Tis the season for swapping seeds and making more gardening friends. There are three upcoming swaps that I know of and gardeners are already organizing their stashes to prepare:

If you know of any more seed swaps in the Chicagoland area, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

What I’m swapping.

I’ve got no shortage of seeds but a desperate shortage of garden space with sunlight. So I have to be extra choosy this year since I want to try some new things and continue with old dependables. That doesn’t mean I’m sharing seeds that suck. No way. I usually have way too many of a particular seed since my space is small. So here’s my list that I’m planning on bringing. There may be more added later, we’ll see if I get through the three boxes in my living room.

  • Black from Tula tomato, 2011, I accidentally ordered 3 packs of this so I have plenty to swap
  • Half long Guernsey parsnips, Baker Creek, 2009
  • Wild zaatar oregano, Botanical Interests, 2009
  • Broccoli, Botanical Interests, 2010, not enough sun in my yard to get it to broccolize
  • Bee Balm, One Seed Chicago, 2010, pink just ain’t my thing
  • Mary Washington Asparagus, unmarked envelope but I think it’s Baker Creek, 2009
  • Delicata Honey Boat winter squash, Botanical Interests, 2009
  • Summer straightneck squash, Burpee 2009
  • Marina di Chioggia winter squash, Baker Creek, 2009, these were awesome last year but hubby is wigged out by the lumpy surface
  • Burpless bush cucumber, Livingston seed, 2010
  • Improved green hubbard, Livingston seed 2010, got too much hubbard and not enough space
  • Golden zucchini, Livingston seed 2010
  • Minnesota midget melon, Baker Creek 2009
  • Honeydew orange flesh, Baker Creek, 2009
  • Tigger melon, Baker Creek, 2010, very pretty striped orange/red melons
  • Garden berry huckleberry, Baker Creek 2010
  • Sub arctic plenty tomato (cherry), Livingston seeds, 2009
  • Gardeners delight tomato, Livingston seeds, 2010
  • Speckled roma paste tomato, , Botanical Interests, 2010
  • Keepsake tomato, Reimer Seeds, 2009, a good storage tomato
  • Long keeper tomato, Reimer Seeds, 2009, a good storage tomato
  • Italian roma tomato, , Botanical Interests, 2010
  • Amish paste tomato, Baker Creek, 2010
  • 5 Brandywine tomato, Renee’s Garden Seeds, 2009
  • 3 Marvel stripe tomato, Renee’s Garden Seeds, 2009, these are awesomely pretty and tasty
  • 1 green zebra tomato, Renee’s Garden Seeds, 2009

Don’t have seeds to swap?

No problem! If you don’t have seeds to swap and you’d still like to participate in The Forest Park Community Garden Swap, they’ve created two options for you:

1st: They’ll have prepared a variety of swap-sized bags of seeds for sale at 50 cents each. Anyone can purchase these at the registration desk to use for swapping. (Swap bags will contain 6 or 20 seeds in accordance with the swap rules.)

2nd: You may also purchase full-sized retail packages and divide them up into swap quantities. Local merchants like Menards and Sid’s Greenhouse are already carrying seeds or you can purchase seeds online from two of the garden’s most-trusted companies:

—Botanical Interests® Seeds who will also donate a portion of the sale to support the garden and their public events like the seed swap. Just click on this link or the banner below.

—And buying from Renee’s Garden Seeds also results in a portion of the sale going to support the garden if you enter code FR335A upon checkout. Renee also has some nice mixed packs of seeds where, for example, you can try 3 types of a tomatoes without having to buy 3 separate full-sized packs.

So, show up to the swaps. You never know who you’ll meet and what kind of seeds you’ll walk away with!