Preserving our floral heritage for future

Preserving our floral heritage for future

7 October 2015

WHILE most of us take the plants and flowers in our gardens for granted, one local charity is busy trying to preserve them for future generations.

Species from the humble bluebell to shoreline sea kale are at risk of extinction, so Strangford-based True Harvest Seeds is creating a ‘Noah’s Ark’ style collection — preserving Ireland’s native plant species by saving their seed.

With increasing threats from declines in habitat, climate change, changes in farming and industrial practices, the aim is that a complete range of species will be preserved for present and future generations.

Passionate conservationists Debbie Gillies and Katie Laurence are two of the people behind the project, which was set up two years ago and is now looking to work with local schools.

They understand many people tend to think of seeds as coming in packets from garden centres and supermarkets instead of from plants which naturally eventually ‘go to seed’.

But they hope a new free Seed Saving Kit for local schools, put together with the help of Newry Mourne and Down Council, will help encourage a back to basics approach.

“The aim is to educate, the other objective is to collect wild seed,” said Debbie.

“Children can learn how to grow some of their vegetables for seed, save the seed over winter and then plant them the next spring, and so completing the cycle of life.

“Seed saving is a skill our forefathers, grandfathers and grandmothers would have grown up with, yet in the present upcoming generation it seems to have slipped out of general knowledge and a reliance on imported seed sprung up in its stead.”

Wild flora, open pollinated fruit and vegetable varieties, industrial crops, trees and shrubs are all on the to be saved list.

With the help of Awards for All the charity has created a 16 feet by 8 feet seed processing lab, where collected seeds are threshed, cleaned and dried down to 15 per cent relative humidity to be stored at minus 20 degrees. In these conditions they can survive for a remarkable 200 years.

They also have a two acre production unit at Kilclief to grow small collections or endangered species to bulk up collections out of their natural environment.

Charity chief executive Debbie, who has also been an organic farmer, met Katie at the “inspirational” Murlough 10 years ago, where their mutual love of all things conservation was clear.

Katie, originally from Liverpool, studied Zoology and now lives in Dundrum.

“In childhood I loved my time around the garden,” she said. “I was always picking up creepy-crawlies and saying ‘what’s this?’. I spent a lot of time in Wales walking around, stopping at every little plant asking what it was.”

Debbie’s love of all things nature was also clearly embedded at an early age.

“Once there was a wasp which flew at my mum, and while she was screaming I picked it up and brought it into the house. My grandfather also had a great house in Dundrum and we went walking 

about Murlough looking at all the plants. 

“He was a great amateur naturalist. He knew all the plants and he would tell me all about them.”

True Harvest Seeds is also made up of directors Mark Bryson, Julia Cross and Becky Knight.

The charity’s Seed Saving Kits are currently available free to community groups or local schools.

There are 30 kits available on a first come first served basis, with several requests already made. To apply email info@trueharvestseeds.co.uk. 

For more information telephone Debbie at 07516 264888 or visit www.trueharvestseeds.co.uk