Winding Down a Quiet Year

Hi friends of the Seed Library! Our quiet gardening season is now at an end. The seeds have been retired to their winter home in a cool, dark back room.

It’s been a tough year to share seeds, with fewer open hours and no chances to get together. We hope that next year will see some return to normalcy. May the autumn bring you peace.

Seed Swap Scenes

An estimated 150 gardeners attended the Great Seattle Seed Swap yesterday, scooping small handfuls of seeds into packets, sitting in on short workshops, and visiting with non-profits and Krista Rome from guest seed company Resilient Seeds. It felt good to rub elbows with other gardeners intent on planning their 2017 vegetable garden, even though it’s too early to plant.

Here are some images from the event.

Paige
Paige, assisted by online searches, helped shoppers identify traits of plant varieties offered.

Checking a list
An attendee checked a list of desired seeds.

P-Patch
P-Patch staff warmly greeted gardeners and shared info on their program.

Seed ball workshop
Christy of the Seattle Farm Co-op added water to a soil-and-seed mixture that was turned into “seed balls” filled with pollinator-attracting flower seeds for a young attendee.

Laura from Seattle Tilth shared tips on basic seed saving in a well-attended workshop.

giant allium seedhead
A giant allium seedhead contributed by an attendee.

Legume table
Beans and peas were popular.

Shopping
Attendees lined the tables to package and share seeds. Many brought packages from their own gardens.

Seed screen
A seed screen at a demo table.

If you couldn’t attend this one, see our Events listing for more area seed swaps.

Clean Seeds at Saturday’s Swap

Want to try your hand at cleaning some seeds? We’ll be doing it this Saturday at the Great Seattle Seed Swap.

We have a bunch of seeds to clean, from easy beans to tiny radish seeds, both in their pods and ready for shelling. But we also have orach, mustard and arugula. You clean it, you can take it home!

Seeds to be cleaned
A variety of seeds are waiting to be cleaned at this Saturday’s swap.

Seed screens
What does a softball have to do with seed cleaning? Come and find out this Saturday at the seed swap!

You don’t have to clean seeds (or bring them) to participate in the Great Seattle Seed Swap.

We have many seeds for sharing, all neatly organized and labeled in glass jars. We have envelopes for you to package a few that look interesting. We have a resource table for you to research seeds of interest. And we’ll have people on hand to suggest how to grow those seeds to become a great part of your garden.

Join Us at Great Seattle Seed Swap, Jan. 28

Want to try Brightest Brilliant Quinoa? How about Roquette Arugula? Vit Corn Salad? Maybe Pellegrini Beans, Purple Orach, or the simple but beautiful Lemon Queen Sunflower? They’ll all be at our Great Seattle Seed Swap and ready for your garden.

The 4th annual Seed Swap will be held Saturday, Jan. 28, 1-3 p.m., at the Phinney Neighborhood Center in northwest Seattle (Community Hall, Brick Building, enter from lower parking lot).

  • Chat with other gardeners and seed-savers about favorite varieties.
  • Review the library’s table of catalogs, books and resources.
  • Visit the Seattle Tilth table for information on their programs.
  • Attend a brief workshop.

Want to make a “seed ball”? That’s one of the 15-minute workshops that will be offered at the event. Others will be on simple seed saving and learning about our bioregional seed companies.

See our Events page for other swaps.

For more information or to volunteer, drop us a line!

Our new site

Welcome to our new website. We are evolving our online presence to Pea shootbetter serve our community.

Most of the seed-saving articles, resources and links have been moved over from the old site. If you do not find something that you previously saw on our old site, drop us a line and we’ll try to get it for you.

Are you a web expert? We’re always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to share their talents, and would welcome help with our website.

Contact us at [email protected] for more information or to offer your help. Thanks!