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Free Garden Plants and Seeds, Where to Find Them?
By Janet Sue Terry
Copyright@Janet Sue Terry - 2/2010
What you Eat...
The simplest way to get free gardening seed is to be frugal about the seed that comes from the vegetables that you buy at the supermarket. Select the healthiest fruits and vegetables and save the seed from them. It's better to buy your fruits and vegetables from a farm if possible, and then save the seed. Ask if the farmer knows what kind of seed produced the vegetable or fruit. Heirloom seed are more dependable than hybrid type fruit and vegetable seeds you save. If you want to use hybrid gardening seed it's better to buy it from a reputable seed supplier. Dry the seed, slip it into an envelope, name it, and store it in a cool place. It's easy to collect cucumber seed, okra seed, watermelon seed, apple seed, and tomato seed and more.
A bag of dried beans, either white or pinto beans, may be cheaper than bean seed. Compare the prices. If you plant the dry beans from the grocery store they will produce green beans. You might also check your spice rack for celery seed, mustard seed, and other seed spices. These seeds can be planted in the garden too.
Ask and you shall receive...
If you have relatives, friends or acquaintances who plant home vegetable gardens they may have saved seed from last year. Ask them if they have any extras.
You can use nuts from nut trees, and seed from fruit, to plant your own fruit trees. Think about that the next time you spit out a peach or cherry pit.
Bonus seeds...
Some online seed stores offer a pack of free seed with your order. Some others offer coupons, or seeds for half the price. Remember to compare the weight of seed packets to see if you're really getting a bargain or just reduced seeds. If you have a small space all you really need is a small amount of seeds so no need to buy a larger packet. A couple of places that sell a small amount of seeds are Sunrise Seeds and Parks Seeds. Check their Web Specials and Seed Sale pages. Local stores often run sales on seed packets in the spring. There are many more great seed sites, just shop around.
Free is better when you need a helping hand...
The Dinner Garden distributes free garden seed to needy families. I asked and I received 1 small (1g) pack of Cosmos flower seed, and a package (2g) of plant food. They also have some valuable information online. They can also be found on many of the social networks. You can read more about them on their website. They are a nonprofit organization so if you can afford it donations are always appreciated.
The USDA has a seed vault (NPGS/GRIN) where they collect trees, vegetable seed, flower seed, and other specimens, from around the world. The seed is free but they are listed with their scientific name and it takes time to decide what you want. I open 2-windows and copy the name from the USDA and run it in Google search engine images. Read the instructions on the site, choose what you want, and then submit a request for the items.
Free heirloom tomato seeds for teachers or community projects.
You can request free seeds from Ed Hume to be used to plant a row for the hungry.
Ten free flower seeds for postage.
America the Beautiful offers a free grant of seed for nonprofit organizations or community projects such as community gardens. Just pay postage.
The World Food Gardens is a site for free seed swapping.
Herman's Gardens offer free seed to nonprofit, community gardens, and educational institutes.
Free Garden Seed for Kids. This site will send 2-packs of vegetable seed per child. But the children have to choose their vegetable seed and write it out in their own hand. Include 2 unused postage stamps per order.
Winter Sown Org offers free seed but asks for a dated print out of the page the free offer is found on to be included when you order. I can't locate a dated copy so I suggest you send email to the site contact address.
Tomato Bob offers free tomato seed to schools.
Free Plant Net says they will give away a free plant or flower and deliver it worldwide with no cost. It's a little confusing to get through their site, and the plants are listed at the bottom of their informative articles.
Help Grow Your Soup - Campbells's Soup offers a free pack of seed - Vote for a barn to be saved & then you'll get the form. Soup codes - Chicken Noodle-P5-25, Cream of Chicken-P5-03, Beef w/veg-EST4C-11. The code is on the bottom of the can.
Community Victory Gardens...
Many communities are making vacant land available for Community Gardens. It is a movement to immitate the push after WW1 & WW2 to produce food for a starving nation.
Victory Gardens - is a pilot project funded by the City of San Francisco to support the transition of backyard, front yard, window boxes, rooftops, and unused land into organic food production areas. The SF Victory Garden program builds on the successful Victory Garden programs of WWI and WWII but redefines "Victory" in the pressing context of urban sustainability. "Victory" is growing food at home for increased local food security and reducing the food miles associated with the average American meal. Applications are online now.
Wilmington Ohio has the Grow Food Grow Hope Program at Wilmington College. They have a community gardens option or a home garden option. It is only for the cities residents. Applications are online now.
Distributing Vegetable Seeds for Community Service Work. Through a generous donation from a major distributor of garden seeds, Lake Valley Seeds of Boulder, Colorado, we are able to supply you with high-quality vegetable seeds of many varieties. Every local Grange in Oregon has, or will have, access to these donated vegetable seeds, and can distribute them in their local area as is needful.
West County Community Seed Bank - To create a grassroots community seed bank that supports Sonoma County California gardeners with free, locally grown, open-pollinated, pesticide and GMO-free seeds.
Contact your city and/or county officials or your free food stores to see if they have any free vegetable seed.
More...
In addition to the above, pay a visit to your Local Park on a quest for flowering trees, bushes, evergreens, and/or wildflower collections, they may have extras.
Many online home vegetable garden sites offer a pack of free home vegetable garden seed with your order. Some sites offer up to a $25.00 coupon with orders of seed that total $50.00 or more. But $25.00 is a lot of money when you're trying to keep the bills paid. The idea is to save money, not spend more on raising a garden than you can afford.
A Word of Caution...
The offers listed above are not guaranteed. In February 2010 they appear to be valid offers, however, these free seed offers may end at any time. So take advantage of them as soon as possible.
Start Your Seed...
It's now time to start growing seed into plants from cabbage, onions, and other leafy green seeds. You can start the seed by placing potting soil into a flat container such as a square bread pan or cat litter pan or anything else you have sitting around home. Plant the seed, water it, and then sit the container in front of a glass door or window.