Seed trade, anyone?

So the Seed catalogs are rolling in and I find myself curled up with them like an interesting novel or sinful story. I love winter, but this year I've longed for spring. Much to the dismay of Moose, I'll be ripping up another large garden plot to expand my growth plots (I eventually want an acre dedicated to gardens in total, but want to work up to that). Oh the stuff I could grow! All the squash I can eat, pumpkins for pies and roasting, potatoes, tomatoes out the wazoo! Maybe lettuce and herbs this year since our chickens will be tractored and not eating everything that comes up. Beets and kale! Onions and garlic! Carrots, peas, beans, and wheat. All heirloom if I can help it.

And it got me thinking, I have soooo much saved seed from Spaghetti squash plants, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in trading some seeds they have? OR, tell me what you're planting this year

Feel I should give you fair warning...spaghetti squash is in the same species as all summer squash, most pumpkins and a few other winter squashes. It also cross pollinates like mad from several hundred feet away. First time I planted saved seed was from a pumpkin, and I wound up with six plants, five of which looked completely different from eachother! None of them were pumpkins.

It's tons of fun though, so I'd probably still take you up on the offer if you wanted to plant some red fife wheat. I didn't save enough of anything else last year for more than what I need unfortunately.

Country Thyme Farm wrote:Feel I should give you fair warning...spaghetti squash is in the same species as all summer squash, most pumpkins and a few other winter squashes. It also cross pollinates like mad from several hundred feet away. First time I planted saved seed was from a pumpkin, and I wound up with six plants, five of which looked completely different from eachother! None of them were pumpkins.

It's tons of fun though, so I'd probably still take you up on the offer if you wanted to plant some red fife wheat. I didn't save enough of anything else last year for more than what I need unfortunately.

Yus, I knew about the squash thing, just love squash so much I listed it again I never thought about the cross pollination stuff really, when growing my own and saving seed... So, a heads up on whatever is traded Everything cross pollinates here, thus why I dont save seed from anything Brassicae(sp). Too much canola around and trying to keep weird fish and frog genes out of my vegetables.

I'd definitely trade for some Red Fife How many seeds would you like?

OH! I also have some Amish Snap Peas I could spare as well. They are a year and a half or so old, but I tested some for viability and all 4 grew. Was lovely til the cats ate them.

Sweetest snap pea ever!

I'd be game for trading, but how about even some bought seeds. It seems I end up with 3/4 or more of everything I ever buy left over. Using the square foot gardening technique means I waste few seeds, so I've always tons left over. My husband always comments on my seed bank -lol
Just tomatoes alone, I must have 15 varieties, all heritage. The seeds are getting older (2-3 years), but when I planted them in the green house, most of them grew.
This year I will be starting seeds in the hopes of selling seedlings. My friends gave me 6 bags of starter pots. These are the big empty peat bags, so there are probably over a thousand various pots. May as well use them and use up some of these excess seeds! Even doing this, I'd still probably have enough seeds to supply several gardens.
This year I ordered off Ebay and was so pleased to find a seller who sells huge variety for a small price per pack and she only puts in a few of each type of seed. The smaller seeds, like carrots come in the several hundreds, but watermelon come in 25s and artichoke in 15s. Much more sensible for a planter who only wants a few of these larger plants. Even still, I'll likely plant many of these and sell all but a few.

I too have a bunch of tomatoes I got from Heritage Harvest seeds a few years ago. Tomato seeds seem to be able to survive. This year I am going to plant them. I have a connection in Regina and could get seedlings to you there. If you are ever in Saskatoon on a weekend, I am happy to meet there as well. We can figure something out.

Now that you have MADE me go through my seeds and get a nasty case of spring fever, I will list what I have.

Tomato:

Snowhite cherry
Yellow Pear
Purple Russian
Black Cherry
Sweet yellow cherry
Reisetomate - these babies are ugly!
Pink Thai Egg
Black plum

The thought, when I bought all of these, was to have a beautiful bowl of coloured cherry tomatoes, cut in half, and drizzled with some very good balsalmic vinegar and oil and sprinkled with feta and basil for a lovely tomato salad. Maybe you can live my dream this year!

I also have Cream of Saskatchewan, which I believe is a melon, Minnesota Midget Melon, and Gnadfeld Melon.

auntieevil wrote:I'd be game for trading, but how about even some bought seeds. It seems I end up with 3/4 or more of everything I ever buy left over. Using the square foot gardening technique means I waste few seeds, so I've always tons left over. My husband always comments on my seed bank -lol
Just tomatoes alone, I must have 15 varieties, all heritage. The seeds are getting older (2-3 years), but when I planted them in the green house, most of them grew.
This year I will be starting seeds in the hopes of selling seedlings. My friends gave me 6 bags of starter pots. These are the big empty peat bags, so there are probably over a thousand various pots. May as well use them and use up some of these excess seeds! Even doing this, I'd still probably have enough seeds to supply several gardens.
This year I ordered off Ebay and was so pleased to find a seller who sells huge variety for a small price per pack and she only puts in a few of each type of seed. The smaller seeds, like carrots come in the several hundreds, but watermelon come in 25s and artichoke in 15s. Much more sensible for a planter who only wants a few of these larger plants. Even still, I'll likely plant many of these and sell all but a few.

Trading bought seeds is a great idea!

I'm going to do up a list tonight of what I have, the year its from and how many I can spare and post it.


Bowker, we'll have to meet up sometime! I live half way between Regina and Stoon, and we do get up there once a month or so as of late.

Although you are talking garden seeds here if you are interested in flowers etc there is a site that sells bulk seeds that I visit ( actually two ) One being Seeds and More which is mostly flower and tree / shrub seeds for indoors as well as outdoors .The other is SeedMan.com who has everything ,garden seeds flower seeds exotic plants etc ,i find this site very interesting and hope to order some unusual seeds this year for both inside as well as outside ,a bit of a taste from the world as it would be .

Sorry Bowker, but thanks for the list.

Here's my tradeable seed

Reference Key:
R = Richter's
HH = Heritage Harvest
WC = West Coast Seed


2010 Seed:
R - Roma Tomato
R - Beefsteak Tomato

2011 Seed:
WC - Thai Dragon Pepper ('Hot')
R - Sweetie Tomato
SAVED SEED - Amish Snap Pea

2012 Seed:
HH - Kind of the North Tomato
HH - Crisp Mint Lettuce
HH - Drunken Woman Lettuce
HH - Cimmaron Lettuce
HH - Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
Lindenberg - Haricot Beans Tendergreen
HH - Starfire Tomato
HH - Monomakhs Hat Tomato
HH - Gaspe Flint Corn
HH - Tom Thumb Popcorn
WC - Swiss Chard
HH - Black Cherry Tomato
HH - Andrina Tomato
HH - Farthest North Tomato
HH - Burgundy Amaranth
HH - Doe Hill Pepper
WC - Acorn Squash

2012 Saved seed
Vegetable Marrow - HH Seed origin, grown around other squash
Spaghetti Squash - Unknown Origin (fruit gifted from a friend), grown around other squash
Acorn Squash - WC origin, grown around other squash.

I also have true potato seed for anyone wanting to try those out (I'm not having much luck) (free, not for trade).


Bowker I'll trade/pay you for Snow White Cherry, Reisetomate and each of the Melons (I was going to order Cream of Saskatchewan anyway). How do you preserve your melons?

We should consider going in on an order and splitting seeds halfsies if we only seem to use half

I will trade happily, however, my seed is getting old and I would like to give you plants. I want to make sure these things germinate. I really don't grow a lot of heritage seeds. Many of them do not seem to do well this far north and I have to opt for something with a shorter growing season, especially corn. There is a pea that brings back a lot of memories for me though. My grandma used to grow it. It must have been the Manitoba giant. The pods were HUGE! The peas were edible, but not like some of the spring peas or even the homesteader.

Just for you, I have organic potting mix and a good pile of worm casts to pots your plants in so they are even organic - or as organic as I get. The worms have not necessarily eaten organic waste material, but I am not getting into that.

I look forward to meeting you in the spring!

Bowker Acres wrote:I will trade happily, however, my seed is getting old and I would like to give you plants. I want to make sure these things germinate. I really don't grow a lot of heritage seeds. Many of them do not seem to do well this far north and I have to opt for something with a shorter growing season, especially corn. There is a pea that brings back a lot of memories for me though. My grandma used to grow it. It must have been the Manitoba giant. The pods were HUGE! The peas were edible, but not like some of the spring peas or even the homesteader.

Just for you, I have organic potting mix and a good pile of worm casts to pots your plants in so they are even organic - or as organic as I get. The worms have not necessarily eaten organic waste material, but I am not getting into that.

I look forward to meeting you in the spring!

! You don't have to go through the trouble -- If all the seeds failed I wouldn't mind. You should try some of the Farthest North tomato I have. They are 65 days from transplant and did quite well in my garden. I don't use an organic starter mix because it's so stupidly expensive. I raise things without pesticides (excluding the blow-over I know I must end up with) and such, but I'm not fanatic in the least.

I do look forward to seeing you -- let me know if you want anything as a trade. I will definitely bring you some Amish Snap, they are very good and grow so easily here. I plant them as soon as I can push them into the ground and they withstand a small frost well.

Seed saving and exchange is such a wonderful thing. I do have pounds and pounds of dill. Gathered from pounds and pounds of dill seed heads. Dill self-seeds all over my gardens every year and I have too much seed gathered. I don't ever need to plant dill again, smiling.

If anyone would like dill seed, contact me through email. We would do it like this. You would send me a self-stamped envelope and I would send you back dill in that. That works.

also have pounds and pounds of teeny tiny garlic bulbils that I could send to anyone that wishes them. I grow a cultivar that goes by the name of Fish Lake #3. I have gathered thousands of the little bulbils that form from the flowers of the garlic. REally, yep, thousands....

With garlic bulbils gathered from flowers, it takes two years to create the big bulb that has the cloves. The first year with planting you will get a bulb, about the size of a dime, maybe a little smaller, a little bigger. that is dug up before fall, and replanted, just like when you harvest full sized garlic bulbs and separate the cloves and replant the cloves. It is in the second year that these one year old bulbs will grow into the lovely big bulbs that have the 4-8 cloves in them. Fish Lake #3 is an extremely good keeping garlic and has a very nice medium hot flavour. that is why I grow this particular variety, it keeps so well. When I plant my garlic, I always choose the biggest cloves for planting and keep the smaller cloves (and of course some big ones too) for saving. The bigger the clove planted, the bigger the bulbs the following year.

So....phew, that was long winded. If anyone would like to have garlic bulbils, teeny tiny little bulbils, to grow for two years to make full sized bulbs I have that available. The upside to planting bulbils too, is that you can have so many that you can harvest the greens for use instead of green onions and chives. Or for that matter, you could also just plant garlic chives, smiling. Think I have some seed saved from a few years ago of the garlic chives too. Yes. So if interested, kindly give me an email, I don't like the forum PM system, so emails are in order. Just like I am going to do to you Sweetened.....Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Here's a list of some of the seeds I have excess of for trade with the number of seeds available in brackets. No brackets mean 12+ available.

Heritage seeds from Chicken Lee -2 years old
Petit gris de Rennes melon (6)
Lemon cucumber(4)
Tomatoes:
Bellstar 6)
Black Prince (3)
Golden Queen(5)
Earl of Edgecombe(5)
purple tomatillo(4)
Lee(5)
Golden Zucchini(4)
Scallop Squash(3)

Organic seed from Wildwood Farm (EBay)(f0r 2013)
Hansel Eggplant(12+)
Lecerf Califlower(6)
Royal Marvel Brussel Sprouts(6)
Kohlrabi mix(12+)
Tokyo cross turnip(6)
Moon and stars watermelon(6)
Most purple coneflower(12+)

Richter's (for 2012)
Calabrese broccoli
Spaghetti squash
Red express cabbage
New Zealand spinach (6)
Waltham butternut squash
lemon catmint
Spira lavender
blue seed poppy
grain amaranth
red salad bowl lettuce
pot cilantro
red Russian kale
Siam queen Thai basil
Lolla Rossa lettuce

Burpee (for 2013)
Pak Choi
hot pepper mix
sweet pepper mix

Berton seed (for 2012)
Swiss chard

OSC (2 years)
Viking asparagus
dark green zucchini
sugar baby watermelon
summer savoury
catnip
stevia
Swiss chard

McKenzie (for 2012)
long sanding bloomsdale spinach
greencrop bush beans
improved golden waxed bean
dwarf speedy bean
royal burgandy beans
Cylindra beets
Detroit dark beets
green sprouting broccoli
Nantes carrot
sweetness II carrot
balcony charm tomato
sweet 100 hybrid tomato
peaches and cream corn
Swede Laurentian Turnip
Buttercup Squash
small sugar pumpkin

Oh, I also have some older (2011) seeds for tobacco and poppies.

auntieevil wrote:Oh, I also have some older (2011) seeds for tobacco and poppies.

Auntieevil i am interested in your tobacco and poppy seeds...don't ask don't tell...HAHAHA

I will make a list of what i have to share and post today

Seeds I have for trade or share
All from last year, most saved but originated from heritage harvest seeds

Sylvia Guame (tomato)
Black Zebra (tomato)
Cinderella pumpkin
Cantaloupe
Honey dew melon
Black Russian Broad Bean

We had a pretty crappy year, sooo hot! Didnt get many seeds saved. But this is what I can think of off the top of my head.

"Orca Beans"-Heritage Harvest
Sunflowers- came from a mixed packet, got LOTS of these babys!

If someone has something we're interested in, are we PM-ing them?

Swamp Hen wrote:We had a pretty crappy year, sooo hot! Didnt get many seeds saved. But this is what I can think of off the top of my head.

"Orca Beans"-Heritage Harvest
Sunflowers- came from a mixed packet, got LOTS of these babys!

If someone has something we're interested in, are we PM-ing them?

Meh. I'd like to trade you for some of both of those. Let nme know if you're interested anything I have.

The SASE (self-addressed stamped envelopes) are a great idea Cynthia.
Maybe once everyone has posted what they have and are interested in, we could get organized, and figure out how to centralize and ship stuff. Either one person could receive everything with the SASEs and organize the seeds and ship them on. Or, we could send things in a chain fashion, but this is less efficient.
The other thing is how to package the seeds. I was thinking using some double sided tape and taping them to a paper would be great. The paper can have the type of seed and be planted with it. If only one seed is being shipped, this wouldn't be necessary. It would work well for multiple seeds though.
If anyone has a better idea, I'm all ears.
Hopefully more people will get involved.
Cynthia, I have some garlic bulbils too, and would love to swap some with you. Mine are from someone else, so I believe, but am not positive, they are purple striped.
A lot of the seeds I'd be interested in would be things for an edible garden, or greenhouse. I'd love some caragana pods, some black walnut, chestnut or other nut and fruit tree seeds. Anything that grows well in a 4a zone will work.

auntieevil wrote:
The other thing is how to package the seeds. I was thinking using some double sided tape and taping them to a paper would be great. The paper can have the type of seed and be planted with it. If only one seed is being shipped, this wouldn't be necessary. It would work well for multiple seeds though.
If anyone has a better idea, I'm all ears.

I will be making small paper envelopes and labeling them for mine -- I learned a simple design for a small envelope years ago and still use it.

auntieevil wrote:
Cynthia, I have some garlic bulbils too, and would love to swap some with you. Mine are from someone else, so I believe, but am not positive, they are purple striped.

Ah, well thanks. But...I only want to grow the one variety that I have, Fish Lake #3. It fulfills every need I have for garlic. But still, if you want some from me, I am more than willing to share. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

CynthiaM wrote:

auntieevil wrote:
Cynthia, I have some garlic bulbils too, and would love to swap some with you. Mine are from someone else, so I believe, but am not positive, they are purple striped.

Ah, well thanks. But...I only want to grow the one variety that I have, Fish Lake #3. It fulfills every need I have for garlic. But still, if you want some from me, I am more than willing to share. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Sounds good.
Will two varieties cross breed? Or only if you collect seeds? I'm under the impression, bulbils are true to the parent type.
Since I am unfamiliar with growing garlic, I'd love a few different varieties, so I will send an envelope your way. Will PM later for the address.
Does garlic have to be taken out of the ground? I planted some bulbils in the greenhouse and wonder if it would be okay left to mature there. I was told it normally is planted and dug up, then replanted. The greenhouse averages around 50 to 60 degree soil temps in the winter, so I figured it might do okay left to mature there. What are your thoughts on this?

Sweetened wrote:

auntieevil wrote:
The other thing is how to package the seeds. I was thinking using some double sided tape and taping them to a paper would be great. The paper can have the type of seed and be planted with it.
If anyone has a better idea, I'm all ears.

I will be making small paper envelopes and labeling them for mine -- I learned a simple design for a small envelope years ago and still use it.

Do you have instructions for these?
The super small seeds, like tobacco, amaranth, etc may be lost in even a small envelope. I have a few tiny clear plastic ziploc-type bags I could use for those I suppose.
At least we still have a bit of time to work things out...

I think it would be easiest if we contacted the person that has seeds we are interested in for there mailing address and sent the sase to them.

Just a quick update to my list, found my "seed box"!

Night Scented Tobacco Nicotiana Sylvestris
Jasmine Tobacco Nicotiana Alata -both are extremely fragrant, produce white flowers.
Cupani's Orriginal Sweet Pea- Heavenly fragrance, dont have many of these

Sophie's Choice Tomato
Durzba Tomato
Pennsylvania Dutch Butter flavor popcorn

Everything on this addition is Heritage Harvest, stuff I had left from last year.