2009 ENDANGERED SEED APPEAL

Johnson's Perfect cauliflower	Gloucester Special onion
Best Of All tomato	Avon Defiance lettuce
Lingreville cabbage	Habanero Red pepper

Make a donation today, and help save the biodiversity of UK vegetables.

Why are we asking you to help save obscure varieties? Surely one carrot’s very much like the next?

Actually, every variation and strain is remarkably different. Each with its own taste, growing habits, cultivation time and heritage. And every rare variety we save is part of a much bigger biodiversity picture. Just as we value the diversity of plant and animal species, we need to keep the gene pool of the plants we grow to eat as big as possible too. So your donation towards our 2009 Endangered Seed Appeal could save not just a vegetable, but a whole ecosystem.

Make a donation today, and make sure we pass on our garden heritage

The British Isles has one of the richest garden heritages in the world. For years, scores of gardeners and smallholders have nurtured thousands of unique vegetable varieties. In the last hundred years most of these varieties have all but disappeared. Thousands more are under threat from climate change, loss of habitat, invasive alien species and the desire for ‘perfect’ vegetables. But we can’t safeguard our nation’s traditional vegetables for future generations without additional financial support – which is why we are asking you to make a donation today.

Your donation – seed money

The Heritage Seed Library is the only living library of its kind in the UK. Its aim is to send out as much endangered seed to as many people as possible, so that even more seed is produced – and the process can be repeated again and again. In 2009, with your help, we aim to categorise, preserve and distribute fifty more rare and endangered vegetables.

The Heritage Seed Library is just one aspect of Garden Organic’s work, and rest assured we will put your donation to use wherever it can do the most good.

What your donation could buy

Growing space – we urgently need to maintain our existing seed growing space, then install a new irrigation system and isolation cages to prevent cross-pollination.

Seed sharing – we need to ensure that our Seed Guardians receive their supply of endangered seeds. The vegetables they grow are processed and the seeds cleaned before being returned to the Heritage Seed Library for distribution to others.

Seed education – increasing heritage seed growing at our Audley End garden in Essex will allow more seed to be saved and more demonstrations. Educating the public is a vital part of our mission.

Seed review – our current seed collection is in desperate need of attention to make sure that our stocks don’t become too low.

“The 800 endangered varieties in our living collection include all types of common vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, beans, peas and onions – staple foods for millions of people around the world. And it’s not just vegetable varieties that we are losing, but it’s the local history, culture, tradition and skills that go with them. Once the varieties are extinct, we will never be able to get the seed or heritage back.” Bob Sherman, Director of Operations

“Over the last 40 years there has been a disastrous loss of biodiversity in every food crop across the entire continent. This is of course why the Heritage Seed Library exists (along with its many sister organisations across Europe) and why its work continues to be so important.” Rebsie Fairholm, Seed Guardian, Gloucester

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