Seed Saving
Introduction to Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library
HSL Seed packets waiting to go out
Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library (HSL) aims to conserve and make available vegetable varieties that are not widely accessible. HSL maintains a collection of vegetables pertinent to the UK and Northern Europe that are not readily available in seed catalogues. Some of the varieties were commercially available once but have now disappeared from catalogues and seed lists. Others have never been offered in catalogues but have been developed by gardeners and passed on through the generations until they were donated to us. There are also some varieties that have a special local significance. Many have a story to tell. We collect not only the seed, but also information on their characteristics, methods of use, origins, and what this can tell us about our gardening and culinary heritage.
We are not a gene bank. We do not simply preserve the seeds in cold storage. Instead we grow them and make them available to other gardeners so that they remain alive and able to adapt to new conditions. Any new characteristics then have a good chance of being spotted and made use of.
We are not legally allowed to sell our seed
Under European law only seed that is listed on a National List (and ultimately the EU Common Catalogue) can be marketed. To be on the list a variety must go through a series of tests, termed DUS tests. The D stands for distinctiveness, as in different from another variety, the U for uniformity, or all plants are the same, and the S for stability, which means the same over generations. Many of the varieties we look after would not pass these tests as they are inherently highly variable. The tests cost money. There is also a cost for maintaining a variety on the list.
With the costs incurred in breeding and maintenance of a variety, a large, profitable market is sought. This means that seed companies often decide against maintaining varieties suitable for 'niche markets', e.g. gardeners, in favour of those more acceptable to large scale growers. The varieties available are therefore more likely to ripen at the same time to make harvesting with machinery easier, tough enough to withstand travel and handling in supermarkets, and familiar in visual characteristics so that they are acceptable to the average shopper. Flavour often takes a back seat.
A basket of choice
To overcome the restrictions of regulations and facilitate distribution we currently run a membership scheme. Those who wish to support our work pay an annual fee which goes towards the costs of collecting, growing, storing and distributing the seed. We produce articles on seed saving, research and the latest on the international seed scene in the Garden Organic members' magazine, The Organic Way. Every winter we send out a Catalogue detailing a portion of the collection, containing information about the varieties from which members may choose a packet of each of up to six varieties.
The Heritage Seed Library collection
Currently we look after over 800 accessions of open-pollinated varieties (not F1 hybrids), of which around 200 are detailed in our HSL Seed Catalogue each year. As well as research on the varieties and testing of previously untried varieties that come in from time to time, we grow some of the seed required at Garden Organic Ryton. Whilst more is grown by Seed Guardians - special members who volunteer their resources to look after and bulk up selected varieties. These are then available for distribution to our members.
The collection is still expanding. Every year we receive samples of vegetable seed that gardeners have been looking after and keeping alive. We ask a lot of questions about each one to determine its place in our culture. We then conduct our own trials on it, taking notes and making assessments throughout its growing life to find out as much as possible about it. This gives us the opportunity to ensure that it is different to anything else we are looking after, not obviously diseased, has not crossed (and is not a hybrid) and is something gardeners would be interested in growing. If we decide it is something we should be keeping we add it to the collection, so there's always something new coming in.
Top of pageGarden Organic is the working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA).
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