Whether you feel the budget crunch or just want to grow your own delicious healthy food, the vegi-swap is offered so we can exchange and share vegetable seeds and plant starts for our own Beat-the-Economy Victory Gardens. It’s too late for bareroot plants but potted trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and tropicals are most welcome.If you’re interested in growing your own food, you are not alone. In 2009 we planted 20 percent more food in our home gardens to cope with the bad economy. The city government of Seattle has declared 2010 the Year of Urban Agriculture. The program, developed through the Department of Neighborhoods, aims to make locally-grown produce affordable and available to as many of Seattle’s diverse residents as possible, while supporting the urban and exurban farmers who grow it. New zoning laws will allow backyard farmers greater flexibility in what they grow and raise on residential property, and a bold pilot program is in place to create ten urban farms inside Seattle city limits.
Autumnal Abundance
Saturday November 6, 2010, 10:00 AM to Noon
November is an excellent time to divide and conquer your garden: move woody plants, empty containers, divide perennials, gather seeds and store frost-tender tropicals. While we’re at it, it’s time to exchange and share plants and talk about the highlights of our summer gardens.
Winter Seed Sowing
Saturday January 8, 2011, Noon to 3:00 PM (indoors)
Right after the holidays in the cold dark of winter, we get together with our treasure troves of seeds, and dirt and pots and labels, to winter-sow perennials, trees, shrubs. These pots of seeds then go outside for cold treatment which breaks the seeds’ dormancy. You won’t believe the great results! Come spring they germinate in profusion. For this event, potting soil is provided. Bring your pots, seeds, labels to share. You can also divide and repot houseplants at this event.
Bareroot Bonanza
Saturday March 5, 2011, 10:00 AM to Noon
It may still feel wintry, but spring is on the way. March is an excellent month to move dormant plants. Annual seeds can be traded for spring planting. It’s time to dream big for the coming summer.
The Green Elephant Plant Swap is hosted in North Redmond, WA, at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross; The site offers parking, covered areas, indoor facilities, kitchen, memorial garden, grass labyrinth and playground. It is five minutes from I-405 and I-520.
Street address: 11526 – 162nd Ave NE Redmond, WA 98052
How it works: No sales, just exchanges and freebies, please.
Tailgating Encouraged. The format for the trade is like a tailgate party. Traders exchange expert gardening information as well as plant materials. In two hours all the deals are sealed.
Free Stuff. Many gardeners generously share plants from the abundance of their gardens—An excellent way to begin your garden. Also an excellent way to thin out that giant patch of shasta daisies, etc. There is always a pile of plants free for the sharing at the swap.
What if I have nothing to trade? Cookies and chocolate work like money at the Green Elephant!
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