Wild Amersham held its first seed swap at March’s Repair Café.
We were delighted to see so many members of the local community turn up and enthusiastically engage with swapping both flower and vegetable seeds in anticipation of the coming growing season.
We had several goals for the seed swap.
Seeds are typically sold in quantities far greater than any gardener can make use of and we want to reduce waste and help people save money. Second, we want to encourage the growing of veg and flowers to both address the escalating issue of food insecurity and to provide food for all pollinators. This isn’t simply about honeybees, but also includes solitary bees, bumblebees, butterflies, and many species of wasps, flies, moths and beetles.
Third, swapping anything is a sustainable community activity that brings people together as was clear at the seed swap: old friends and new were enthusiastically sharing gardening tips. And finally, growing vegetables immediately triggers a greater awareness of food provenance – something we all need knowledge of in the era of ultra-processed foods.
So it was entirely thrilling to witness not just experienced gardeners come and support this new initiative but also people entirely new to gardening who were keen to have a stab.
In total we estimate some 150 packets of seeds were swapped by about 40 people. Join us for another seed swap at our next Repair Café on May 4th, where we hope to also swap seedlings.