Our first seed saver meeting for 2018 arrived at long last. We had 33 at Seed Savers including 1 child and 4 visitors.
With an empty nursery we were busy planting seeds. We planted 50 varieties of seeds this month. These were amaranth, 3 types of beetroot, bok choy, 3 types of broccoli, broad beans, broccolini, brussel sprouts, 5 types of cabbage, 2 types of cauliflower, chard, coriander, cosmos, fennel, 5 types of kale, 2 types of leek, 4 types of lettuce, marigolds, mesculan, mitsuba, mizuna, mustard, onion, parsley, rocket, salsify, shallots, silverbeet, spinach, sugarbeet, swede, 2 types of turnip & wasabi. We also propagated goji berries.
The other half of our morning was spent cleaning harvested seeds. We cleaned 7 varieties: 2 types of artichokes, beans, broccoli, coriander, sunflowers and turnips.
We also received 16 varieties of seeds donated from members’ gardens to help build our seed bank.
15 varieties were sent home with members for direct planting:
- Beetroot – SugarbeetBroad Bean – Aquadulce
- Carrot – All SeasonsCarrot – Atomic Red
- Carrot – Dragon (purple outer & red inner)
- Carrot – Nantes
- Parsnip – Hollow Crown
- Radish – Champion Red
- Radish – Daikon
- Snowpea – Yakuma
- Sweet Peas – Amazing Grace (White)
- Sweet Peas – Blue Heaven (True Blue)
- Sweet Peas – Dream Lover (Mauve-Pink)
- Sweet Peas – Moon Dance (Mauve)
- Sweet Peas – Now or Never (Cerise/Pink)
Seed Savers meets 9am-1pm on the 4th Saturday of each month at Bidjiwong Community Nursery, Baulkham Hills. All welcome, with free seedlings to take home each month. You are welcome to attend 1 meeting to see if this group suits you, if so you can become a single member for $25, or family member for $30 a year. Becoming a member is for the purpose of insurance cover and venue hire when you do any activities with us. Children from 8 years are welcome at Seed Savers.
Happy Gardening!
Penny Janson