The UK’s first ever ‘seed relay’ will see heritage vegetable seed shared, sown and saved across the country.
The relay event will highlight the vitally important work of the Heritage Seed Library in safeguarding food security and genetic diversity.
The Heritage Seed Library (HSL), which holds the National Collection of Heritage Vegetables and is looked after by sustainable gardening charity Garden Organic, is marking its 50th anniversary by highlighting the importance of safeguarding food security and genetic diversity.
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The first leg of the Seed Relay commenced on Wednesday 15th October from Bocking, Essex, where the HSL was established in 1975 by Garden Organic founder Lawrence D Hills.
During the ‘pass-the-parcel’ event, the heritage seeds will travel more than 180 miles.
At each stop-off point, supporting ‘seed champions’ across England will take a packet of seed from the golden anniversary parcel to grow (and eventually harvest and save), and pass the rest of the seeds onto the next destination, before finishing at Garden Organic.
The relay will have three parts: in England in 2025, Scotland and Wales in 2026, and a special celebration will take place in Ireland.
The HSL is the only living library of heritage vegetables in the UK, and the only seed library that conserves food by sharing precious heritage seeds with gardeners and communities so they can help preserve them. By sharing and ‘growing out’ the seeds with community partners across the UK, the seeds become more resilient and better adapted to climate change and local conditions.
A changing climate and decline in insects including pollinators is making our food security more precarious. We need to conserve the widest variety of vegetable seeds as possible to ensure the survival of homegrown food crops. Add to this worldwide food shocks caused by pandemics, wars and disrupted trade routes and the urgent need to save our precious seed becomes a race against time.
Fiona Taylor, CEO of Garden Organic said: “The Heritage Seed Library conserves seed by sharing it, and this work is a continual relay between places and generations to ensure the survival of heritage vegetables. Passing seed on to be grown by friends, neighbours and future generations is a simple action that gardeners and growers can take to ensure our food crops adapt to climate change.
“Seed is a precious natural resource, and open pollinated seed continually adapts to the conditions in which it is sown. This means by passing seed on and sowing it in a variety of places, we are allowing it to survive and thrive.”
