The seed of a great idea

06/11/2007

 I am lucky enough to have two gardens to cultivate. One is here at home, and the other is where I work.

The one at home is mine entirely to manage, naturally enough as ‘im indoors is not allowed to have thoughts on matters gardening. At the moment quite frankly it needs taking in hand… the garden, not ‘im indoors. The other one, the one where I work, is neat and tidy because there are many hands to share the work. Hands that ensure jobs are carried out as and when they need to be done.

The potatoes get dug up, beans picked, onions lifted and dried, flowers dead headed and so on and so forth. There is a drawback as being too attentive could lead to a somewhat sterile garden because very few flowering plants would be left long enough to self-seed. Unlike my own garden, which is simply awash with self-seeding flowers that have sprung up in quite inappropriate places.

Seeds are one of the best giveaways a garden can provide - hundreds of seeds just waiting to be collected. Not many people bother to make the effort though, even though collecting seeds is quite simple. It is just a matter of selecting flowers that have died and have dried on the stem.
Pick the flower carefully and have a paper envelope open at the ready to receive the seeds. Gently shake the flower into the envelope - the seeds should fall from the flower easily. Label and seal the envelope and store it in a dry place ready to sow next spring.

Take a walk around your garden with a supply of envelopes or increase the variety of flowers in your garden by teaming up with a friend or neighbour and walk around each other’s gardens. This is the thing about keen gardeners: they are more than happy to swap seeds and cuttings. Maybe you could get together with a group of friends and arrange a day to visit each other's gardens for a seed collecting day. Or gather several envelopes of seed from your own garden and have a seed-swapping day with your gardening friends. Many horticultural clubs and societies also have free seed exchange days.

An alternative source for us silver surfers is the internet. Google “free seeds” and you'll see what I mean. You’ll find several offers of free seeds, including – to put it delicately – free seeds for recreational plants, although I wouldn’t recommend that you attempt to cultivate these. They take far too much effort.

Some of the larger estates and gardens around the country encourage seed collection and many host seed collection days. Local to where I live and work is Hestercombe House, which has two seed collection days per annum. Unfortunately we have just missed one of its days but the other is on Monday 15th October. All you need is a supply of envelopes and a pencil and you can enjoy a stroll around this lovely garden with free seeds into the bargain.

Of course you will have to pay the entrance fee to the garden, but there will be horticulturally trained staff on hand to give advice on the cultivation of the seeds. And you can collect as many seeds as you can carry. Not very taxing work, you’ll agree, but then you will have to sow, water, prick out, pot on and plant out the little blighters later on.

So, you will have to put in a little effort to get your seeds; but as they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch.