Imbolc is upon us, and as Earth enjoys her last few winks of winter slumber, now is the perfect time to build or expand your seed collection.
One of my favorite Imbolc traditions is to brew a cup of tea, light a candle, and cozy up under a quilt with some paper, a pencil, and a list of my seed collection.
I plot and plan and shuffle things around until everything feels just right. It never turns out exactly as planned, of course. But I revel every year in the perfectly imperfect that is my garden.
And it all begins with the tiny promise of a seed.
Gardening From Seed
Growing a garden from seed isn’t easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not hard, either. But it does require planning, patience, commitment, and knowledge of both your gardening zone and the plants being grown. However, with a few supplies and preparation, it can certainly be done!
Of course, you can’t start a garden from seed if you don’t have seeds.
The good news is that quality seeds are easy to come by and you don’t have to spend a whole lot of money, if any at all.
Where To Get Seeds
There are many ways to grow your seed collection, and some are downright fun.
- Purchase seeds from a local garden supply shop or online
- Join a seed swap either locally or online
- Request seeds from Free Heirloom Seeds
- If you’re already growing heirloom variety plants, harvest seeds from your own garden
Where NOT To Get Seeds
There’s only one bad way to grow your seed collection, and that’s by harvesting them from grocery store produce.
A lot of grocery store produce comes from hybrid or grafted varities, meaning they won’t grow true-to-type, which is a fancy way of saying the seeds won’t produce the same fruit or vegetable you collected the seeds from. It may be close, or it could be way off. Either way, it’s unreliable.
I also recommend avoiding online marketplaces such as Etsy for seed purchases.
Heirloom vs Hybrid Seeds
Okay, I’m going to do my best here to help you understand the different types of seeds.
I’m not an expert, and the world of plant genetics can get quite confusing. If you note something I’m wrong about and you have the knowledge to clarify, please leave a comment below. I am always looking to learn!
That said, in general, it’s best to stick with heirloom seed varieties for your seed collection. It keeps things simple and, when properly harvested, will provide you with a perpetual supply of garden seeds.
Heirloom Seeds
Heirloom seeds have been passed down for generations through family or community without breeding, which means they produce the same plant season after season. For example, if your grandparents grew melons and saved the seeds year after year to grow again, and you now have those same seeds, then you’re growing the same melon they did so long ago. There’s magic in that!
Heirloom seeds can be harvested and saved because they’ll reliably and consistently produce the same plant (true-to-type) year after year.
A Note About Open Pollinated Varieties
Open pollination simply means that the plant is naturally pollinated by either insects, wind, birds, or other natural means — including hand pollination. All heirlooms are open-pollinated, but not all open-pollinated are heirlooms.
Hybrid Seeds
Hybrid seeds are the product of plants that have been carefully bred for specific characteristics, such as size, color, disease resistance, or shelf life. Farmers maintain two stable lines to make hybrid seeds (plant) and then cross-pollinate to produce the desired characteristics.
While the plant produced through hybridization (intentional cross-pollination) is reproducible through farming, the seeds they contain have genetic material from either one or both of the parent plants. This makes the genetics of the seed unpredictable at best, and sterile at worst.
A lot of grocery store produce has been farmed this way, which is why collecting their seeds is not advised.
Purchasing Seeds For Your Seed Collection
Sometimes having a lot of choices can be overwhelming, and if you go online to look for seeds, you’ll be faced with loads and loads of choices.
To help you out, I thought I’d simplify things a bit by listing my top three choices for reputable seed companies, in no particular order.
If you have a favorite seed company that isn’t mentioned here, please share with us in the comments below!
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Baker Creek has a solid reputation for quality seeds and is especially great for anyone seeking rare or unique varieties. Their prices are good.
I’ve never purchased their paid catalog, but word on the street is that it’s packed full of recipes and useful information.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Johnny’s is fantastic and has a huge variety of seeds. Their varieties are a little more run-of-the-mill than Baker Creek, but they have a fantastic selection of flowers and the quality is reliable. The prices are fair, too!
Johnny’s has some great seed-starting supplies that are also worth checking out.
Botanical Interests
Botanical Interests is a larger seed company with a distribution infrastructure that allows for their seeds to be sold in independent garden centers and nurseries nationwide. That means if you’d rather support local businesses when making your purchase, you’ll likely be able to.
Botanical Interests was once a Colorado Company and was acquired by Epic Gardening (California) in 2023.
Side Note: Epic Gardening has some of the best instructional gardening videos available on their YouTube channel. Check them out!
Trading To Grow Your Seed Collection
Another way to get seeds is by joining seed swaps and trading groups, which are so much fun!
I belong to a couple of different groups on Facebook, but local groups can sometimes be found through your local library, and your local extension office might know of some.
Trading for seeds online usually involves giving out your address. On Facebook, trades are listed on the group feed, but they’re executed through direct messages via Facebook’s messaging app, which has end-to-end encryption.
Typically, you’ll receive a small amount of seeds in exchange for another variety of seeds.
If you don’t have seeds to trade, that’s okay too! Many traders will happily trade for a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) and a USPS Forever stamp (or two). If you’re just starting out, trading with stamps is a cheap and easy way to build up a unique collection.
Rules in these groups exist and most of them are strict, so be sure that you read and understand the rules before getting involved in trading.
Free Hierloom Seeds
Free Heirloom Seeds is a program run by volunteers that offers seeds in exchange for a donation — $10 for every 15 seed varieties, $20 for 30, and so on. They’re well-known and popular, and when they run out of a seed variety that’s it, they’re out.
You can submit a request for seeds at any time, but be sure to list alternates in case they run out of a specific variety you’ve requested. It’s also important to note that you’re not going to receive full packets of seeds. You’ll get a set amount of seeds for each variety that you requested. The amount of seeds you’ll receive is listed in the item description.
For those who lack the funds for donation, you can place a “No Donation” request as outlined on the website. However, if you can make a donation, please do. Donations allow the program to continue.
When putting together your seed request, be sure to reference the post, 13 Essential Herbs For Your Witch’s Garden. Free Heirloom Seeds has a lot of herbs!
I’m not going to lie, getting seeds from Free Heirloom Seeds is kind of a pain in the butt. The website’s not user-friendly (it’s difficult to read, the navigation is clunky, etc.) and the the required format for submitting your request is very specific. But it’s a great program and worth every painstaking minute of scrutinizing your request to ensure it’s formatted exactly as they want it.
This year, I was able to receive 30 seed varieties, and the best part is that because they’re heirloom seeds, I can harvest them to replant next year!
Imbolc And Your Seed Collection
Growing a garden from seed allows you to witness the miracles of nature. How something so grand can grow from something so small will always be a wonder. And when you look at your garden in full bloom and watch as the pollinators dance around the blossoms, there can be no doubt of the magic that surrounds us.
Seeds are a symbol of Imbolc, representing Earth’s fertility and the promise of spring’s return. Treat yourself by starting (or expanding) a seed collection and begin enjoying your own cozy, garden-centered Imbolc tradition. 🪴
13 Essential Herbs For Your Witch’s Garden