Hanging out in the bad part of town? Nope, Seedy Saturdays are when like minded gardeners all get together to swap, and buy seeds. The best part is most times the seed is open pollinated, and from organic origins. Seedy Saturdays are being held all over, so check out your local garden center newsletters and join in the fun.
I attended my very first Seedy Saturday the other day, and came back with some interesting seed choices. The school gym where it was held, was packed with local vendors. It was easy to see the most popular, since they were the ones with the line ups that stretched into the next tables. After waiting in line for more then a few minutes at a very busy table it was our turn to peruse the selections. Rare, heirloom, and unusual varieties, with only a few minutes to choose it was a little bit of grab ‘n go at times.
My Sister was elbowed out of her spot by a rather exuberant gardener, who butted into the line up, but who can argue with enthusiasm like that? There were hundreds of people and all of them looked so eager to find that perfect pack of seeds. Everything was available from beets to spinach, cosmos to poppies, and anything else you could grow out here.
That’s another good thing about Seedy Saturdays, the seeds are usually acclimatized to your area, and you are more likely to have success with them. Has anyone grown Anise Hyssop, with it’s purple flowers before? I vaguely remember a gardening friend telling me she decided to grow that instead of lavender, but I may be mistaken. I also got some New Zealand Spinach, and very unusual poppies, I am a HUGE poppy fan, can’t wait to see those babies bloom. Double pink, white with purple centers, and blue nigella, love in a mist, do you know how hard it is to get a true blue nigella?
So here I am planning my garden, and watching the snow gradually fade off of the lawn. The front yard is already landscaped, so I should be able to fit some more flowers in, but the back is a bare canvas, no beds, no plants… A gardeners dream.