How to Get Free Seeds for Your Garden
3 Strategies to Help You Expand Your Garden for Free
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Reviewed by Barbara Gillette
Growing plants from seeds, whether it’s vegetables or ornamentals, gives you access to a large number of varieties that even the best-stocked local nursery or garden center is unable to offer. But buying seeds can add up so you'll want to read on to find out how to get free seeds.
Following your favorite seed companies on social media, saving your seeds from your own plants, swapping seeds, and becoming a member of a seed library significantly cuts down the cost of growing plants from seed for your garden or landscape.
Save Your Own Seeds
Possibly the easiest way to get free seeds is to just save your own. But proper storage is key; simply leaving them in a bag in your basement or garage is not the way to handle seeds. And some seeds aren't suitable for storing. Keep in mind that all seeds have a limited shelf life. Vegetable seeds typically last between one and six years depending on the type. When saving seeds, make sure to keep track of the year when you saved them.
Take a look at these resources to learn more about seed saving:
Seed Sovereignty's Guide to Seed Saving (PDF): This is a detailed guide that gives suggestions for extracting and storing seeds in just over 20 pages.
Seed Saving 101: This is a great resource for beginners that takes you through deciding what seeds to save, harvesting the seeds, and tips for storing them.
Saving Vegetable Seeds: A guide to saving vegetable seeds of various vegetable seeds, plus information on harvest and storage.
How to Save Seeds: Basic information on how to save seeds and store seeds from peas and beans, tomatoes and peppers, lettuce, and biennial plants. A great resource for the beginners who are getting started saving seeds.
How to Save Vegetable Seeds: This comprehensive guide to saving seeds includes a list of vegetables suitable for seed saving as well as how to tell if a seed is ready to be saved.
Tip
Saving seeds from hybrid plants is not recommended because the plants will not be the same as the parents. This applies both to garden crops and ornamentals such as zinnias. Make sure that the plant varieties whose seeds you are saving are open-pollinated (also referred to as heirloom seeds). If you are unsure whether the variety is open-pollinated or not but you know the name of the variety, research it online. Seed companies typically indicate in their catalog whether a seed is hybrid (F1) or open-pollinated.
Free Offers From Seed Companies
Occasionally companies will mail out free seeds upon request or as part of a promotional campaign. The best way to find out about these free seeds is to follow your favorite seed companies on social media. Keep your eye out for promotions and sign up quickly for the best chance at getting some free seeds.
Sometimes free seeds come with seed catalogs, or seed companies include additional free seeds with an order you've placed.
Use a Seed Exchange to Get Free Seeds
Exchanging seeds with others is another way to get free seeds. It gives you the chance to give away seeds you don't want and get the seeds you do want. This is a win-win situation because you both get the seeds you're after in a barter that doesn't include a cash exchange.
Seed exchanges are accomplished in two ways. You either meet in person with other seed savers to swap seeds or communicate via phone, email, or a website to set up a long-distance trade.
Seed Savers Exchange (United States): Search or browse vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts, grains, herbs, spices, and flower seeds to see what's available. Although most of these seeds are free, you'll be expected to pay for shipping and handling.
Houzz Seed Exchange: Much like other seed exchange websites, this is a forum where members post requests for exchanges. Communication is done publicly or through private messages. Some posts offer information on local meetups so you don't have to send and receive the seeds in the mail. You can filter these forum posts by city or plant.
Seeds of Diversity (Canada): Seeds of Diversity is the premier seed exchange website serving Canada. Their seed library has over 2,900 seed varieties that are regionally adapted. Also included are rare seed varieties. There are instructions for sending your seeds into the seed exchange if you would enjoy helping out with the project.
Seed Savers Exchange (Australia): There's a place on the website that lists all the local exchanges in your area. It's a great way to get free seeds, share your rare seeds, and even meet new people who share your interests.
There are also local seed exchanges. Do a general online search to find one near you. Try searching Facebook or neighborhood apps such as Nextdoor for seed exchange groups or a "seed swap" event in your area.
Get Free Seeds Through Seed Libraries
A seed library is similar to a book library in that you "borrow" seeds and then return an equal or greater number of seeds after the plant has grown. It's basically the same thing as a seed exchange except that you don't need to provide seeds upfront. This method is particularly helpful if you're just starting out with gardening.
Try searching for a local seed library to find one near you. The Seed Library Social Network may be a good starting point. Its website includes a map with all the libraries that support borrowing seeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of plants have seeds that are easy for beginners to save?
Seeds that are on the larger side, easy to remove and clean, and don't require much preparation before storage are usually the easiest to save. These include zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, peppers, beans, and peas, provided they are from open-pollinated plants. Saving tomato seeds and lettuce seeds is a bit more involved.
What types of outdoor plants can I establish from cuttings or divisions?
Many perennials and woody plants (trees and shrubs) are propagated from cuttings or divisions whereas annuals are usually grown from seed.
Do I need to start seeds indoors?
That depends on your local climate as well as the type of seeds. If you live in a climate with cold winters, starting your vegetable or flower seeds indoors is a good idea because it gives you a head start on the growing season. Not all seeds are suitable to be started indoors though. Exceptions are crops that are best direct-sown in the garden because they don't transplant well and seeds of plants that need cold stratification.
Read the original article on The Spruce.
