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Heritage Seed Makes Comeback

An article in Horticulture Week points to changes that may lead to relaxation of the heritage seed rules.

EU rules currently state that if a variety is not on a national list, you can't sell it.  This list was set up with the commercial seed sector in mind but the amateur gardener became needlessly inconvenienced by this legislation. A seed variety costs around £1,500 to register at present.

Heritage, unregistered varieties are only able to be grown via seed swapping amongst enthusiasts and the varieties rely heavily on Seed Guardians who grow the plants specifically for their seed to preserve the variety and allow a selection of seed to be available for those interested.

Revived varieties of tomatoes, cabbages and lettuces could come onto the market in two or three years if  the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) relaxes the legislation.

Some vegetable varieties are grown for outstanding flavour or perfomance in a particular environment.  These may soon be available again with gardener's being able to grow varieties that their parents or grandparents favoured.

Read to full article in Horticulture Week.

A few specialist suppliers who offer heritage seed and plants

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The British Araucana Club

The British Araucana club first started out life as the English Araucana poultry society back in around 1915. By 1960 it had faded away and there was no more interest by many people in having blue egg laying chickens.

The few remaining people who held onto their Araucana stock were still very much interested in the breed, and by 1972 there was a renewed interest. The "new" British Araucana Club was formed. This is the club that is still in existance today, and is one of the oldest running UK poultry clubs.

The one thing that all members generally have in common is an enthusiastic willing to keep an old heritage breed alive. They do this by promoting the breed, selling "good" stock, blue hatching eggs, and presenting birds for exhibition at shows around the country. Members swap stock, eggs and experiences and pass on hints and tips to other members.

New members are always given a warm welcome to the friendly community, with experienced members eager to offer free advice and even give away spare stock or hatching eggs.

Araucana chickens are known to originate from the old Arauca region between Northern Chile and Southern Peru, in the ancestral home of the Incas (who now are more popularly known as Aruca Indians).

The Araucana is the only pure breeding and original blue egg laying domestic chicken. The blue eggs that distinguish the breed are very exclusive in the world of poultry.  Other breeds that are seen to sometimes lay blue eggs, have their origins with the Araucana gene pool.

The British Araucana has been listed as a rare breed with DEFRA. Keeping a living flock of a specialist pure poultry breed helps to maintain a diverse national gene bank in the event that new characteristics are needed in the future.

Registered club members' birds are automatically protected under this scheme. All modern production poultry used in farming today originate from carefully selected old heritage breeds.

Why Keep Araucanas?
Araucana chickens are a particularly hardy breed, requiring little maintenance. Their legs are not fluffy, making them suitable for wetter areas and  their feathers are soft and well insulated, allowing them to do well in low winter temperatures. The Araucana's soft fleshy head parts are very much reduced which minimises the possibility of sunburn, frostbite or cuts and abrasion damage.

So long as an Araucana has access to good food, fresh water, green vegetation, dust, shelter and some company, it will thrive, with a hen producing beautiful blue eggs for at least the first five years of its life.

Pure bred Araucanas are generally easier to tame than many other breeds, and will happily feed out of your hand while sitting on your shoulder or on your arm. Once they have learned your habits, they will recognise individual members of the family, and will express themselves by clucking, wing flapping and gentle cooing depending on how they feel.

Years ago, before aircraft were used as transport, Araucanas were kept confined on big sailing ships that explored the world. It was thought that they were not as fussy as other breeds when it came to accomodation. Nowadays, Araucanas can be found equally at ease living in cages on balconies and confined in compact back garden runs in cities.

The general rule is that a trio of hens should be brought up in confined living conditions from a very young age to avoid stress. Ideally however, a spacious lawn or copse is much more appropriate.

More about Araucana chickens.

• Araucana Poultry Club of Great Britain
• Crested breeds Club of Australia
• The Araucana Club of America

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Heritage Flowers Gift Box Set

Whilst on our search for old varieties of flower seed we came across this great gift offer by English Heritage.

The Thomas Etty Esq Heritage Flowers box set contains a packet of each of the following:
Snap Dragon, Sweet William, Forget-Me-Not, Pot Marigold, Tall Climbing Nasturtium and Field Poppy.

Presented as a box set of six seed packets, this is an ideal gift for Mother's day, Easter and birthdays.

The heritage flower seed box set is available online form the English Heritage shop.

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New Garden Organic Seed Project

The latest initiative from Garden organic, "Sowing New Seeds", funded by the Big Lottery Local Food Fund, will directly enable many more gardeners in the East and West Midlands to grow non-traditional crops, while also documenting how to grow them based on the experiences of the region’s diverse communities.

Garden Organic, which also runs the UK’s famous Heritage Seed Library dedicated to conserving the genetic diversity of vegetables, hopes that the project will unearth lots of interesting edible plants.

Sally Cunningham of the Sowing New Seeds project, said,

“The UK's population has changed dramatically in the past 40 years and so have our eating habits. People from all over the world have settled here and grown vegetables from their native homes such as callaloo, white maize, Hamburg parsley, dudi, black-eye beans and water chestnuts.

Many of these plants originate from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America or the Caribbean, and may eventually become adapted successfully to local conditions here in the UK.”

Share your seeds and experience
To get the project off the ground, Garden Organic is calling for anyone that grows exotic vegetables to come forward to share seeds and information.

The project’s aim is to give many more people in the East and West Midlands the chance to access and grow exotic seeds that have been grown under local conditions. Some of the varieties will also enter Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library, to be safeguarded and conserved for future generations.

The project will also produce vital fact sheets on how to grow the non-traditional crops, as well as events to demonstrate crop cultivation, seed saving, storage and cooking.

Garden Organic will also set up a brand new exotic crop garden at its flagship site, Ryton Gardens in Warwickshire.

To find out more and to get involved, visit the Garden Organic website where all contact information is availabe.

Sowing New Seeds also works with the following project partners:

• Women’s Environmental Network (WEN),
• Black Environment Network (BEN)
• Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens,
• National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardeners,
• Groundwork Midlands,
• Soil Association CSA programme

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Old Varieties v New

Over the last three years we have been growing heritage vegetables as well as more modern varieties and whilst we have not been conducting a scientific experiment, the outcome is interesting.

We trialled heritage varieties of Tomato (San Marzano Di Lampadina) and French Bean (Blauhilde).

Both varieties were grown under the same conditions as the modern varieties; Tomato (Gardener's delight) & French bean (Pantheon)

Firstly the French beans - The heritage variety (Blauhilde) really did struggle, with generally weaker plants succumbing very easily to slug damage and mildew.

Out of the total crop sown, around 70% succeeded to seedling stage but only 25% of the plants made it to cropping stage of which crops were generally poor.

Tomato San Marzano Di Lampadina did very well as seedlings (probably due to the lovely warm spring).

They produced quite strong plants with a fair crop of medium sized fruits.  However, the time taken to ripening seemed to exceed the amount of sunlight hours available in the North of England and fruits struggled to ripen.

A batch of Green tomato chutney put them to good use.

We have also grown other old varieties of vegetable including brassicas and shallots and in general, the results have been much the same with plants struggling through the wet summer and producing less yield with a constant fight against disease.

Although heritage varieties are worth growing for their different flavours and textures, we found that we have had to nurse them to production stage with a great deal of loss.

Worth mentioning, is the simple fact that our Cumbrian summers over the last three years have been rubbish, to say the least.  Extremely wet, dark and with very little strong sunlight.

We are interested to hear what other growers of heritage vegetables have experienced around Britain and we certainly still advocate growing the older varieties, although we do suggest researching the varieties well to see if they will be suited to prevailing conditions.

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Berkshire Apples Sought

We have had a request from a gentleman looking for pictures of and maybe ultimately suppliers of two varieties of apple from Berkshire:

"Guelph" a dessert apple from Newbury

"Frogmore prolific", a cooking apple from Windsor.

Does anybody know if these varieties are still in cultivation?

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Apple – Duke of Devonshire

The Duke of Devonshire apple was raised in 1835 by Wilson, gardener to the Duke of Devonshire at Holker Hall, Cumbria.

Introduced around 1875, the fruits have a firm, fine texture with rather dry flesh and a slightly nutty flavour.

Uses: Desert
Parents: Unknown
Flowers: Early to Mid May
Picking: Early October
Natural Storage: January - March

The Duke of Devonshire apple can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.

Young trees are available from Adam's Apples, in Devon.

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Apple – Cockpit

Originating from Yorkshire, the Cockpit apple was first discovered in 1831.

Fruits have coarse flesh with a slight acid and almost astringent flavour.

A famous Yorkshire apple which grows well in Cumbria.

Uses: Culinary
Parents: Unknown
Flowers: Early to Mid May
Picking: Early October
Natural Storage: October - December

The Cockpit apple can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.

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Apple – Golden Spire

The Golden Spire apple was reported to have been discovered in 1850 by Richard Smith of Worcester.

Fruits have a dense, crisp flesh with an acidic, astringent flavour.

Uses: Culinary
Parents: Unknown
Flowers: Late April to Early May
Picking: Early September
Natural Storage: September - October

The Golden Spire apple can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.

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Apple – Carlisle Codlin

The Carlisle Codlin apple is thought to have originated in Carlisle in Cumbria and records show evidence of it's presence before 1830.

Fruits have a rather soft and slightly coarse textured flesh, juicy and mildly acidic. The skin is very smooth and shiny when ripe.

Cultivation of this apple is probably only of local heritage interest, it does not have a good flavour and its very upright habit, makes picking of the fruit difficult.

Uses: Desert
Parents: Unknown
Flowers: Early May
Picking: Late September
Natural Storage: October - December

The Carlisle Codlin apple can be found growing in the orchards of Acorn Bank House, Temple Sowerby, Cumbria.

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