Newtown Seed Swap – Feb 19th 2011
There is a great UK network:
Seedy Sunday
which encourages gardeners and growers to save seed and to swap them,
and it is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Of course it
doesn’t have
to be a Sunday, and volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters will be getting involved with the first Newtown community seed swap event on a Saturday, 19th Feb, as Cwm Harry Land Trust, Newtown, Wales from 10.30 am – 3.00 pm.
For
all sorts of reasons SELLING saved seed is against the law, but
swapping saved
seed is encouraged, and even if you have none to swap yourself, you can
always make a small donation, or agree to volunteer on our garden
project in return for any you do take.
There is a UK national
Heritage Seed Library,
managed by Garden Organic which exists to conserve rare varieties of
vegetables, but it is really important that all gardeners get
involved in saving at least some of their own seed.
Why save seed? Lot of reasons really, here are a few good ones..
- Saving money is an obvious reason – its all FREE!
- Promoting biodiversity and local strains of seed
- Conserving older varieties
- Building links between local growers in the area
- Building local food security
This informal event is
free to enter, (donations accepted but not expected), we will be
offering some talks on seed saving and growing techniques and offering
tours of our community garden. There is lots to know about seed saving,
some plants are really easy to save seed from
and grow on the next year, whereas others need some specialist skill or
attention for success.
So just come along on the day, no need to book!
