Share seeds with other gardeners and bring home some for your own garden, too
Coin envelopes are convenient storage for extra seeds to swap or save. Label with the year collected or purchased as well as the variety of seed. Kathy Morrison
Got more seeds than you know what to do with – and still need more?
Here’s an opportunity to share that wealth while also filling your own garden with varieties you haven’t yet grown.
On Saturday, Jan. 27, the Fair Oaks Branch Library will host “Sacramento Seed Swap and Share,” a local celebration of National Seed Swap Day.
From 1 to 3 p.m., the public is invited to bring vegetable, flower and herb seeds to this free event to swap with other gardeners – or just to share. The seed should come from non-hybrid varieties such as heirloom tomatoes, squash or beans. It can be seed saved from the grower’s own garden or commercially produced.
“Come trade and share seeds! Save money, reduce waste, and increase biodiversity!” say the organizers. “Bring open-pollinated and/or heirloom vegetable, flower, herb and native plant seeds to share. Leave with new varieties to try. Share knowledge and experience about seed saving and starting plants from seed.”
Held on the last Saturday in January, National Seed Swap Day serves as “a reminder that spring is on the way,” say its creators. For most gardeners, late January is a perfect time to take stock of their seed supply while considering what to grow this spring, summer and fall.
Swapping seeds is as old as farming; so is saving seeds to grow or swap with others. Think of it as green recycling. Not only does seed swapping and sharing increase the diversity of the plants you grow, it saves money, too.
Bring envelopes and a pencil or pen to label your seed acquisitions. Bring your own seeds to swap or share, too.
Fair Oaks Branch Library is located at 11601 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Fair Oaks.
For more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1789593944880108.
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of July 21
Your garden needs you!
* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.
* Feed vegetable plants bone meal, rock phosphate or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting. (But wait until daily high temperatures drop out of the 100s.)
* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week.
* Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.
* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.
* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.
* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.
* It's not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.
* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.
Powered by California Local
