The Seed Share Program

About our seed

Our seed comes from growers across our network and from our own grow-outs. Some varieties are kept in isolation so they come true to type, preserving a variety as it is. Others are grexes and mixes, grown to cross freely so the population carries a wide gene pool. Both are seed saving. They do different jobs, and every packet tells you which one you have.

How it works

Request seed at no cost. Grow it. Save seed from what you grow, and send a portion back to us. That returned seed goes out to other growers, and the cycle continues. Each variety carries what we know about how and where it was grown, including isolation and known crossing risk.

Your role

Grow the seed in your real conditions, without pampering. Save from the plants that did best: the earliest, the healthiest, the ones that handled your weather and tasted right. If you’re growing an isolated variety, keep it isolated so it stays true. If you’re growing a mix, let it cross and select what thrives.

Send a portion of your saved seed back. That’s what turns one packet into many, and it’s how free seed keeps being free.