Seeds. They are the life-force of your garden. Without seeds, most of the plants in our garden would cease to exist — whether you are planting seeds yourself or using store-bought seedlings — and in turn, life would become far more complicated since qe depend on plants for far more than just food.

Now you might not realize it, but more and more GMO products are creeping into the food supply every year. And that is part of the reason that obtaining heirloom seeds to start your plants is so important. Hybrid seeds have often been treated so that the seeds will not produce true fruits and vegetables, meaning that you end up with sub-par produce, or seeds that will not sprout or produce anything at all. Which means you become dependent on the seed companies every year to provide you will new seeds or upon the garden store where you get your seedlings. There’s not even a remote opportunity to save seeds and become self-sufficient in your garden.

As you likely know, there are quite a few companies nowadays that sell organic and heirloom seeds, which help preserve the older generations of plants that our ancestors grew. But did you know that there is a non-profit organization which was developed to help amateur gardeners reach out to other like-minded gardeners who want to share their own heirloom seeds with others in their country or the world (where postal restrictions allow 🙂 )?

I first heard about the Seed Savers Exchange a few years ago and just thought the concept was incredible. At that stage, SSE was still becoming more developed in countries outside the US and they didn’t even have their seed yearbook online yet. But now, all that has changed. There are over 13,000 varieties of seeds from members who have collected them from their own garden, and your paid membership allows you access to all of these fruit, vegetable, herb and flower seeds. Or, if that seems like too much, you can also just purchase a subscription to the herb and flower seeds collections.

Now before you get too excited, the membership doesn’t actually include all the seeds you can get your hands on. It gives you the ability to network with other gardeners and find all sorts of heirloom varieties, possibly even growing in the same state or city where you live. But you do still have to pay a nominal fee for the seeds you want and of course for shipping too. BUT, if you list your own seeds from your plants, you can get the seed packets for half-price. And if that’s not a good enough reason to encourage you to learn how to save your own seeds, I don’t know what is!

What’s great about this program is not only that they are trying to make sure that the lifeline of humanity is preserved by ensuring that the plants we obtain so many resources from are kept natural and healthy…but also that you can save all the seeds you want and not have to worry that you’ll never use them all up because you can share them with others. Sure, you might end up with some extras each year, but it will also help you to learn about saving new seeds and encourage your growth as a gardener.

And honestly if you are a garden lover, with over 13,000 plant varieties available, your heart is going to skip a beat when the SSE Yearbook arrives in your mailbox! Even being over here in Germany, I was astounded by the sheer mass of the Yearbook — and the fact that there were actually quite a few German seed savers around. There is a bit of a code you need to decipher in the printed version, but I’m pretty sure that with the online system, this has all gotten quite a bit easier. I’m not currently a member since I have already bought and saved more seeds than I need to open my own gardening store (and yes, I have tossed around the idea of selling seedlings from time to time) but once I’ve tried out all the seeds I have now, I plan on signing up again because the opportunity great and you’re doing something awesome for our heritage as well.

Since 2008, Seed Savers Exchange has been donating seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Bank in Norway (a place I should never, ever go for fear of having a meltdown with so many different types of seeds around!) To date, SSE has shared 1,660 open-pollinated heirloom seed varieties with the seed bank so that they can be preserved for generations to come.

A yearly subscription to the Seed Savers Exchange is a great gift for the gardener in your life — and at the same time you’ll be doing something great for future generations of gardeners too.

Want to join in the garden fun and link to your own blog or images online? You can share about anything related to gardening, old or new posts, from recipes to harvesting to grow reports to DIY projects or inspiration.

Here’s how this works:

PLEASE READ THESE GUIDELINES, especially if you have never linked up before!

That’s it! Share your garden with us by linking up below!