Seed swapping is a game of risk but, oh, the tasty rewards if you find a fertile packet.
This is the first year Colony Farm Community Gardens (CFCG) members are opening up their annual seed swap to the general public. It's a chance for gardeners to get their green thumbs on some rare varieties of fruit and vegetable seeds.
"You get two benefits: You are collecting your own seeds. And plants that have done well, they have the genetic material to do well again," said CFCG president Ginny Wilson.
She explained how viable seeds have to come from an open pollinated plant. To save lettuce and carrot seeds, the process is more delicate because the plants have to survive the winter first.
"It's always part luck with seed savings," said Wilson. "[Seed swapping], it does come with risk. You don't know if that seed is going to germinate."
But sometimes you hit the horticulture jackpot, like Wilson did when she got the best parsnip seeds.
At tomorrow's swap at Coquitlam's Poirier library branch, participants can expect to see many varieties of tomato seeds. Wilson said she's excited at the mere mention of kale, confirming its cult status among vegetarians and the health conscious.
"The beauty of kale is you can eat it at every stage of its development," she said.
The emphasis of the seed swap is on education, inspiration and sharing, especially for children who are being more than encouraged to participate.
"We are trying to engage them more than before at Colony Farms because we realize they are the future," said Wilson.
There will be packet-for-packet swapping as well as seeds for purchase, with viability testing available. When stored in a cool, dark place, some seeds can last up to 10 years.
Anmore heirloom gardener Tatiana Kouchnareva's talk on seed preservation is expected to be a highlight of the event. Widely considered an expert in this area, Kouchnareva has squirrelled away approximately 3,000 varieties of vegetable seeds, many of them rare "because it helps to preserve the genetic diversity of the different varieties of tomatoes or beans or any vegetables or flowers," Kouchnareva explained.
Standing in her frostbitten backyard last weekend, she said she has never tasted a genetically modified tomato. Instead, Kouchnareva eats al-kuffas, salad tomatoes from Iraq that she enjoys fresh with olive oil and salt.
As a member of the Seed Savers Exchange - an Iowa-based, non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds - Kouchnareva has access to rare vegetable and fruit breeds.
But on Saturday, she will talk about the simplicity of saving tomato seeds, among other preservation pointers.
"You can just spit them out onto a napkin and dry them out," says Kouchnareva with a smile.
The Seedy Saturday community seed swap at Coquitlam Public Library's Poirier branch (575 Poirier Ave.) runs from 1to 3:30 p.m. For more information, visit cfcg.ca.
