2011 Free Seed and Plant Give Away

The Plant a Row for the Hungry Middlesex County campaign is a people-helping-people campaign. We rely on each other to be successful. That's what makes the free seed and plant give away possible. There is no funding.

Our campaign gives away seeds and/or plants as an incentive to get people to garden to feed themselves. We ask each gardener to plant an extra row for the Mobile Pantry to help the homebound, elderly and disabled.

We receive seeds from Seeds that Grow Hope, a grant offered by Keep America the Beautiful. A combination of vegetables, flowers and herbs are ordered with emphasis on vegetables. The seeds received are not packaged for the current growing season and have a germination rate of 92-95%. Only shipping is paid making it quite affordable to provide a give away. We also receive seeds from PAR volunteer gardeners who share their surplus.

Seeds will last year to year if stored correctly. Some seeds will last a longer number of years than others. Usually larger seeds, such as squash, last longer than smaller seeds, such as lettuce.

We never know what type of seeds, or how many of each, we shall receive. We give away seeds that can be direct sown and are sometimes able to start plants when we have access to a greenhouse.

This year, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and parsley were started on March 5th at the private residence of a volunteer. We secured a little space in a greenhouse due to the generosity of a local business. The seed starter mix was donated, the seed trays borrowed. If all goes well, we'll have warm weather crops to give away in May.

These particular crops were started early because they take the longest to germinate. They can’t be direct sown because the growing season between the last frost date, (May 31st-June 1st), and the first frost date in October is too short to reap a harvest.

To entice you to participate in PAR, start a garden for yourself, and plant an extra row for PAR, take a peak at what has been seeded so far.

Large Red Cherry Tomato, Homestead Tomato, Black Beauty Eggplant, Broccoli Calabrese, Grand Bell Mix, California Wonder Green Bell Pepper, Roma Tomato, Marglobe Tomato, Italian Parsely, Sweet Banana Pepper, Chianti Red Pepper, Beefsteak Tomato, Red Cherry Tomato, San Marzano, Tomatillo, Kung Pao Hybrid Pepper, Espanola Improved Tomato, Sunbright Sweet Bell, Asian Long Purple Eggplant, Black Cherry Tomato, Sugary f1 Hybrid Tomato, Organic Tomato Martina, Caliope, Tumbling Tom Tomato 

The remainder of the gloves donated by a small business last year shall be distributed this year along with row markers from the Garden Writers Foundation.

We'll distribute seeds during the Earth Day Festival in Lowell, give away seeds and plants at the Earth Fair in Chelmsford, and we'll host a Plant Give Away at the Merrimack Valley Food Bank in Lowell.