainability Stewards, Seattle Tree Fruit Society, Sustainable Ballard, Rainwise, Seattle REconomy.org, Sustainable NE Seattle and City Fruit.

And if you’d like to bring seeds (not required), make sure they’re labeled with the variety name and date, bring only seeds that are not too old to plant (2021 or later). You can even bring cuttings or divisions of edible plants if you’d like.

The event is shaping up to be the best one in our 10-plus years. Join us there!

Follow our Facebook event for updates, and let us know you’re coming!

February 1, 2024

Get Ready to Swap Seeds and Discover Great New Crops

Saturday, February 24, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

It’s time to start getting ready for the gardening season and that means… seeds!

Join the King County Seed Lending Library and new partner Tilth Alliance for the Great Seattle Seed Swap, a fun, family friendly community event at the Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA). Learn more about seeds and seed saving throughout the day with educational presentations and family-friendly hands-on activities!

Follow our Facebook event for updates, and let us know you’re coming!

From greens to roots to legumes to brassicas, the Great Seattle Seed Swap always has lots of vegetable varieties to try. Looking for something new or unusual for your garden this year? These seed swap tables will have all kinds of seeds for your edible, medicinal and floral gardens. We welcome you to add your labeled extra seeds to the mix and take lots home, too.

What is a community seed swap? A family-friendly gathering for gardeners of all experience levels to share seeds, gardening resources and connect with each other. Bring your garden-saved seeds, excess seeds you have from opened packets or just yourself if you’re just getting started. We’ll have some seeds to share, too.

Some fantastic greening organizations and community partners will join us with tables of their own. Get your gardening questions answered, learn about growing fruit in your yard, and find out how to borrow tools from a community tool library.

These great groups will be on hand:

The Garden Hotline
Master Composter and Sustainability Stewards
Seattle Tree Fruit Society
Sustainable Ballard/Rainwise
Sustainable NE Seattle and REconomy.org
The Phinney Tool Lending Library
City Fruit
…and more

Guidelines for bringing seeds to share:

Please make sure seeds are labeled with crop and variety name and date.
Please only bring seeds that are not too old to plant (2021 or later is a good guideline).
Feel free to bring cuttings or divisions from garden plants, too.

You don’t have to bring seeds to enjoy this event – we’ll have plenty to share. See you there!

The seed swap will be held in the PNA’s Community Hall of the Brick Building (use lower parking lot).

February 5, 2019February 6, 2019

Sharing Tiny Treasures for This Year’s Edible Garden

Shaking their future vegetable garden out of glass jars laid out under headings like “Brassicas” and “Roots,” gardeners palmed new varieties and puzzled over plants they hadn’t yet tried. Handfuls of treasures were shared in the first Seed Swap of 2019 held by the King County Seed Lending Library on Saturday, Feb. 2. More than 100 people attended.

Many brought seeds and traded knowledge. Non-profit groups , including Tilth Alliance, P-Patch and the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, shared information at tables and in workshops.

KUOW’s reporter Ruby de Luna stopped by and recorded some interviews with coordinator Bill Thorness and some attendees for a very nice piece that aired on the public radio station on Tuesday, Feb. 5. Read and listen to it here.

Here are a few more images of the event:

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

Share Seeds, Plan Your Garden at the Seed Swaps

There will be plenty of beans and brassicas at the upcoming Seed Swap in Northwest Seattle. The King County Seed Lending Library also has seeds for salad greens and herbs and over 30 other vegetables.

But perhaps the most interesting edibles will be what’s not yet there. Gardeners seem to jump on the seeds brought in by their fellow seed-savers – so be sure to bring yours!

The KCSLL’s annual seed exchange for Northwest Seattle is coming Saturday, Feb. 2 at the Phinney Center. The Snoqualmie Valley Seed Exchange is also set for Feb. 2 in Duvall, and swaps are planned for Northeast Seattle on Feb. 9 and West Seattle on Feb. 24. Details.

Learn while sharing seeds

At the Northwest Seattle swap, Tilth Alliance, P-Patch, Sustainable Ballard, Seattle Tree Fruit Society and the PNA Tool Lending Library will all have folks and information there. Short workshops will talk about seed saving and seed starting.

Attendees are urged to bring seeds to share, but it is not required. The swaps are free and open to all.

How to participate:

Share only seeds of edible plants that your fellow gardeners would grow from seed, such as annual vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.
If donating packaged seed, it should be organic or open-pollinated, plant types that will produce seed true to the stated variety. Heirlooms are by definition open-pollinated.
If donating home-saved seed, please winnow and clean it off the stems or stalks as much as possible and bring only the seed.
If you can’t clean it in advance, plan to spend some time cleaning it the swap. Some swaps will have screens and buckets available.
All shared seed should be fresh, within three years of purchase or saving.
Label all seed donations with seed type, variety if known, and year it was grown/saved.
Bring envelopes and a pen to store and label your new seeds.

About the KCSLL

The King County Seed Lending Library (www.kingcoseed.org) operates four branches around Seattle and one in the Snoqualmie Valley. Each take seed donations and offer small quantities of seeds year round to local gardeners.