Students join seed saviours
18 January 2010
Nottingham Trent University has become the first university to act as a 'seed guardian', growing and collecting the seed of heirloom vegetable varieties for Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library (HSL) to prevent them being lost to cultivation.
The university has added two extremely rare vegetable varieties to the many older types of vegetable already grown by staff and students in its Victorian walled garden. The Majorcan pea bean is one of the earliest beans ever cultivated in Europe, described by lecturer Caroline Wright as 'a beautiful little bean – a bit like a borlotti with a distinct yin-yang marking'. The Sutton Harbinger pea dates back to 1898 and crops well even in heavy soils. Seeds of both are being saved and passed back to the HSL for redistribution.
There are about 300 seed guardians all over the country, including individuals, prisons and schools, who take on the responsibility of preserving old varieties which are then offered through the HSL seed catalogue. Many heirloom vegetables, such as the crimson-flowered broad bean and the runner bean 'Painted Lady', have returned from near-oblivion to renewed popularity as a result of their work.
The HSL is keen to encourage universities to step forward, as they tend to be open during the summer months when crops need tending.
“We're always interested in developing educational resources,” said Neil Munro, who runs the HSL. “About 40,000 packets of seed – that's 40 per cent of what goes in our catalogue – is provided by seed guardians. We couldn't manage without them.”
Nottingham Trent University will be using its unusual charges as a teaching resource and for student research projects, and hopes to add more varieties to its seed-saving programme in the coming years.
More on Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library
More on Nottingham Trent University becoming seed guardians