Article by Bisi Adekunle of Gillingham & Shaftesbury LETS
On Sunday 2nd November 2008 (10 am until 1pm), I got myself up early, dashed round the hens, glasshouse, Giant African Land snails (GALs) and tipped the dog out. Then I went to a seed swap meeting organised by Melbury Abbas & Cann Village Produce Association at Melbury Abbas & Cann Village Hall, Melbury Abbas, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 0DA.
The Seed Swap is an annual event sponsored by The National Heritage Seed Library (www.gardenorganic.org.uk), Dorset Food Week (www.dorsetfoodweek.co.uk), The National Vegetable Society (Dorset District Association www.nvsuk.org.uk and others. The event advertised through my local Gillingham & Shaftesbury LETS group suggested free seeds, opportunities to swap and buy additional and specialist seeds, interesting presentations, information and selected trade stands.
I arrived at 11am and made a right hash of checking in. For some reason, I expected there would be ‘hand to hand’ trading with individual swaps. But in fact as well as 5 selected ‘trade’ and other stands, the approach for the swap bit was to exchange your packet of seed at the front desk on entry, in return for a blue token, which could then be exchanged for any packet of seeds found by riffling through various boxes at the seed swap desk. I must confess, this did send me into a flurry. All my seeds were dry, clean and labelled, but they were lumped together in 5 large brown bags. I couldn’t exchange 5 tokens for my mountain of seed! Feeling very mean, I slunk away to decant seed into smaller compartments.
By the time I sorted myself out, the car park was overflowing and the small hall was full of people ducking and diving, bobbing up and down and squeezing through. It was all very jolly but plainly, this was serious shopping at hand. My shopping gene kicked in. As I riffled through the swap boxes labelled ‘spring flowers’, ‘legumes’, ‘lettuce’ etc, filled with packets of various sizes and colours all duly labelled, some with detailed descriptions, some with enticing photographs of produce. There were tons and tons of runner bean seed packets, but some unusual varieties of lettuce including one called Northern Queen and kale. I won’t tell you how many times I went through the swap boxes, only that I kept going back for more and only just stopped myself exchanging actual money for swap seed! Restraint, but only because I knew I couldn’t leave without visiting the trade stands and that would certainly require cold hard cash… Mercifully, I had only put a £20 note in my purse.
The trade stands were extremely high quality and I was impressed.
Beans and Herbs at The Herbary, 161 Chapel Street, Horningsham, Wiltshire BA12 7LU 01985 844442 www.beansandherbs.co.uk, Email: Infor@beansandherbs.co.uk. (Send first class SAE for catalogue). They supply seed all year by mail order and a large variety of herbs in pots, grown with no artificial fertilisers or pesticides. Their nursery is open May – August by appointment only.
I am afraid to say I was too shy to ask her name directly, but she was wonderfully knowledgeable and very helpful. I explained I was a struggling smallholder about to start season two but needed to refine my growing activities – essentially, cut out seed sowing at home and buy in a mix of healthy plug plants for growing on. I have decided my USP (‘unique selling point’!) are my recipes for mixing salad bags combing the usual suspects with wild flowers or plants, seeds, sprouts etc. As I discovered in my first season, I don’t really have the space or equipment to take on the entire seed to plate process successfully. After a wonderful discussion on the finer points of New Zealand spinach as a fresh salad crop, she gave me a tip for a plant nursery just inside Devon who may be able to help with supplying smaller quantities of plug plants. The lot of the smallholder these days I’m afraid. There are very few suppliers who can deal in the modest quantities smallholders need, be it hens or veg. Happily, with her, I also found two new fast grow varieties to try immediately for the salad bags which are now getting a bit thin.
CELTUCE is known mainly for the crunchy stem for eating raw or stir-fried. Known also as Chinese Asparagus or Stem Lettuce. Four times the vitamin C content of usual lettuce.
TEXEL GREENS produce an abundance of ‘greens’ for salads or stir-frying. Highly nutritious and drought tolerant plants that grow very fast and are suitable for success ional sowing. Harvest at 15cm. Crop ready after 6 weeks.
At the Pennard Plants stall, (The Walled Gardens, East Pennard, Somerset, BA4 6TU. www.penardplants.com Email: sales@pennardplants.com Tel 01749 860039), I picked up a pint of tiny lovely golden onions for immediate sowing. At their walled garden in Somerset, they offer an array of plants from the southern hemisphere; South African rarities including a collection of agapanthus, Eucomis and other weird and wonderful varieties, plus an ever increasing range of vegetable seed. Nurseryman Chris Smith can also be booked for talks and there is a program of very reasonably priced lectures / courses on various topics (see website) held at the nursery or in a hall close by right through to October 2009.
Of particular note, I picked up a list of Potato Events in 2009 with a seed swap. There were five listed next year! So if you missed the last seed swap, now is your chance, get a date in your diary for 2009.
Swindon Sat Jan 31 All Saints Hall, Southbrook street, 11am – 3pm
Shepton Mallet Sat Feb 7 Pylle Church Hall (A37), Pylle, Somerset, 10.30am – 3.30pm
Beaminster Sat Feb 14 Drimpton Village Hall, Drimpton, 10.30am – 3.30pm
Bridgewater Sat Feb 21 Holford Village Hall (A39) Nr Bridgewater, 10.30am -3.30pm
Warminster Sat Mar 14 Codford Village Hall (off A36) Codford, 10.30am – 3.30pm
Further details from Pennard Plants 01749 860039.
The meetings are primarily potato events but are listed as incorporating a seed swap, sale of potatoes by single tuber (80 varieties), onion sets, shallots, heritage seeds, rhubarb etc. Refreshments are available at all venues.
This year’s swap is only the second organised and featured local food producers with fresh pressed apple juice and local honey. So were delicious refreshments and a sort of café arrangement at one end of the hall, obviously somewhere to sit and contemplate the fray. This was the domain of mini summits, talks and referrals to better experience.
Another titbit I picked up… If you come across any of the following varieties of veg, sow abundantly, share with your neighbours and save seed as they are on the ‘save list’ at the Heritage Seed Library. Endangered varieties: Cabbage – Paddy, Cauliflower – St George, Kale – Uncle Bert’s purple, Squash – Maltese marrow, Carrot – John’s Purple, Cucumber – Boothby’s Blond, Lettuce – Northern Queen, Tomato – Mortgage Lifter!
Seed Guardians. I had never heard of a Seed Guardian before. Seed guardians are Heritage Seed Library (HSL) members who agree to raise seed of a chosen variety or varieties. Guardians process and clean this seed and return it to the HSL to send out to other members through the catalogue. Simple but brilliant. Seed Guardians also fill in a report form recording the performance of the crop in that season. HSL send out their Orphans List in March from which potential guardians can choose up to three varieties. Some varities are fairly easy to save seed from, but some vegetables are more difficult to save than others, for example, those that cross pollinate and will need isolating to ensure they remain pure and true to type. Email: hal@hdra.org.uk
As I left grinning from ear to ear with my basket full of booty and an empty purse, I thought… I guess the trick is to arrive on time with a wish list and stick to it when faced with the enticing confections in the swap boxes! A break for a cup of coffee always refreshes pace and a calmer return to the swap boxes (also refreshed by new arrivals) does yield dividends, then once round the trade stalls, I said once…
