Calhoun County, AL – Seed Swapping is a good starting point to ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family if they would like to swap seeds with you. Every gardener has a determination to harvest every fall of the year the seeds to plant the following Spring. If you attend public seed swaps you have noticed they ask attendees to contribute free seeds. If every attendee brings several types of seeds to exchange at the seed swap, it becomes an amazing event! Heirloom seeds are family treasures that can get lost in the homestead estate sales during the home’s preparation for sale at auctions! A cleaning crew will toss those seeds in a garbage bend. Take time to speak to your relatives who have been gardeners what do they do with seeds every year? Start a resolution to label the seeds you harvest from your garden. A few seeds go a long distance and there is no need to be conservative with gifting seeds! An example I like to tell people about is how my daddy who passed in 1979 had two jars in the freezer of bean seeds. My mother continued to use a few of those bean seeds every spring. Then she gave those freezer jars of bean seeds to me. I still have them in 2025. I concentrate my efforts on harvesting large quantities of my favorite seeds because I want to share them. I hope you share your seeds also.
Betty Clark is a contributing writer. She has been an organic gardener since 1998. The signature flower she grows is Dahlias. She has a straw bale garden, a raised bed garden, and an in-ground garden. Both her surnames are agricultural farming families (8 generations). Her hobbies include ancestry research, antiques, continued education classes, and workshops. She also has a background in marketing & promotions including expos. To contact Betty Clark with gardening questions: bettyclark2151959@gmail.com