Confessions of a Seed Hoarder: Sharing and Collecting

This Easter weekend (Happy Easter BTW) started with a frenzy of planting and dirt slinging!

My dirty fingernails are proof that growing season has begun!!!  This time of the year is definitely my happiest.  I always look forward to warmer weather and starting seeds and planting out seedlings. I naturally get up much earlier (farmer's hours, I call it) and itch to get outside.

So yesterday, I went and had Easter dinner with the family and of course, my mother who has an amazing green thumb pulls out a Saran wrapped bundle of seeds and tells me to take some.  I LOVE LOVE sharing seeds.  I LOVE LOVE receiving seeds especially if someone has grown the plant and collected the seeds with every intention of sharing.  

These are Korean squash or hobak that my mother's friend grew in her garden.  This will also be a wild card in my garden this year!  There is something about sharing seeds with others.  I feel like some of the most reliable seeds have been those that were given to me by a local gardener (mom or one of her friends). My garlic chives are a prime example. My mother has grown these chives for years! It's the first to come back each spring and no matter what happens, they thrive! I was also given a few perilla seeds (like 8 seeds of questionable age) by my mother who has been growing perilla as long as she's been growing chives and last year, I collected from the healthiest plants and multiplied my cache.

And speaking of collecting...I also LOVE collecting seeds ( I am a seed hoarder after all).  My collection has definitely grown in a single growing season.

I'm hoping my little library of seeds will keep growing as I figure out what I like to grow and does well in my little garden.  But I collect seeds every year not only to keep but to share.  There's something about selecting a healthy fruit or flower to lovingly collect the seeds, dry and pack to save for next year or years down the line or to give to someone to start a garden for themselves. From a single pack of $2 seeds, I've recuperated the cost of the seeds and then some and now I have enough to continue planting and to give to someone else probably for the rest of my life.  So collect and share and keep growing!!