"I'm always looking for new vegetables," said Brian Calvert Saturday as he scoured the seed exchange table in the St. George's Church auditorium.
"If you can grow something different in your yard it's a great way to meet people walking by."
His prize find of late were bur cucumber seeds.
"They're soft with prickles. I haven't actually tasted them yet, I'm trying them out this year and if I like them I'll save some seeds and bring them here next year," Calvert said.
The seed exchange table was one of the busier spots at Seedy Saturday, a popular event for diehard gardeners and beginners alike looking to get information, tips, products and most of all, seeds for the upcoming growing season.
It focuses on sustainable gardening practices and organic products.
Seedy Saturday was part of the weekend's Resilience Festival, a focus of "living more lightly and richly on our planet" that started in 2010 as a candlelit pot-luck supper during Earth Hour.
The event has grown and this year's event included Seedy Saturday, workshops on everything from cheese making to darning, movie screenings, and The Big Beat drum, dance and singing event on Saturday night. And, of course, the pot-luck supper.
Kelly Smith of Transition Guelph said Seedy Saturday was started by Lea Tran as an informal seed swap and grew into what it is today. It joined up with the Resilience festival a few years ago.
"People are really happy with what we're doing. These are all people who are growing food in their backyards and trying to do it as sustainable as possible," Smith said.
Calvert came up from Niagara on Saturday for the event and was leaving small packages of some scarce seeds and taking time to explain to people what they were.
Chances are many had never seen, or perhaps even heard of, something called purple orach.
"It's a chance to try something new," Calvert said. "This purple orach? It's something you can grow instead of spinach in the hot weather. It's leaves look like Valentine hearts and it grows about five feet tall. It's very ornamental and your neighbours don't even know it's a vegetable in your front yard," Calvert said.
He said avid gardeners make a point of bringing in something a little different to Seedy Saturday's exchange table so that others can try it.
Other packages contained Shun Giku seeds, an edible chrysanthemum, and cuca melon seeds.
"I thought it was good and thought other people might like it too," Calvert said.
Brian Patterson was one of several earth-friendly vendors at Seedy Saturday.
His The Growing Connection business from the Collingwood Area was there promoting The EarthBox, a highly-efficient portable planter.
He said Seedy Saturday brings in the true gardener.
"A lot of people who understand gardening very well and want to expand their limits a bit. Pick up new ideas and see what's out there," Patterson said. "People who come here know what they're talking about."
