Situated at Wakehurst Place in West Sussex, the Millennium Seed Bank is the largest seed bank in the world. Its ultimate aim is to store every plant species possible. It focuses on storing seed that is endangered, used by local people, or not found anywhere else.
The HSL is a collection of over 800 vegetable varieties, founded and run by national charity, Garden Organic. They are the UK’s only living seed library. The collection consists mainly of heirloom varieties that have been saved over many generations, ex-commercial varieties, and landrace varieties that are adapted to specific growing conditions.
The Seed Savers Co-operative grow seed in Suffolk and Yorkshire and are in the early stages of building a network of biodynamic and organic seed growers across the country. They work in three main areas: breeding new strains of open pollinated plants; producing certified biodynamic and organic seed; and sharing knowledge and skills about seed saving, plant breeding and the importance of seed and food sovereignty.
A family-run business that has been producing open-pollinated seeds for sixteen years. One of the main aims of the company is to educate and encourage home seed saving. They provide comprehensive seed-saving guides on their website, and also sell a more detailed seed-saving book at a subsidised price.
Other community seed projects
- Sussex Community Seed Bank. Launched in Spring 2013, this group of growers save and exchange vegetable seeds and have also set up a website with instructions on saving, cleaning and drying seed
- South West Seed Savers Co-operative. Launched in 2014, the network aims to build a community of growers across the region who save and share high quality, locally adapted seeds
- Shetland Seed Library. Launched in March 2015.
