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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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New Name for NCCPG

'Plant Heritage' is the new name for The National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG).

 

They provide standards and a support network for professionals and individuals who are keen to keep a wide variety of plants in cultivation under their correct names.

 

Plant Heritage strive to secure the future of garden plants which are at risk of vanishing from commercial outlets.  They may be unfashionable, difficult to grow or propagate and can become commercially unviable.

Members form a network of local groups around the UK, from Cornwall to Scotland and are encouraged to grow rare and unusual plants.

Members have access to talks, workshops and demonstrations and visit gardens, nurseries and National Plant Collections.

Plant Heritage are also looking for members to become holders of National collections for plants which are not currently on the national Collection scheme, such as Achillea, Peruvian Lilies and Lobelia, among others.

Plant Heritage is a much easier name to remember and sounds less formal than the original long winded title, so maybe the change will bring them into the 21st Century and the recognition they deserve.

Find out more about Plant Heritage.