I have been involved with Southern Seed Exchange since early 1993, first as a member and more recently as Treasurer and Trustee.

I have long been fascinated by seeds and how they stored information to produce, depending on the seed, an onion or an oak tree.

Plants had developed in different parts of the world and adapted to the conditions which is why citrus does not do well in Southland and swedes do not produce well in Northland. However, as far as I am aware the seeds available commercially are grown overseas and imported, so do not necessarily suit the conditions you want to grow them in. Even if the seeds were grown in New Zealand they also may not suit your conditions.

Originally seeds were saved by gardeners and farmers for their own use over generations. Seeds would be saved from the best plants, each year, so therefore grew well in the local conditions. Small seed growing companies were started to supply seeds locally. Gradually these small companies were taken over by larger companies and so the local connection was lost. The companies wanted seeds for commercial growing that would produce a uniform product, ie regular shape, size and colour that would look appealing on supermarket shelves for as long as possible and would not be damaged in transportation. Flavour was not a big consideration. It is estimated that 90% of seed varieties have been lost in the last 120 years.

To help slow this loss Southern Seed Exchange was started in 1992 so that seeds of varieties of plants which have been grown by home gardeners over a number of years could be made available to other gardeners. Some seeds come with a story eg Bob’s beans, and some have been bred by home gardeners eg Philip Lane stringless bean.

To obtain access to these seeds, and supporting the principle of preserving as many varieties of seeds as possible is the reason I joined the Southern Seed Exchange.