Seed Swap gets

planted Saturday
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Garden lovers are practically bursting open in anticipation of the spring planting season, and they can germinate their plans with free seeds this weekend.

The seventh annual Watauga County Seed Swap & Growers School will be held at the Watauga County Cooperative Extension Center on Saturday, March 22, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Local growers will be swapping heirloom varieties of seeds, roots, bulbs and apple scion wood, not to mention plenty of good advice and information.

All growers and gardeners are invited to bring a mix of seeds from what they have grown and saved, and to take some new varieties home with them. Classes will take place throughout the day on several topics, including fruit-tree grafting taught by Watauga County orchard-grower Bill Moretz and composting taught by vermiculturist and composter Tracy Mahalyk.

The seed swap and classes appeal to all levels of gardeners, from the hobbyist to the professional. Those just starting out gardening and don’t yet have seeds or root-divisions to share are welcome – the goal of the event is to sprout new growers who in future years will be sharing the fruits of their own labors.

Typically, seeds and bulbs are available from people, whose families have been growing the crops and saving seeds for generations, using natural selection to evolve strains that do well in the mountain climate.

“The swap is important, particularly in maintaining the diversity of seeds that are around here, and what I’ve seen over the last few years, there are a variety of green beans that people have been saving outside the commercial trade,” N.C. Cooperative Extension agent Richard Boylan said.

“We also have people sharing leftovers of stuff from the commercial trade. Plants that are raised in local conditions and competing with commercial weeds have a better chance. The way to preserve seed diversity is to bring them out and grow them each year.”

The event is co-sponsored by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service and Appalachian State University’s sustainable agriculture program. For more information on the seed swap and grower’s school, call Boylan at the Watauga County Center of N.C. Cooperative Extension at (828) 264-3061.

The contact information for the Watauga County Farmers’ Market is Karen Bauman at (828) 297-1914 or (828) 355-4918.