Tomato plants take root in a on a home gardener's tabletop. (Ron Quaroni/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Horticultural extravaganza

P.A. library to host seed sharing event Sunday

Feb 21, 2020 | 4:52 PM

Prince Albert may be encased in a layer of snow and ice, but some P.A. gardeners are already looking ahead to warmer temperatures.

This weekend they’ll meet to exchange seeds, plan their gardens and learn more about growing in the region at Seedy Sunday.

The annual event takes place the John M. Cuelenaere Library and is hosted by the Prince Albert Permaculture Guild and the local chapter of the Council of Canadians.

Along with information booths, presentations and two documentary screenings, the public can buy seeds from local vendors, or sign them out from the Permaculture Guild’s seed library found in the foyer of the library.

Guild member Rene Blom estimated the seed library has around 50 different strains and species in its collection. People can take out seeds for free, with the hope they will return a portion of what they grow at the end of the season for others to sign out the next year.

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“We’re making sure that those varieties remain in our possession,” he explained. “We’re not subject to seed growers liking a certain seed or not.”

Jim Ternier with Prairie Garden Seeds, a vendor that will be in attendance on Sunday, shares Blom’s passion for saving seeds.

“We sometimes acquire things from old people who say, ‘you know, my grandparents brought this from the old country and I don’t know if you can get it anywhere else,'” he said.

Though Ternier won’t be at this Sunday’s event (his daughter Rachelle is going) he’s attended many Seedy Sundays across the Prairies over the past three decades.

In his lifetime, he said, he’s seen the trend of people moving away from gardening due to urbanization reversed.

“It’s an activity that’s growing today,” he explained. “And especially we find many customers who are young families with children who say they want the best for their children, so they want to grow food for them and teach them to do the same.”

Seedy Sunday will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the John M. Culenaere Library.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom