The Vermilion Public Library held a successful Seedy Saturday on March 25 with a good number of residents participating in the event.
Seedy Saturday is designed to help gardeners connect with other gardeners so they can try new seed varieties, share their favourites, swap seeds, and to encourage the use of open-pollinated and heritage seeds.
“Whether the person attending is a first-time or master gardener, seed enthusiast or an expert seed saver, the event is for everyone,” said Vermilion Public Library program coordinator Shelia Heit.
Participants who brought seeds were given five tokens which they could use to trade for seeds they were interested in trying. However, shortly into the event, Heit opened up the seed gathering to all who were in attendance, especially new gardeners who didn’t have anything to trade but were interested in starting to connect with the local gardening community.
Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) offered free ‘Little Garden Kits’ to families with young children at the event. The kit included a seed tray, three seed packages and some dirt, so the little ones could start growing some vegetables.
Members of the Facebook group Lakeland Seed and Plant Swap were in attendance so participants could have the opportunity to connect with them.
Gerald Delorme, an associate with the Facebook group provided educational information on seeds and growing, and said, “It is my hope to one day see a community garden in every community.”
The group’s initiative is to encourage gardeners to grow plants locally and to save seeds and share what they have saved with other gardeners.
“Saving seeds year after year makes the seeds better adapted to regional climates and locales. Among the many benefits, seed swaps are a great way to save money as you can get a vast variety of seeds for free, not to mention a network of knowledge from seasoned gardening pros,” states the information page they handed out during the event.
“We would like to say a big thank you to a local Facebook group called ‘Lakeland Seed and Plant Swap’ for their amazing donation of seed packages for this event,” said Heit.