Topic: Advice re Allotment Seed Swapping

[LittleBean]

Going to my first seed and seedling swap morning at my allotment site this weekend and just wondering what to do with my offerings and is there a 'seed swapping etiquette'?

For example, my excess seeds are just in folded over packets in a tin, do I need to count them, label them, seal them, provide instructions if they are in plain packaging, only provide dated ones? Or will everyone else be just as disorganised as me?  :P

Are there any do's and dont's that I should be aware of?

[tottieheed]

Ive not got a clue, but it sounds like it might be fun! If you were not so far away I'd pop down myself :)

[Squash64]

We don't have a formal seed swap, we just leave surplus seeds in a tin inside the pavilion and people help themselves.

Please let us know how you get on.

[pigeonseed]

There are different ways to do it, so you could just do it however you like.

I did a couple of seed swaps last year, and ours were very informal, no need to label very well or provide instructions. We allowed shop-bought as well as self-saved seed.

Seedy Sunday seed swap movement has a website with their own suggestions on it. http://www.seedysunday.org/ They have a more organised approach.

I was thinking of trying that seed tin in the shed idea, squash64, glad to know a precedent has been set!  :)
 

[cambourne7]

Bring lots of pens and things to put seeds in :)

Enjoy

[galina]

It is helpful to have a date on the packet.  For homesaved seeds this is a must anyay, if this is missing from a commercial packet (because it was on the top of the packet that got torn off for example) then it helps to say something like bought last year or bought this year or a few years old, but germinated well last year etc

This way the swapper knows whether to sow normally, more thickly or whether to pregerminate on wet tissue to check whether the seeds are still viable at all.

My pet hate at seed swaps are the undated packets of 'saved butternut squash' or 'saved watermelon' which presumably were just scooped out from supermarket produce at some stage!  Even ebay sellers offer such packets.  The results are utterly unpredictable and the seeds are unlikely to be suitable for UK growing, if they germinate at all.  Such packets are a waste of time.

half used seedpackets with in date are usually a good swap, although it is not known how they were stored, there might be reduced germination but worth a punt.

Your packets are just fine if you stick a bit of tape on the folds to stop seed spilling out.