‘It’s about a lot more than seeds’: Gardeners trade seeds, stories at local swaps
Even amid snow, cold and blustery winds, experienced gardeners and novices alike are starting to plan for the warmer days ahead.
Groups throughout the area have turned to seed swaps or giveaways as a way to make plant growing more accessible.
People have been coming together to trade seeds and expertise since the dawn of agriculture.
Since 2006, the practice has been commemorated with a National Seed Swap Day.
This year’s celebration fell on Jan. 31, when the Allegheny Land Trust and Penn State Master Gardeners of Washington County hosted a swap at the Frank Sarris Public Library in Canonsburg.
“There’s definitely a lot of people out there who want to get started gardening or want to plant flowers, but maybe don’t know what type is right for them, or how to get started,” said Julie Travalini, senior director of education and curriculum for the Allegheny Land Trust, who launched the swap after hearing about the national day. “Or maybe they don’t have access to either the seeds or the people with knowledge about seeds.”
Seeds for the local swaps come from a mix of organizations, businesses and ones brought in from people’s personal harvests.
“I harvested 19 or 20 seed varieties just from my own plants,” Travalini said.
Even before National Seed Swap Day, local meetups were happening.
On Jan. 18, people with the gardening bug came to From Scratch in Uniontown for an annual swap organized by Shelby Huber of Hilton Farm II in Smithfield.
Huber, who has a self-admitted “seed obsession,” noticed a lot of new growers found seed investment too daunting.
That Sunday’s array included food staples like lettuce, peppers and tomatoes, perennials and medicinal herbs, and also cuttings for house plants. Seed swaps in future months will also offer seedlings, Huber said.
The local swaps draw people at all levels of experience.
At the Hilton Farm swap, one person will bring in paw paw seeds from their grove, with detailed notes on the genetics. Others will come in asking for help on where to start.
Huber will set them up with pots and soil, and also host instructional sessions out at her farm.
“It’s just kind of an opportunity for anyone at any level to come here and find what they’re looking for,” she said. “It’s about a lot more than seeds.”
People leave the swaps with not just seeds, but more knowledge about how to make them flourish.
The Allegheny Land Trust’s swap included a winter sowing demonstration, where people learn how to successfully plant native seeds in the colder months.
“It’s really just a big community event to celebrate the shared love of gardening and hopefully helping out some native biodiversity too,” Travalini said.
At monthly sessions at the Hilton Farm, people can get tips on everything from separating perennials to “chaos gardening,” where gardeners will mix old seeds they hadn’t figured out where to use.
“People come in and ask questions, and we’re like, ‘Would you like to know more about it? Let’s go,'” Huber said. “We just kind of go with it.”
The Peters Public Library in McMurray has hosted a small seed swap for the past four years in mid-January.
Sydney Kraweic, the public library’s program and outreach coordinator, said the swaps help growers find a use for older seeds, which are only good for so long.
“It’s almost like a little mini flea market set up, where everyone has their own little table and can talk to other people about their seeds, and they bring pictures, or even an example of it grown,” she said. “It’s been a lot of great fun to see that community engage.”
It helps launch their seed library, which gives out about 1,500 seed packets over the course of the year, Kraweic said.
The selection includes 18 fruits and vegetables, four flowers and four herbs. New donations are always accepted “as long as they’re not invasive,” Kraweic said.
Volunteers come in regularly to repackage seeds, label them and get them on the shelves.
The smaller packages reduce waste, Kraweic said.
“A home gardener, you don’t need 200 tomato seeds every year,” she said. “So it’s nice to be able to help people get what they need, and also try new varieties and things.”
Throughout the year, the library also hosts talks on topics such as native plants for landscaping and gardening.
Peters follows January’s swap with a plant swap in May, where people can trade their extra tomato plant from a boom crop, or a houseplant that needs a new home.
In Greene County, Penn State Master Gardeners gave away a variety of vegetable seeds last month at the Bowlby Library in Waynesburg.
Members of the organization also offer ways to turn the seeds into thriving plants. They have an upcoming class on sowing at 6 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Mount Morris Community Center. And they teach Seed to Supper courses, in which new gardeners can learn how to grow their own food on a budget, said Cheryl Brendel, Master Gardener coordinator for Greene County.
The seed giveaways can help gardeners get started without worrying about cash investment, she said.
“To get a decent seed package, you’re going to pay a couple dollars for it,” she said.
Hilton Farm’s seed swaps draw anywhere from 20 to 150, depending on the time of year.
Huber has found that many people keep coming back, bringing new people in tow with them looking for help.
Partway through the seed swap at From Scratch, John and Tiffany Clark of Connellsville arrived with their young children in tow. It was the family’s first seed swap; they came after Tiffany saw it on Facebook.
After church Sunday, they came bearing spider plants — beginner-friendly house plants where “you literally water them when you remember to and they do the rest,” John said.
They picked up seeds, from squash to hibiscus flowers, to add to their large garden.
And they got drawn into conversation with their fellow planters, swapping stories and useful growing information.
“Everything is expensive nowadays, and there are a lot of people who are less fortunate, even than us, who may not have a lot of money to spend on seeds, or a lot of knowledge,” John said. “You come to a place like this where there’s plant people, if you have questions, you can just ask it. That’s not the case if you go to Walmart and buy a plant or something like that.”