A golden parcel of precious heritage vegetable seeds has arrived back at Ryton Organic Gardens after travelling by human relay for more than 180 miles.
The relay marks the Heritage Seed Library (HSL)’s 50th anniversary.
The seed library holds the National Collection of Heritage Vegetables and safeguards heritage seeds, food security and genetic diversity.
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Seeds have been distributed to gardeners, community growers and famous institutions across the Midlands and Southern England.
Stage one of the relay started in Bocking, Essex in early October where Garden Organic’s founder Lawrence D Hills began his organic gardening and conservation work.
It then travelled more than 180 miles, calling at English Heritage’s Down House, Hampton Court Palace, Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Gardens, Castle Bromwich, the UK Vegetable Genebank at Warwick University and many more.
At each stop-off point, supporting ‘seed champions’ took a packet of seed from the golden anniversary parcel to grow (and eventually harvest and save), and passed the rest of the seeds onto the next destination.
On arriving back at Ryton, the remaining seeds in the package journeyed through the organic demonstration gardens hand-to-hand via a human relay. They have been passed on to the charity’s Master Composters in Shropshire, who will take them on into Wales in March 2026. In the summer, they will journey to northeast England and into Scotland. A special celebration will take place in Ireland.
Fiona Taylor, chief executive of Garden Organic, which runs the Heritage Seed Library, explains why the conservation of heritage seed is so important.
“Our seed relay is highlighting the vital importance of sharing seed…so that it survives. The best way to conserve seeds for future generations is to sow them, save them and pass them on. Seeds get stronger every time they are sown as they adapt to the conditions in which they are growing – building in resilience as our climate changes,” she says.
“Heritage Seeds are not available for sale because they have never been taken up by commercial seed companies – and so it has been down to families and communities to keep them alive. The Heritage Seed Library it at the heart of conserving these important heirlooms.”
The library currently preserves more than 800 varieties of heritage seed and is constantly on the lookout for more. If you live in the Midlands and have an intriguing heritage seed that’s been passed down the generations, or a little-known vegetable variety that you can’t buy in the shops – the Heritage Seed Library wants to know.
The library is looking for seeds for its Sowing Your Seeds project, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund. Get in touch via its short online survey at gardenorganic.org.uk/seed-search.
Further details can be found at gardenorganic.org.uk, where you can also discover how to become a member of the charity and support its work.
