After a hard gardening season and a hard time in family affairs, I'm back. Will start uploading pictures and plants in the database soon,
I know another gardening site offers free seeds for new members or members who lost their garden due to climate problems. I tried to find out if there is something similar here, but I couldn't find it.

Jonna

I think if there isn't (and I don't think there is) there should be. All of us have more seeds than we need, usually. I am all for starting a program like this!

However, I know you won't want Plumeria seeds....and that is just about all I can offer.

A seed bank!!

That's a nice idea! Hmmm, sounds like work for somebody, tho. Maybe we should just have a thread or forum in the "Welcome" section for new members to make requests for seeds? Generally, if someone is looking for a particular sort of seed, a post in the Seed forum will get results, but new members might not know that. Not sure how to work something like that......

The new member would have to get a 'welcome' treemail and have that pointed out to them.

I wonder if current members could list the seeds they have available for this purpose and list the zone they live in along with the seed list.

When a new member comes along, then new member could be directed to those who have seeds from a matching zone, and the new member could then select say maybe 2 sets of seeds. The current member who has those seeds listed that the new member selects would then voluntarily send the packet to that new member.

As far as in the case of a calamity, then a couple of somebodies would have to be the ones to make that decision and selection based maybe on zone and need.

I dunno, just thinking out loud of some possibilities.

As seeds are reduced from specific current members' supplies, then that member would be responsible for editing his/her post.

Dave's Garden has (had) such a system, run by Robin, but iot got to be too much work. I thought I could do it, but it turned out to be way too much work for me.

The system over there was centralized, and many members sent seeds they had gathered, or partial or full pkts of commercial seeds they no longer needed. Robin (or I, briefly), would split them in to smaller pkts, label them, and sort them into categories.

When new members noticed the thread and asked for seeds, we would ask their preference (crops or flowers, annual or perennial, grass, trees, vines etc). Then send 10 or so pkts for postage.

That system saves a lot on postage! But it turns out to take some time and a little space to store and sort seeds. It reminded me that I was already over committed on time for other tasks.

I never thought of a way to divide the 'central' stash over several people and share the work.

Over here, I would be glad to volunteer for the specific job of splitting up big bags of seeds into 2x3 Ziplocs and labeling them, then forwarding them to someone with time to do the rest.
(I'd also contribute 2x3 Ziplocs & bubble mailers - I have a ton.) Sometimes people who collect their own seeds sent enough for 20-30 1/4 tsp pkts.

I could contribute many small pkts of these saved sees:

Pacific Giant Delphinium (light blue / pale purple Delphinium elatum OP Perennial)
Broccolo Spigarello (Italian heirloom leaf broccoli)
white annual sprawling Alyssum (Lobularia maritima) Looks most like: 'Snow Crystals', reseeds

And smaller numbers of pkts of left-over commercial seeds
Lobelia
Tomato
Carrot
Radish
Bells of Ireland - Lake Valley Seeds for 2011
Foxglove/Foxy Mix - Lake Valley Seeds for 2011
Hollyhock Seeds - Lake Valley Seeds for 2011

That's quite overwhelming, Rick.

I was thinking only of de-centralizing and letting the members be involved in the volunteer work. Guess I was thinking too small.

I think you're smart. In this case, decentralized is the only sustainable plan! Some method that spreads the work around would be great.

The ATP P:lant Database is too specific for this kind of seed sharing. You have to drill down to specific species and varieties to see who has what (and they might not be in a give-away mood).

I found that the usual request for seeds was very general -
- annual cottage flowers
- colorful vines
- Zone 4 perennial flowers
- vegetables
- anything

When I listed all the varieties that we had multiples of, very few people made specific requests.

>> current members could list the seeds they have available for this purpose and list the zone they live in along with the seed list.

>> When a new member comes along, then new member could be directed to those who have seeds from a matching zone,
...
>> The current member who has those seeds listed that the new member selects would then voluntarily send the packet to that new member.

Something like that does sound good. Maybe an ongoing series of 'request' threads in the "Plant and Seed Trading Forum"?

The list of donors-and-available-seeds could be a sticky thread, with one post for each donor, that they could edit as they added and ran out of seeds..

I'm also just thinking out loud.

New memebers could introduce themsleves and indicate interests (Zone, dryness, shade/sun, annual/perennials, flowers/crops/ground cover).

Then current members inclined to share their seeds (for convenience, call them "angels" )
would reply (if they had time that week to put together a mailer).

I often found that I might have had seeds that matched a request, but not the KNOWLEDGE of what kinds of seeds WOULD match the request. An open 'request' thread would let one person make a request, several people share knowledge, and then whoever had matches could send if they wanted to.

If anyone started sending out lots of mailers (for convenience, call them "archangels" ),
I for one would love to send them pkts of seeds that I have in excess, for them to give away. If they were willing.

It always bothers me to pay the post office $1.95 to send 3 pkts, when I could send 3 ounces for the same price. Even if you're dividing up a big commerical pkt, the cost of sharing seeds is mostly the cost of postage, not the cost of the seeds.

Maybe Dave and Trish would give acorns to the angelic choir.

Same out loud thinking, Rick.
Thanks for clarifications.

I prefer a centralized system, because individual members can't see whether a member is new or in need due to climate circumstances.
I like to dontate seeds to attract new members or help members who lost their garden, but since I have quite a lot of unusual seeds, I don't want people just to ask seeds from me, because I have so much choice.

I'm aware of the work it will give to the one who orgenizes this, so I can understand if nobody wants to do it. I just wanted to know if there was something for new members / members who lost their garden. Although I sell and trade my seeds, I have enough left to help people in need.
Just don't want the wrong people asking for seeds.

You might think: why does Jonna not organize it? Well, I live in Europe, so postage will be much more expensive from here to the USA. But I will volunteer to do it for new European members. In that case I need some support to know which European members are new. And I can quite easily check if people are in need because they lost their garden due to the climate.

I did get arequest from one person who was obviously exploiting and lieing clumsily. If there were more who were taking advantage more sneakily, I don't even want to know!

BTW Jonna, there qwere people who greatly appreciated the seeds you donated. You do have some amazing varieties!

I hadn't given thought to rigid structure. My thoughts were that if a member were in need, he/she would only expect to choose what was available to them and for their climate. I guess I thought all would be honest about it.

As for seeds for new members, again, the choice would be only what was available to them.

It's a good idea but probably needs to built upon, processed thoroughly, before implementing. Then kindness and generosity of ATP members is already quite evident. I'm sure if we do anything with this idea, it will be done in the best way for all.

It's not that new members can get everyting they want, they just can ask for what they would like to grow. The same for people who lost their garden.
English is not my motherlanguage, so I might misunderstand some postings.
I just want to be sure that we really help people, not just giving seeds to anyone who likes to get free seeds.

Your English is great, Jonna, and helping people is the best goal.
You are doing just fine.

I know many members are using the List feature and post what seeds they have available. Many will send seeds for postage.

Oh, right, "Lists"! I forgot about that, even though I've listed about 20 seeds available.
And I mark my entries in Plant Database "trade as seed".

No one's asked for any of them. They are mostly common varieties.

I think as time goes by, people will come to look at the list for the plants and seeds they are wanting.
You sure have a nice list of seeds Rick.

What about just adding a "Seed Request" forum and steer newbies to that forum in the Welcome T-mail? A lot of new members don't include their zone information initially, so it would be difficult to do any sort of automatic seed gifting based on zone information. And not every new member sticks around (sigh).

Thank you, Lynn.

I tried putting a link to my "Have" lists in my signature block.