If there are any seed swaps in your local area, please try and support them. You might be surprised at the range of seeds available. I've just got back from my local one. Didn't really want any more seeds but was like a kiddie in a sweet shop! Came back with:
Pea (Poppet)
Dwarf French Bean (Jersey Bean)
Dwarf French Bean (Early Warwick)
Climbing French Bean (Georges)
Runner Bean (Bok)
Squash (Virginia Rooster)
Squash (Olive)
Kale (Red Winter)
Kale (Siberian)
This was only a small selection of the seeds available and a lot of them were Heritage varieties. All I need now is to find room in the garden and some better weather!
;D
Hello there one and all,
You are obviously in a part of the country well served by organised events, robinaber - was it a Seedy Sunday/Saturday/whatever day it is? I looked at their website recently and they are almost all in the south of England, but they sound a great idea and I can't believe that the concept hasn't made it to the frozen north already. Does anyone out there know any different?
Best regards,
Sue
There was one at Ryton... but Coventry is still deep south from Leeds... :-\
Hi Suek, it's a shame you don't have any your neck of the woods. You could always start one up yourself!
For those who live in Wales, there is a seed event on Saturday 7th March at Newport in Pembrokeshire. Will post again when I can find out more about it.
In the meantime go onto www.dyfivalleyseedsavers.co.uk (http://www.dyfivalleyseedsavers.co.uk). Hope it helps but it might be a bit out of date!
The dyfivalley link above is for the seedy sunday even in Machynlleth on the 22nd of Feb.
Details of the Newport event in March can be found here:
http://www.seedysunday.org/page_id__78_path__.aspx
There will be a seed swap at the East Anglian potato day next Saturday, 14th, at Stonham Barns , near Ipswich.
Best way to spend Valentines Day - standing in a field in Suffolk getting seed potatoes. Told the OH that if he is lucky I will be taking him along as well ;D
Suek, there are a couple in the Yorkshire area listed in the link below but not in the Leeds area.
http://www.vegetable-gardens.co.uk/forum/latest-gardening-news-gardening-events/2018-potato-days-seed-swaps-february.html
I think its Hebden Bridge and Saltaire.
Well Saltaire is close, and Hebeden Bridge is only about an hour away from Leeds on the train.. my old route home from Uni... ;D
Thanks Baccy Man for the Newport link. Here is the Network link which I meant to post:
http://www.dyfivalleyseedsavers.co.uk/content/10.php (http://www.dyfivalleyseedsavers.co.uk/content/10.php)
Hope it helps but it might be a bit out of date.
Hello again,
Thank you so much for your kind replies - and Hebden Bridge is just down the road from my in-laws, so we might contrive a family visit on the same day!
I must admit, it did occur to me to think about setting something up here in West Leeds, as we have a number of fairly new or nascent (?) gardening groups/clubs (including schools)/community gardens in West Leeds which have benefitted from swaps or donated seeds in the past, plus the usual run of allotments.
A very generous swap of some heritage French beans this year has made our school club look more closely at seed saving and I am hoping to save some other varieties in my own garden. However, the nearest I had come to one of these events was wondering about setting up a "seed circle" in the area, as promoted by RealSeed/VidaVerde on their website (http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedcircle.htm), for an "end of season" swap on A4A. In some ways it's more formal than a seed swap event as everyone commits to saving a particular variety, but on the other hand there's not so much to organise in advance. The thought of that frightens the life out of me at the moment!:-)
Wishing us all a good year - apologies for the waffle!
Sue