Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2010 | Page 98
gardening
Island Life - August/September 2010
Tina trained as a professional gardener after leaving
school and spent a summer working in Tuscany as
an English Gardener. She has a National Diploma in
Horticulture.
Be your
own seed bank
Tina Hughes
If you have a question for Tina need some advice or even a
suggestion for an article then please email:
[email protected]
Despite my efforts to hold on to summer,
Verbena bonariensis, winter flowering
autumn is on it's way and I am turning my
hellebores and a gorgeous perennial poppy,
thoughts to the future. Once an essential
Papavier orientalis 'Patty's Plum' that I have
habit, and still a valuable practice for
grown for the first time this year.
enterprising gardeners today is to save seeds.
Another good reason to collect seeds is so
There used to be no alternative, especially
that you can exchange them with friends.
for vegetables, which is how the glorious
If you have specialised interests such as
diversity of heritage varieties developed.
heritage vegetables, sharing your seeds
There is a lot to be said for the reliability,
with members of groups or societies is an
and disease resistance of modern F1 hybrids,
excellent way to acquire interesting and
but saving seeds from crops that have been
unusual seeds from varieties not available
successful in our own gardens offers an
from the shops.
extra benefit because over time they become
uniquely suited to our individual tastes, and
prevailing local conditions. This is also a
way to ensure we maintain a good range of
genetic diversity in our garden plants and
crops.
Saving seed from annual and perennial
ornamental plants is a form of insurance.
It is also an interesting venture into plant
breeding as you cannot precisely predict the
outcome. I save seeds from annual poppies
and Aquelegias which seem to produce a
wide range of variations, I choose seed from
the plants with the shapes and colours that I
like best. This year I am also making a point
of saving seed from the lovely perennial
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