Direct seed exchange among EU members 2024-2025

[marcela_v (Marcela Velfl)]

I am starting this thread to serve as a unified list of all the amazing seeds we have to offer for direct seed exchange between EU members for the season 2024-2025.

It would be lovely that we write the list of seeds we have extra to share or exchange with others, as well as to write if we are looking for anything specific.

Personally I loved the Serendipity seed exchange train, but I also found direct seed exchanges quite beneficial, so I am starting the thread now when I have a bit of time (due to rain and cold-ish weather)

It can be pure varieties, grexes, F1, F2, F3, F+ mixes, adapted or landrace seeds.
We can add our growing conditions if it relevant and our gardening styles.

[marcela_v (Marcela Velfl)]

I’ve got (continental Croatia):
-okra grex (with potential crosses) - 10 to 15 different varieties growing with 0 input from my side
-zucchini grex (with potential crosses) - 10 different varieties
-bulgarian semi-vining peas (very robust)
-Lofthouse Big Hill tomatoes
-mixes of all kinds of cherry tomatoes as well as big slicing tomatoes
-Mardin tomatoes (from Mesopotamia)
-azyochka orange tomato - loves heat
-Croatian heirloom giant tomatoes mix
-some wildling panamorous and orange exerted tomatoes
-mixes of lettuce (from last season and what I got through exchanges)
-mixes of bush beans
-mixes of climbing beans
-onion seeds - local heirloom onions great for storage
-Swiss chard F1 generation (resistant to low temperatures, very diverse)
-leafy celery (great germination, amazing smell)
-F1 generation of 6 varieties of radishes… some give quite big radishes, and are spicy
-melon - sweet and delicious
-watermelon mixes of different varieties
-melon mixes of different varieties
-long storage moschata squash
-colourful flour corn with many crosses - very resistant and fast growing
-white flour corn (very robust)
-some diverse popcorn
-some chilli tomatoes (aurora, cherry bomb, etc.)
-some almond seeds for adaptation from Bulgaria and coastal Croatia
-some spinach seeds (with potential crosses)
-arugula
-white mustard (Sinapis alba)
-artichoke
-cardoon (wild artichoke)
-tomatillo mix
-mix of low input eggplants
-camomile
-white daisy
-beetroot mix
-some squashes which survived the fact that they got no fertilizer

Edit: I got some drought tolerant seeds from Morocco like cowpeas, white bush beans, chickpeas, fava, lettuce, huge decorative gourds, very big pumpkins with a lot of orange flesh (mochata variety), some walnuts, coriander that doesn’t flower with warm weather, fennel, tiny white beans, cardon, .

I am open to share to any new members who maybe don’t have many of their own seeds, as well as to exchange for all kinds of things. I am growing without tilling, watering, fertilizing and spraying. Some mulching when needed during super hot summers.

I would be interesting in the following, but I am also open to anything interesting:
-spinach grexes or landraces
-lettuce grexes
-bigger slicing tomatoes - delicious crosses
-sweet corn and flour corn in all shapes and colours
-heat-loving beans, and all other are welcome
-fava, peas or sweet peas
-low-input melons and watermelons
-parsley and carrot crosses
-squashes (all types)
-rhubarb, artichoke, asparagus, strawberries
-true sweet potato seeds
-true potato seeds
-garlic cloves
-fruit seeds like persimmon, paw paw, apples, peaches, walnuts, continental walnuts and pistachio
-wheat grexes

I will be available for direct exchanges from mid-November until spring time

[isabelle (Harlé)]

thank you Marcella for initiating this discussion. I will prepare my lists and publish them here soon.

[stephane_rave]

great idea this discussion, I’m in the middle of inventories I would put here everything I have to exchange quite quickly.

[ThomasPicard]

Hi Marcela, and thank you.

To summarize my list:

First: all cucurbits around 2nd year cross with already a first year super heavy selection on vigor. In other words they are “grexes”, well crossed, ready for localizing a heavy selection on your own criteria.
For cucurbitas, minimum 25 original strains per species, pre-selected on storage first thing as writen on catalogue. Do not expect super flavor at this stage but crazy diversity, great potential for selecting. Will be dried around february I expect.
For watermelons and melons : about the same minimum. Heavy selection on taste started this year.
Others: slightly less. So:
-cucurbita maxima
-cucurnita moschata
-cucurbita pepo
- cytrullus lanatus (watermelon) and cucumis melo (melon). 3 sub populations: early, standard precocity, and then storage type. Have much much more seeds of “standard type” than of “early”, may need to do another year of heavy selection on those earlies before giving many seeds.

• cucumis melo type carosello grex, so bred to be eaten immature
• lagenaria siceraria: edible gourd (white flowers!) grex
• cucumis metulliferus : kiwano grex (from 3 strains only)
• hulless pepo grex
• cucurbita ficifolia
• cucumis anguria and zambianus (funny ones to be eaten like cukes)
• cyclanthera pedata: one strain
  I should be able to send specifically early types of cucurbitas if needed.
  The cucumis melo grex is very very wide genetically (not asembled on a cantaloupe type characteristics for example), so it is both frequently disapointing and having strong potential if taken under heavy selection. I find it particularly hard to harvest that diversity of melons at the right time, watermelon being x1000 more easy. But anyway I have chosen to harvest melons when the peduncle dries a bit so the taste indication I can provide (excellent / good / medium ) is based on that.

Second: different interesting things:

• bushy, early, high yielding bean mix (3rd year after selection of syrains on those criteria in first year)
• 19 different kinds of mildly hot peppers crosses made by Jesse in 2023 and which went into seed increase this year, so going in F2 stage next year. All super vigorous and high yielding at f1 stage.
• about 10 kinds of different hot peppers
• about 6 different eggplants crossed made by Jesse in 2023 and which went into seed increase this year, so going into f2 stage by next year. All super vigorous and high yielding at f1 stage.
• turnips seeds
• carrot grex seeds, unselected yet.
• oleracea kale grex, unselected yet

Long term “breeding materials”… for the craziest^^:

• one great great solanum habrocaites strain (sbsp. hirsutum), very resistant to all kinds of blights. I suspect it being not self-incompatible.
• 4 different kinds of so-called and so-sold “grafting materials” which shown great resistances in different humid to dry places this year (strong root systems, possible
  great endophytes interaction…): all being habrocaites crosses with esculentum I suspect. What is sure is that they have strong habrocaites dominance. They are not self-incompatible.
• 4 types of wild or semi-wild cuc. melo.
• 2 crazily growing and high yielding forage types of watermelon and pepo (“de Touraine”): for this later you could not imagine such a big pepo seed! Bigger than maximas!!!

I would be interested in not that much from now on, only storage watermelons and storage melons you would have interest me. Will concentrate on selection now as I believe my mixes are genetically diverse enough.
And also: I like doing seed increases post crosses on tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. I don’t like doing the crosses.
But I will probably be making a specific effort (probably with other french friends but we could do it within our GTS network as well) on making crosses of tomatoes strongly resistant to any kinds of blights, in order to help creating plain field tomatoes populations there. Overall idea being creating two parallel mixes for about two to three years: one of locally adapted wild or semi-wild types (habrocaites and others who got potential), one of known resistant types of sol. esculentum. Then merge those 2 pops by manual crossings both ways and see what happen. So if you got tomato seeds of strains known to be resistant to blight in plain field in your place I am interested!

[stephane_rave]

I have from center France :
Cultivation without fertilization or watering, in cold clay soil in spring, very dry and hard summer.
Zone 7a, 6 to 7 months without frost
the list will be completed according to the progress of the harvests

landrace / grex :
Corn : Painted Mountain (Dave Christensen USA)
Faba beans : Charolais Brionnais grex F1
Lettuce : Charolais Brionnais grex F2
Onion : Yellow storage grex (Wild Mountain Seeds USA)
Rockette salad : purple stemmed landrace (Wild Mountain Seeds USA)
Hot Pepper : Alpine poblano (Wild Mountain Seeds USA)
Hot Pepper : Aji de colorado alpino (Wild Mountain Seeds USA)
Radish : Charolais Brionnais grex F2
Sweet Pepper : Charolais Brionnais grex F2
Tomatoes : Q series (Joseph Lofthouse USA)
Tomatoes : Wildling panamorous (Joseph Lofthouse USA)

Heirloom :
Beet Root : Early Wonder
Celery Stick : Tall’s Utah
Lettuce : Bourguignonne
Lettuce : Cimaaron
Lettuce : Grand Pa Admire
Lettuce : Hative d’Everlee
Lettuce : Kraganer
Lettuce : Majestic Red
Lettuce : Oreille du Diable
Lettuce : Saint Jean
Lettuce : Saint Jean de l’Agneau
Mustard : Wasabino
Pole Bean : Tarbais
Sesame : ‘Kurogoma’ Black Sesame
Sorgho : Tarahumara Popping
Squash : Spaghetti Squash (Cucurbita pepo)

The easiest way is to send me a message if you are looking for seeds I have in this list

I search :
Allium tricoccum

Fava Bean grex : Fingerprint genetic (Atahualpa’s, Atawallpa’s, Ur Kupina… ), bicolor genetic (Red Cheeked Fava),
Runner Bean grex (Phaseolus coccineus)
Pole Bean grex (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Sweet Pepper : Gatherer’s Gold Sweet Italian, Early Long Orange Bell, Patchwork Pepper
Hot Pepper : Habanada (Capsicum Chinense)

Beet : Badger Flame, Touchstone Gold, Burpee’s golden, de chiogga
Celery : Golden Pascal, Golden, Redpar
Chicory : all seeds from Frank Morton + italian radicchio
Lettuce : all seeds from Frank Morton + varieties of dry areas

Tomatoes : Promiscuous + interspecific crosses varieties
Alpha, Awesome Emma, Blue ambrosia, Bosque Emerald, Exserted Orange, Exserted Tiger, Island sunrise, Midnight Roma, Mission Mountain, Mountain Miracle XL Pink, Mountain Spirit Bi-color, Oh My, Payette, Petit chocolate, Weight in gold, Wilderness, Wild gem

Asian varieties of vegetables :
cabbage : Kai-Lan , Choy Sum Shi Pai, Hon Tsaï Taï October Red,
lettuce : Ya Ya Green (Lactuca sativa var. longifolia)
melon : Yang Jiao Mi

Please let me know if you come across or own these seed jewels

[isabelle (Harlé)]

OK lots of very interesting things !!!

I have from west of france (brittany, oceanic climate)
no fertilization, no treatment, direct sowing, hand harvest.

• fava bean grex year 3
• bush bean grex year 3 (phaseolus vulgaris)
• climbing bean grex year 3 (phaseolus vulgaris)
• quinoa GTS grex year 1
• lentils grex year 1
• peas grex year unknown
• runner beans one variety (pink/black)
• Millet (mix of 3 origins)
• Sweet corn various origins but all yellow

I search

• more of the same list, to increase my genetic base
• chickpeas grex
• pigeon peas (pois d’angole)
• niébé
• arachis
• mil
• azuki beans
• popcorn,
• flour/grain corn
• naked oats (avoine nue)
• true potato seeds (TPS)

[Hugo (Hugo Morvan)]

I’m in central France on poor granite and grow with some compost unless things boost on it, then i use quite a bit, no till, no cides, herb pressure.

• sunflower grex 1 year

• leeks grex 2 year

• swiss chard grex 3 year

• beetroot grex 3 year

• parsnip grex 4 year

• lettuce european super grex 1 year

• andives grex 1 year

• calendula grex 3 year

• echinacea grex 2 year

• aubergine grex 3 year

• cilantro grex 2 year

• spinach (spikey seeds) grex 3 year

• peach tree grex 7 year

• fava grex unknown

• winter pea grex unknown

• climbing beans grex 3 year

• bush beans grex unknown

• coccineus grex 1 year

• cucumber grex 2 year

• pepo grex 1 year

• maxima grex unknown

• moschata grex 3 year
  The unknowns mostly came as grexes from @polarca .
  Can post rootstock of running mirabel and running green gauge plum, mycelium of red wine cap mushroom.
  Some crops i got a lot of seeds of but that should be grexified are

• claytonia

• black winter radish / Raphanus sativus ssp. niger

• rhubarb

• cardoon/artichoke

• cornlettuce

• arugula

• hyssop

• asparagus

Interested in things that don’t work for me so far, like hulless seed pepo’s, carrots, spring radishes, daikon. I’m interested in herbs, staples, expanding the grexes and basicly everything green.
Also if you don’t have seeds to exchange i’m willing to help out a bit.

[malterod]

Hello everyone

Just popping in here to orient you to another initiative to swap seed inside EU we might explore as a compliment to P2P and the seed chain. Come join the discussion: GTS Seed Mix Steward Project (EU)

[malterod]

I added most of the below to Serendipity Seed Swap (EU), but in case someone wants to trade with me directly for some reason, I post what I have below.

I grow in Copenhagen region of Denmark, coastal climate (Cfb) with 792 mm average annual rain fall and 1722 sun hours on average. I grow the plants at 3-4 different sites, but can tell you more about growing conditions if you want to know about specific seed.

Common
Cucurbita - pepo, maxima, moschata, taste selected by chef students
Cucumis melo
Cucumber
Aubergine
Corn - sweet mostly, some flour
Tomato - mix of many varieties divided into small (cherry) and large, grown outside
Tomatillo
Chicory - many types
Broad bean
Spinach
Runner bean
Capsicum annuum - had lots of varieties but mixed them all now

Less common
Perennial kale population (3rd generation from Chris Homanics Kaleidoscopic grex)
Artichoke with winter hardy genetics (Serridslevgaard OP)
Hablitzia tamnoides - vining perennial spinach, very long lived (30+ years)
Silene latifolia
Silene vulgaris
Claytonia perfoliata
Claytonia sibirica
Oxyria digyna
Rhubarb
Rumex scutatus
Rumex sanguineus
Rumex sp - ground-covering variant (possibly acetosella)
Rumex acetosa - Belleville type
Portulaca oleracea
Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima
Blitum bonus-henricus - long-lived spinach
Stachys byzantina
Phlomis tuberosa
Plantago coronopus
Salvia officinalis
Salvia nemorosa
Agastache foeniculum
Hyssopus officinalis
Melissa officinalis
Monarda didyma
Origanum vulgare
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Thymus vulgaris
Thymus serpyllum
Thymus praecox
Thymus pulegioides
Myrrhis odoratum - smooth-leaves variety
Levisticum
Ligusticum scoticum
Angelica archangelica
Dystaenia takesimana - long-lived lovage-sellery tasting herb green in winter
Foeniculum vulgare - leaf variety
Chamn-namul (Spuriopimpinella brachycarpa)
Godeulppaegi (Crepidiastrum sonchifolium) - dandelion relative
Cirsium oleraceum
Chicory - Catalogna types (different named varieties selected for possible hardiness and perenniality)
Campanula latifolia
Aster scaber
Ligularia fischeri
Sochan (Rudbeckia laciniata) - forager chef Alan Bergo’s favorite wild edible
Eurybia macrophyllus
Hesperis matronalis
Cochlearia glastifolia
Bunias orientalis - perennial with edible flower shoots, like spicy rapini
Diplotaxis tenuifolia
Sanguisorba minor
Sanguisorba canadensis
Sanguisorba menziesii
Lathyrus tuberosus - looking for collaborators
Alcea rosea
Malva moschata
Malva alcea var. fastigiata
Allium babingtonii - bulbil-producing perennial leek that easily survives in my humid garden with lots of competition
Allium ramosum
Allium flavum

Woody plants (extra seed I have from Sheffield in the US)
Acer macrophyllum
Acer saccharum
Aralia chinensis - looking for collaborators of anything from Araliaceae for edible shoots
Calycanthus chinensis
Calycanthus floridus
Cephalotaxus fortunei
Chaenomeles sp. for fruit - own seed
Chimonanthus praecox
Diospyros virginiana
Eleutherococcus senticosus - looking for collaborators of anything from Araliaceae for edible shoots
Fraxinus ornus
Morus alba - one of top five most nutritious plants in the world
Rhus aromatica
Rhus trilobata
Shepherdia canadensis
Tilia americana
Viburnum lentago
Xanthoceras sorbifolium
Zanthoxylum simulans
Zanthoxylum bungeanum - own seed
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis
Ziziphus jujuba
Toona sinensis - one of top five most nutritious plants in the world

Non-edibles
Herniaria glabra
Glaucium flavum
Veronicastrum virginicum
Scutellaria barbata
Verbena hastata

[malterod]

@stephane_rave

I search :
Runner Bean grex (Phaseolus coccineus)
Hot Pepper : Habanada (Capsicum Chinense)
Beet : Badger Flame, de chiogga
Lettuce : all seeds from Frank Morton
Tomatoes : Midnight Roma

Some of these I will grow out next season (e.g. Habanada and Midnight Roma), so you can bookmark that and ask for seed at the end of 2025. The beets will obviously take another year. I’ve grown Outredgeous to seed and included that in the seed train mix. I still have a bit left with a name on it that I haven’t mixed in, if you want some. The runner bean bag of the seed train is finally starting to diversify - I think most of the beans have been added separately, so possibly not a grex yet in the technical term (more a mix), but I intend to grow them out and then it will be.

[stephane_rave]

very very nice for Habanada et Midnight Roma !

I also already have Outredgeous in my Charolais Brionnais lettuce mix.
We have some seeds Franck Morton via the contact KOKOPELLI FRANCE, but this guy and so prolific that we would need other import of his fantastic work in Europe !

Super everything becomes exponential…you are looking for a confidential seed is someone offers it! The garden of Eden comes to life with GTS

[Tanjaeskildsen (Tanja)]

My seed list:

Herbs:

Papalo
Perennial basil
Passionfruit marigold
Tulsi grex
Lavender mint
Vitex agnus castus
Rhubarb from my moms grandmother, very resillient. Possibly Victoria variety.

Beans (all landrace):

Cowpeas
Lima beans
Fava beans
(I also have pure mallorcan black favas abd mallorcan brown favas)
Pigeon peas
Later in the season I will have a sword bean grex too from Shane simonsens seeds
Small amount of tepary beans
Lablab beans but usually not until january
Long bean grex, semi vining.
Shane’s bush snake beans

Greens seeds:

Molokhia grex
water spinach grex later in the season
Jewels of opar
Abelmoschus manihot (originally from experimental farm network)

Greens cuttings:

Okinawa spinach
Longevity spinach
Abelmoschus manihot salad tree
Different varieties of chaya spinach trees
Tahitian spinach (leaf taro)
Sea kale (crambe maritima)

Cucurbit seeds:

Summer squash grex
Moschata landrace (green/brown/orange flesh) very sweet
Bottle gourds (i’ll have more varieties later in the season)
Citron melon possibly crossed with watermelon. This season they grew into small whales👀, hard yellow flesh, not sweet but not bitter either.

Vegetables:

Mild, fruity chili landrace
Richard’s giant aubergine landrance
Shane’s tiny pliny eggplant
Colourful sweet corn grex

[Richard]

I am available to direct seed echange. I got the list on my presentation. I will update later when i am on the computer. This year i did have a rought year. But I got a various to share and bought stuff.
My seeds are sown in Malllorca / Spain with lots of sun and kind of drought conditions.

[Kristin (Kristin Gasser)]

Hi Marcela,
thank´s for this thread. I´m totally new here in this community, just discovered Joseph Lofthouse a few days ago and was immediately totally hooked. I even haven´t received the book yet, but I’m in the middle of the course.

I’m german, but since two years I live part-time in Slavonia in the north of the Papuk National Park and started my very first garden… I´m growing very much like you, growing without tilling, almost no watering, fertilizing or spraying only with my own compost, effective microarganisms, plant brews. Also mulching when needed during super hot summers.

I´d love to do a direct exchanrge, but I´m afraid that I have not so much to offer… because I just started…

Well, I have a
super productive Hokkaido Squash with thin skin, from a plant that had 36 fruits on one plant,
Artemisia annua A3 (the super powerful healing plant),
some comfrey rhizoms,
a lot of garlic cloves,
some divisible stocks of perennial onions (allium fistulosum),
and probaly in spring some Yakon bulbs.

I hope to be able to contribute more here soon, when I have my first adaptation gardening seasons behind me in the next few years…

Greetings from the wild, wild east…

Kristin

[Hugo (Hugo Morvan)]

Hi Kristin, great you’re with us.
I grow arthemisia and have a grex, a few huge plants of which maybe one wintersurvivor. My yacons did very well this year in half shade. No watering. What color are yours when you slice them?
I could send you some seeds of grexes, look up what interests you above. Maybe not yacon, because it costs much.

[Kristin (Kristin Gasser)]

Hi Hugo,
Thank you for your answer and great offer!

My Yakons are white when I slice them, unfortunately they didn’t bloom, because some deer ate the tops and crashed them when they were half way up.

But they came again and produced nice roots. They were my first ones I ever ate and they were great. I defenately wanna get more varieties!

Oh yes, seeds please that would be great! I will find your post I’m still trying to figure out how this forum here working…

Greetings,
Kristin

[malterod]

Welcome Kristin! Tell us a bit about what you like to grow in the Introduction section, it’s a good place to greet the community. Looking forward to follow your growing experiences.

[Bobby]

@marcela_v

lettuce grexes

I can mail you some of our lettuce mix from Bulgaria, a photo of the plants you can see in my intro topic. Fava (broad beans) as well. Garlic, if you are interested in purple skin hard neck variety, unknown, similar to Creole. Also a Caucasus persimmon seedlings, less than 10 cm tall.

[Hugo (Hugo Morvan)]

I’d be interested in adding the Bulgarian mix that to the European super grex of salads Bobby, if you care to exchange pm me. Just click my icon.