Seed Exchange Progam

Seed Exchange

Our seed exchange guardian, Richard Harrison, (richard@newwesthortsociety) is keen to get working on your collected seeds. Bring your collected seeds or purchased seeds you no longer want to our meeting and Richard will re-package them to have them ready for distribution at the next meeting. He welcomes emails regarding seed details or plant photos. How about sending him a question or comment about the seed exchange?

Seed Saving

We invite our members to donate to the club's Seed Exchange.

For more information about saving seeds there is an excellent resource here.

Seed Exchange Guidelines

We received positive feedback after the announcement of the seed exchange, but it will only be possible with donations from you!

Have a look around your garden and think about what plants you enjoyed that you think someone would enjoy growing from seed. Good candidates for the seed exchange:

  • Plants that are preferably propagated from seed, such as annuals, vegetables, and perennials that do not divide.
  • Rare or usual plants that members might be interested in.
  • Ensure plants come true from seed. (e.g. Hybrids do not come true from seed.)

Plants that don’t come true but are likely to produce desirable o ff spring are welcome too. Perhaps you have a clump of spotted hellebores, or an oriental poppy in a beau ti ful shade of purple. Consider labeling plants now for collection later. It might be hard to remember the colour of the flower once the petals go, or if that plant was a fl at or curly leaved kale.

Collect seeds from the best plants. (e.g. the most robust, or best traits for that plant) Wait unti l the seeds are ripe – the husks turn papery brown, but before they split and cast the seeds to the ground. If you are donating seeds from fl eshy fruit capsules, please separate the seeds from the pulp, and dry. With our wet weather, consider taking seeds in a bit e arly.

Ensure seeds are dry before storing. Spread them out to dry if necessary. Place in a paper bag, envelop or fold in newspaper and LABEL with your name and contact info, the year, and plant details. Include the name of the plant, and if applicable, colour, height, spread, and any other info you’d like to provide. There is no need to break and separate the seeds from the capsules.

Plant Sale TABLE

We will have an in-club Plant Sale Table with plants & garden related items every month with exception of December.

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EVENTS

Our other events include the spring plant sale, a summer garden tour and picnic, bring-and-share and year-end dinner.

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Monthly To Do List

It's March! Time to start planting, pruning and fertilizing. You will find a monthly list of gardening tips and "to dos" appropriate for every time of the year.

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Gardening Tips

Here we share our hand picked gardeing tips, from how to keep dirt from getting under your nails to how to deal with pests organically.

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"If you are interested in gardening and horticulture, this is the club for you!"