https://reasonstobecheerful.world/seed-diversity-uk-gardeners/
"It’s a fine, crisp day and the first frost of the season, a significant
occasion for any gardener and one that has not gone unnoticed by the seed
guardians of the Stroud Community Seed Bank. Beth Richardson, a 27-year-old
student midwife and coordinator at the seed bank, meets me by a big compost
heap that steams on contact with the icy cold air. The heap, a valuable group
resource, belongs to the allotment where Beth grows her crops.
In allotment greenhouses and back-garden potting sheds across towns, cities and
villages in the UK, communities of local growers are digging deep and planting
the seeds for a richer, more diverse and more resilient food system. It is a
trend being repeated all over the world.
“Seeds are so powerful, so vital to life, but the range and variety of seeds
that the big companies provide are very narrow,” says Josie Cowgill, one of the
Stroud seed bank’s 30-strong growers and seed-savers. “In our small way, we are
trying to, in each of our gardens or on the land that we grow food on, increase
the biodiversity within our plots and within Stroud.”
The problem they’re helping to solve is this: When everyone buys mass produced
seeds at the store, gardens everywhere end up growing plants that are
genetically identical, eroding biodiversity. But if individual gardeners
select, harvest, save and replant the seeds from their own best-growing plants,
biodiversity increases, and with it, botanical resilience to disease and harsh
conditions.
The Stroud Community Seed Bank in Gloucestershire is one of hundreds of
initiatives across the UK focusing its seed-saving efforts on “open pollinated
seed,” which — providing there is no cross pollination — will reliably produce
viable, true-to-type plants year after year. Rather than being locked into a
cycle of buying new seed every season, seed can be saved and stored for future
use. “What we have to do to combat the very narrow genetic basis to our seed is
get as many people as possible growing as wide a diversity of seeds as
possible,” says Kate McEvoy of Real Seeds, a small-scale producer specializing
in open pollinated seed for organic growing."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
