Seed swapping has been on my radar since last Spring when I realised that there were a number of seed swaps in the area.

I duly saved the seed from a pink mallow plant last summer and spent a winter’s evening packaging up seed heads in toilet roll inners. Sustainable and all that, eh? Seeds that you take to swap need to be clearly labelled, ideally with the variety, year of collection and type of plant. You shouldn’t collect seeds from supermarket vegetables or F1 varieties, since these are unlikely to grow true-to-type.

I handed them all over this afternoon so that other seed swappers could take what they needed. In return I picked up a range of mainly vegetable seeds. The advantage of swapping seeds in this way is that gardeners can swap amongst themselves seeds which grow well in local conditions. This helps build seed resilience in maintaining seed stocks outside the big horticultural companies.

I’m hoping that the seeds I’ve picked up, like the seeds I’ve passed on, will be vigorous growers. I’m also hoping that next year I’ll be more confident in collecting seeds and that I’ll be able to return to the seed swap with even more varieties of flower and vegetable seeds.

If you’re interested you might check out the other seed swaps on our doorstep: