Delmont library will host annual seed swap on Feb. 11

Did you grow a tomato in your garden last year that you really loved? If so, it’s easy to keep that crop going by saving seeds from your harvested fruit.

Seed savers of all types will be on hand, with everything from fruits to vegetables to native plants and flowers, at the Delmont library’s Feb. 11 seed swap.

“This is the second year, and we were really pleased to have 40 people attend the first one,” said Penn State Master Gardener Louisa Fordyce. “I think heirloom plants, especially tomatoes, are really popular. Last year, we had a young man who even found tomato seeds in World War II uniform that belonged to a family member — and several of them were viable.”

That’s a pretty rare case, but saving seeds from year to year is fairly simple.

“You remove the seeds, let them dry on a paper towel in a cool, dry area,” Fordyce said. “Once they’re dried, put them in a little brown craft-paper envelope, and then keep them away from light and moisture.”

Joanne Murray, a Jeannette resident and president of the Murrysville Garden Club, said it’s just as easy to harvest flower seeds.

“You wait until it flowers, then afterward, the plant’s ovary will develop and make seeds,” she said. “You can cut the stalk, shake the seeds loose gently into an envelope and store them.”

With the price of nearly everything rising, having a ready-made supply of seed stock can go a long way toward saving money for home gardeners.

Murray said she’d like to start saving seed from the milkweed plants that the Murrysville Garden Club grows for monarch butterflies.

“But there’s a number of other native plants you could save seed from, like bee balm and Joe Pye weed,” she said.

Fordyce said there’s no telling what attendees will bring and find at the seed swap.

“It’s kind of like going to a flea market,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re going to find. Gardening is an adventure.”

The seed swap will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Feb. 11 at the library, 75 School Street in Delmont.