Plant swapping can be an excellent way to boost your herb collection for free. This summer I made use of the excellent plant swap facility in Sarphati Park, Amsterdam.  I had a large pot-bound mint on my kitchen balcony which needed splitting. I had no space or need for more mint plants so I decided to take a clump to the plant swap centre. They were very happy with my mint and I found a lovely little pot of St John’s Wort to take home in exchange.  The centre is overflowing with lovely plants of all sizes. It is run by volunteers and facilitated by the local council (Zuid Amsterdam).

I would really like to swap something for a myrtle or mugwort plant but the plant swap centre doesn’t have any at the moment.  So I had a look online and found a couple of useful websites (in Dutch). www.ruilen.nl allows you to do quite a detailed search for plants people are offering or to advertise your offerings. www.groei.nl mentions a number of plant swaps around the country – albeit in 2009.  I also noticed a feature in Buitenleven magazine  encouraging people to organise there own plant swaps  http://buitenleven.onlinetouch.nl. I am really encouraged by this and hope to find a little myrtle or mugwort, for free, very soon!