Aidan Heavey Athlone Library and LWETB are delighted to announce the launch of our joint ALL Collaboration & Innovation project Save Our Seeds - Seed Library Initiative.
The SOS seed library is a collection of open-pollinated heirloom seeds that are available for our library members to borrow. We hope that people from throughout our local community will avail of this wonderful opportunity to sow, grow, and harvest a sustainable resource. Our expectation is that our local gardeners will borrow our seeds, plant them, harvest some seeds from their crop and then return them to the seed library. We also happily accept donations of seeds which are clearly labelled. Through this project we hope to create a self-sustaining seed bank which will act as a renewable community resource and enable participants to grow their own healthy food and learn the art of saving seed.
This fantastic project is building on the success of the LWETB’s existing PIP Programme.
We would like to thank the wonderful Friary Gardening Group and the participants of Anna Browne’s Seed Saving Workshop for helping us prepare and expand on our seed collection.
Seed List - Seeds are available to pickup, while stocks last, from the Aidan Heavey Library, Athlone. Limited to 3 packets per person.
- Suzan Lettuce
It is described as a spring/summer sown type, but we sowed in early autumn and it
grew fine and healthy under cover.
- Grandpa Admires Lettuce
Grows well even in poor weather
- Tat Soi Pac Choi
Its long, deep-green leaves and juicy white stems add their fresh taste to salads and stir-fries.
- Mizuna greens
A Japanese green that grows as a large rosette of finely lobed leaves, crisp with a characteristic peppery flavour. To have a continuous supply of young leaves keep cutting regularly. Can be used to spice up a salad or be used in stir fry.
- Salad Rocket
Best grown in cool conditions so as to avoid bolting. The edible flowers are also incredibly beautiful, having the appearance of delicate, creamy white stars with purple veins.
- Midnight Madness Chard
Gorgeous deep burgundy leaves and deep purple and orange stalks are plentiful throughout the growing season.
- Yerevan Parsley
Flat-leaved, with great flavour and large clumps. We grew the plants outside and were able to harvest leaves from this hardy variety all through winter.
- Sweet Mona's Dill
This lovely herb produces clear lemon-yellow flower heads, which are highly attractive to insects. It is very easy to grow, and its fern-like, aromatic leaves are perfect for salads, with fish, pickles and sauces. The seeds can also be harvested and used for flavouring, particularly along with gherkins.
- Claytonia/Winter Purslane
The leaves and stems are both edible and have a refreshingly mild flavour. Small, pretty edible flowers develop in the middle of the disk-shaped succulent leaves. Can be harvested on a cut and come again basis. Self-seeds easily.
- Bright Lights Chard
The leaves can be harvested from mid-summer to late autumn, and the plants can even be overwintered to provide a fresh crop in the spring.
- Thousand Headed Kale
Growing as large as 1m high, this is an easy-to-grow, plain-leaf kale with wide spreading foliage. Particularly suited to our climate, this reliable kale is hardy and very tolerant of poor soils.
- Haldenstein Spinach
the leaves are large and mild with a wonderful nutty flavor. The seeds are quite distinctive in that they are almost triangular and pointed compared with the clusters of round seeds one would expect.
- Blue Curled Scotch Kale
It is compact and very cold-hardy. Commonly eaten boiled as greens, it can also be chopped fresh for salads when young
- Martock Broad Bean
It is an attractive plant, with lovely purple/maroon mottled flowers. The pods of the beans are small but extremely numerous, containing small, brown, meaty, delicious beans, used fresh or kept for drying.
- China Rose Radish
Perfect for autumn planting, the long, cylindrical, tapering roots reach 15-20cm in length and 5cm in diameter. The skin is a beautiful rose colour, with white tips and firm white flesh. These spicy, peppery roots are delicious when cooked up, or even sliced and eaten raw. A very good variety for storage.
- Virginia Spinach
As with most spinach, you’ll get better results if you sow in autumn as this crop tends to bolt in warm weather.
- Malselvnepe Turnip
hardy variety, well suited to growing in northern climates. The squat, medium-sized turnips are pale yellow in colour, and have an excellent flavour.
- Western Perfection Turnip
A round, medium sized swede turnip with purple/magenta skin and delicious golden flesh. Good disease resistance and very hardy even in exposed locations.
- White Egg Turnip
These are quick growing pure white, summer season turnips, mild-flavoured, pulled and eaten straight away when small. Left in the ground they swell very rapidly but are quite delicious roasted at this stage. Sow successionally from early spring to summer either direct or transplanted from modules.
- Confetti Coriander
This is a unique variety with fine, feathery bright green foliage. It gives all the distinctive taste and aroma of coriander with an especially sweet fragrance. The leaves can be used in soups and salads, and the mature seeds can be saved as a spice.
- Shinkinu Onion
The big, delicious, golden bulbs of this variety store exceptionally well, up to a year. Perfect for roasting and soups.
- Land Cress
They thrive in the summer and autumn, but will also happily carry on throughout winter due to their cold tolerance. It’s surprising this delicious, peppery plant isn’t grown more widely!
