I’m part of a solid group of backyard growers that occasionally come together to exchange excess backyard produce. After following some successful gardeners on Instagram, I got the idea to do our own local seed exchange. Not only would this be a great way to connect, but our seeds would be successful since the meeting and exchange would be really local.
We coordinated online, check out the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1216601628460596/
A lot of people tend to collect a lot of seeds, and truly it’s nice to have a surplus, however, some seeds lose their ability to germinate as well as time goes on. Seed exchanges are good for sharing what you have excess of, and acquiring new seeds you may not have known about.
I was also able to learn a lot about what grows in our zone 10 in Burbank. Lot’s of experienced growers came out, and I was even able to gather some Yuzu seeds from a guest.
The other upside is that we’re trying to reduce our use of disposable and plastic goods. We were able to upcycle some of the pharmacy bottles and plastic containers from the dispensary into seed containers.
Check out some pictures of our rainy day exchange