How to Get Free Seeds for Your Garden
Growing your own food can save you money and can be a lot healthier for you too. Also, growing flowers helps the bee population as well as creating a loving living environment. Gardening is also a great stress reliever. There are so many benefits to gardening and it doesn't have to cost a lot to do it either. As a matter of fact there are many ways that you can get free seeds!
1. Visit a Seed Library
Seed Libraries collect and store seeds to share them with members of the community for free. They are a valuable resource for finding free vegetable seeds, fruit seeds, herb seeds, tree seeds, and flower seeds from other local gardeners. Check with your local libraries, gardening centers, food pantries, food banks, community centers, seed exchange groups, and local gardening groups. Do a quick Google search for local seed libraries to help you find locations in your area. After your plants start growing, collect seeds from them and donate those seeds back to the seed libraries to help other gardeners continue to grow their own plants for free. To get started just search "seed libraries" + your state or county to find the ones near you.
2. Check Your Own Kitchen!
Your kitchen holds one of the best-kept free seeds secrets. Every time you buy produce (tomatoes, blueberries, squash, lemons, cucumbers etc), be sure to save the seeds and plant them in your yard or a pot and start growing your own fruits and vegetables. Also, when you cut the top off of a pineapple you can put it in some dirt and it will grow a plant. You can plant parts of potatoes that contain eyes, the bottom of your celery, the core from your head of lettuce ect. How cool is that? So next time you're going to throw out those scraps - plant them instead. Pretty soon you won't have to buy those items and your pocketbook will thank you. You can grow them in pots indoors in the winter time too if you have a nice sunny window to put them in.
3. Keep a Lookout for Dried Flowers at Gardening Centers
Have you ever walked around your local gardening center and seen the dead, dried flowers on the plants? Did you know, there is a wealth of free seeds inside of each one? Just pop off the whole dried flower head and once you are home you can get the seeds out or just plant the whole thing. You'll be surprised how many gorgeous flowers and herbs you can get this way. Most stores don't even mind you doing it and it's totally free!
4. Ask Your Friends & Neighbors
A huge resource for scoring free seeds is your friends and neighbors. Does one of your neighbors have a beautiful garden or are they always working in their yard? Stop by and chat them up. Ask them about their plants, tips for new gardeners, how to keep pests from eating your plants, and of course, if they have any seeds, seed packs, or cuttings they could share with you. You may find a wealth of knowledge and free seeds from a fellow gardener who is only a stone's throw away from your own home. Then, when your plants start producing you can share your fruits, vegetables, herbs, and seeds as a way of saying thank you.
5. Sign Up for Gardening Catalogs
Another method for getting free seed packs is by signing up for gardening catalogs. The catalogs don't always include free seeds, but sometimes you'll find a surprise stuck in between the pages of the catalog - an entire pack of free seeds. It's free to sign up to receive the catalogs and you'll also score a wide range of information and tips inside of each catalog (as well as plants you can order) that can aid you in your journey through gardening.
Some of these catalogs include:
Burgess Seed & Plant Co (scroll to the bottom of their site)
Deals on Seeds
You can grab some really good deals on seeds at a number of stores too!
Walmart always has great deals on seed packs in-store and online. Prices usually start at $0.50 in-store and $2 online. You can find everything you need for your garden as they have a huge variety in-stock, especially online.
Target is a great place to get seeds at a great price as well. They offer quite a few seed kits that can be really fun for the kids.
Amazon has so many seeds, seed packs, seed starter kits, and more available. For under $30, you can get a garden kit that includes 16,000 seeds!
Home Depot has vegetable seeds, fruit seeds, flower seeds at herb seeds available online starting at $1.35. Get a pack of nasturtium, an edible flower that's gorgeous to look at and great in salads for only $1.35, carrot seeds for $1.58, a pack of kohlrabi seeds, and a pack of rosemary seeds are both priced at $1.59 each.
Lowes has a huge garden center and you can always find almost every seed you're looking for. Just enter your zip code to get the pricing at your local store location.
There are so many ways to grow your garden efficiently on a budget!
