Wow! That is a lot of seed. I think of it as what is in your heart to keep the earth pretty with flowers and green too! If people are using the seed, and you feel good about it, I say go! If you are doing too much, then perhaps a cutback is in order.

If I get over ten baggies of one kind of seed from harvest, I think that is a lot. Lol. Now I know where those people in the 100 for 100 trade come from!

well, you can either make bigger seed packages, or just decide that someone will get some enjoyment out of them. I know my local bees LOVE LOVE LOVE my agastache, and given how many troubles we're having with the bee population, it seems like a grand idea to get more new gardeners growing things they like. It's not wasteful - someone will become a gardener because of it. I have something like cup of sweet william seed and more to harvest, but I think I'll be giving most of taht away.

First of all, it is so generous of you to donate seeds + your time in collecting, drying, cleaning and packaging the seeds.

I'm a newbie myself, so I just doubly appreciate all of the effort and please know that if I am lucky enough to get a newbie pack these seeds will be loved, your effort will not have been wasted.

My idea for you is to maybe see how many newbies that bakemom generally has requesting seed packs. From there maybe you could gauge how many packs would be plenty. That way your seeds and time won't be wasted and you can save extras for trading or other seed donation projects.

I love the idea of an organized and centralized seed bank for all us seed nuts, new and old alike. However, I know I'm not organized enough to keep track of something like that. But wouldn't it be great if there was a seed donation "bank" that we all could contribute to, have them cataloged and then open for requests from "members". I'm a web designer and have experience with databases so I could donate my time and experience in that way if anyone wanted to work together to put something like that together. If may just be a dream though, as I'm not sure anyone would have the time and want to put forth the effort to house the seed bank. It would definitely be a group project as far as seed donations and organization were concerned, but to be practical I think physical seed bank would have to be the responsibility of one uber organized and dedicated individual.

I didn't know that you could donate seeds to wintersown.org.. I guess I'm just silly, I don't know where I thought that the free seeds offered came from. Maybe I thought Trudi spent her whole life growing and collecting seeds to give away. ;)

Anyway, I'm new but I have been collecting some seeds this year so I should definitely get in touch over there to see how I can contribute.

I'm such a sap, but I think sharing seeds is such a beautiful thing. I've been sharing plants with friends and neighbors for years, but have only just begun exploring the possibilities of growing from seed. I think in the past I thought that it was just way too difficult, so thank you all and especially Trudi for leading the way and letting me see all the possibilities.

I'm absolutely giddy about starting to ws this year. I wonder how much of her deck that my mom would let me use?

I have that same Agastache so I know what you mean. I probably have that many Rudbeckia seeds already, too. I think bakemom will accept a large bag of seeds if you get tired of doing the individual bagging. Last year, I adopted several newbies and did multiple exchanges, but I don't think I bagged more than 30 of each variety. I still have some of my large baggies left. Don't burn yourself out!

I am hoping to do a little wintersowing talk at work this fall and will have seeds to share. I am considering giving everyone patterns to make seed envelopes and let them fill their own.

Becky

I know Trudi gives away tons of seed each year on wintersown.org. Last year I sent out 4,600 individual packs to about 200 people. BUT, then I sent seeds to charitable projects and gave away a bunch at our local plant swap. If you go to the main exchange folks are looking for seeds for school projects and a variety of charitable projects for seniors and the disabled.

As far as an organized seed bank for requests, I don't do that. Packs are my choice and I try to customize them some, but generally it's a wide variety thrown in willy nilly.

So as far as harvesting - I wouldn't be concerned about waste. I would do it until you feel you are done. And have gone blind and/or crazy.