Snoqualmie Valley Seed Exchange Coming March 16


​The 2024 Snoqualmie Valley Seed Exchange will be held at the Red Barn/Picnic Shelter at Tolt Macdonald Park in Carnation, WA on Saturday, March 16, 10am – 12 noon. 

This is an open-sided facility with large picnic tables inside for spreading out the seeds. It could be chilly….or glorious….on March 16 so plan to wear some layers to stay comfortable.

There is plenty of free parking available in two lots within short walking distance of the Shelter. There are also handicapped spots for those who need them.

a table of seeds at the Exchange

About the Seed Exchange

The Seed Exchange is a volunteer-led project. We are grateful that Sno-Valley Tilth will have us as one of its projects! This means your contributions are fully tax deductible as a charitable contribution to a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Other local entities involved in our seed exchange: Strategies for Provident Living and the Cedarcrest High School Future Farmers of America.

What do we do with seeds remaining at the end of the seed exchange? We share seeds with several local giving gardens, including Hopelink’s Carnation garden, the garden at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Bellevue, the Stillwater School garden, the Granite Falls Boys and Girls Club, the Crossroads School Garden, the Fall City Learning Garden, a community garden that grows produce for the benefit of the Fall City Community Food Pantry.

We also share seeds with the Cedarcrest High School horticulture students, who grow salad greens for the high school cafeteria lunches.

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).

What Will You Grow? Find New Treasures at the Seed Swap!

It’s always exciting to try new edible crops in the garden. Not only do you keep things fresh, which is a great goal for life as well as the kitchen, but a bit of a challenge can turn into a delightful achievement.

So why not try a new variety at the Great Seattle Seed Swap?

Browse the tables under signs for crop categories like Salad Greens, Tomatoes or Brassicas (and find out what Brassicas are-it’s OK if you don’t know). Ask another swapper what they’ve tried. Look up a variety in the stack of catalogs on a nearby table. Then just shake a few seeds into a packet, label it, and take home your treasure.

The goal of the King County Seed Lending Library is to celebrate seed. Sending you home with a new variety that may surprise you when it pops up out of the soil is the best way.

What seeds will be at the Swap?

The lending library has a supply of seeds donated by gardeners and seed companies that range from salad greens to squashes.

Some people will come to the swap with their extra seed packets or home-saved seeds (it’s not required but encouraged, just like masking!). And every year a couple of seed companies send us donations of seed to share.

This year we will enjoy selections from our friends at Adaptive Seeds in Bellingham and High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont. Seed from two wonderful corners of the country!

We can’t list all the types of crops and varieties that will be on the tables, but that’s part of the fun. Come and find out!

Thank you Adaptive Seeds for this cheery delivery!
Bundles of High Mowing seeds wait to be discovered.

What else happens at the Swap?

Glad you asked! 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:

If you want a bit of education with your seeds, we will also hold a short talk on the basics of seed saving.

The Great Seattle Seed Swap is Saturday, April 1, 2-4 p.m., at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., in the Community Hall of the Brick Building. See our Facebook event.

Germination Testing — Do It Now to Get Ready for the Season

Now is a great time to evaluate your seeds. It’s a fun rainy (or snowy) day project to pull out the box and flip through the packets. What did well? What did poorly? What can’t you wait to plant again? Perhaps most importantly, what can you take to the seed swap and be sure your gardening friends will be getting good seed?

As you hold an older packet in your hand, one big question comes to mind: Are these seeds still viable? Three years is a good general cutoff date, but some will last much longer. And if you haven’t been as careful as you should have in storage, they might not sprout. So how do you know?

There’s a pretty easy way to find out if the seeds are still good: do a germination test. Here’s one way to do it, in 5 steps. As an example, I will use a test that I began today.

1. Count out a good quantity of seeds. In this test, I used Black Spanish Radish (Raphanus sativus) from 2020. This was the last of a large bag tied up in the garage. I shelled them from their pods until I had 100 seeds.

2. Place the seeds on a moistened paper towel. This will give them a place to germinate.

3. Fold over the paper towel and insert it in a large zippered plastic bag. Lay it flat in a warm place out of the way. I use the top of my refrigerator.

4. Monitor the project daily for the next two weeks. Don’t let the paper towel dry out–the seeds need the moisture to sprout. Just open the bag and sprinkle a little water on the paper, or squirt it with a mister. Keep it moist, but not too wet.

5. Some seeds sprout within a few days, while others can take up to two weeks. When you see the first ones sprout, wait a few more days. Then open it up and count the little green shoots. The seed would be considered viable to share if more than 60 percent of the seeds sprout in your test. A higher number would be much better. At 50 percent or below, it’s best to just toss those seeds on the compost heap and buy (or swap for) fresh seed.

I’ll update this post with the results of my test, so check back in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, start your own germination test–and post your results to our Facebook page!

Update: 60 Percent Germination

Well, after 10 days I pulled the plastic bag from the top of the fridge and saw some pretty good sprouting. Not great, but good. Turns out my Black Spanish Radish seeds are right on the edge of the viability: just over 60 of the 100 seeds sprouted, a 60% germination rate. I will share the seeds this year while letting people know to sow a little more heavily, and then compost any leftover seeds after this season.

Germinated seeds pushed at the paper towel and peeked out.
Check out the amazing root system on this little radish sprout!

There are other methods and of course advice varies. Here are some germination testing resources:
https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/ilriverhort/2017-02-03-test-seed-viability

https://www.newstribune.com/news/2021/jan/31/Ask-a-Master-Gardener-Germination-test/

https://www.southernexposure.com/how-to-test-germination/

https://www.highmowingseeds.com/blog/how-to-do-a-quick-germination-test-at-home/

Join us at the Seed Swap!

Interesting lettuce? New tomato? Sunflowers for solidarity with Ukraine? Join the Seed Library for the return of our Great Seattle Seed Swap! It’s our first since 2019, and we can’t wait to share seeds with you.

The swap will be Saturday, April 16, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., in the Community Hall of the Brick Building.

Recent donations from the Organic Seed Alliance of their “Teddybear Sunflowers” and from High Mowing seeds will provide new choices for seed-swappers to try this year.
OSA’s Semi-Teddybear Mix. Photo by Bill Thorness.

See our Facebook event and let us know you’re coming!

Do you have seeds to share? Here’s a guide to our preferences for seed-sharing:

  • 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. We 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.

Look forward to seeing you in person soon!