A Love of Gardening Sprouts

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Community sprouts love of gardening
Growth » Seed swap brings together diverse community of home growers

By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
Posted:01/31/2009 07:37:00 PM MST

Kay Robison had sorted and set out hundreds of packets of garden seeds even before the throngs started to arrive.

It was the third annual seed swap by the People's Market and the West Valley City gardener spent a good part of two hours fielding questions and passing out the remains of her own unused stash and her in-law's.

"I never use them all," she said. "So what do you do with the leftovers? They need new homes, I think."

The annual seed exchange, held Saturday at the Sorenson Unity Center in Glendale, has become an increasingly popular social event. The first year, about two dozen participated.

Last year, it was 50. And this time, at least that many attended in just the first hour.

Kyle LaMalfa, a lifelong Salt Lake City resident and heirloom tomato gardener brought super-delicious Cochiti Pueblo and Bidwell Casaba melon seeds to share, along with in-pods moonflower seeds.

"It's a lot of colorful people," he said.

Like Robison, a member of the People's Market board, he notes that gardening is popular on the West Side. "It's surprising to find these small places with big gardens."

The seed swap also has been a great place to find "plant gems that … you can't get anywhere else," he said.

Last year, it was an unusual Filipino pumpkin. This year, East Side resident Fritz Kollman set out some exotic varieties, including seeds in a plastic sandwich bag labeled "Wild Nodding Onion," little brown folders filled with Chinese Rhubarb and his personal favorite, "Devil's Claw," which produces stunning seed pods.

"I was going through my seeds and had a lot of extras," he said. "And I have a lot of cool things I want to share."

A table away, the Ark of Taste offered an array of seeds for plants that might be lost without special preservation efforts.

"To save them," the Ark's Christi Paulson explained, "we need to eat them."

The Ark, associated with Utah's Slow Food movement, gave out Hutterite soup beans, Sheepnose Pimento seeds and Amish Deer Tongue lettuce.

Said Paulson: "The flavor has not been bred out of them."

One woman went from table to table spilling out a few parti-colored Czech "lucky bean" seeds into the hands of fellow swappers. Another women filled a disposable bowl with Hollyhock seeds and left it next to the morning glory and marigold seeds that Nan Weber had set out.

"It gets people together," said Josh Isbell, one of the event's organizers.

"It's a community building thing, as well as a farming and gardening opportunity."

Starting Seeds

Wasatch Community Gardens offers an organic seed-starting workshop, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday [February 7, 2009] at the Grateful Tomato Garden, 800 S. 300 East, Salt Lake City.

Webmeister's Note:
- This article was published in print with the title "A love of gardening sprouts" with the by-line
"Glendale » Seed swap is a great place to find 'plant gems that ... you can't find anywhere else.'
- Also, to be clear, The Ark of Taste is a project of Slow Food USA and Slow Food International.
- See also the Slow Food Blog: "Ark of Taste Garden Seed Grow-out 2009."