IRISH SEED SAVERSSeed Catalogue

2020

American Flag Leek

ElephantAmaranth

LimburgYellow

MorningGlory Sunflower Gortahork

CabbageBlanche de

Virginie

AustralianBlue

Gene Bank Marrow

EveningPrimrose

Grandpa Admires Lettuce

Sweet William Old Flame Lily WhiteSea Kale Linseed

Frise Vert Fonce Parsley

Lucullus Chard

GilGil SeedCoriander

SlovenianMarket

Caro RichTomato

CONTENTSOnions & Leeks - Alliaceae Family

Cabbage, Kale, Brussel Sprouts, Sea Kale, Cauliflower,

Swede, Turnip, Radish - Brassicaceae Family

Beetroot, Chard, Spinach, Quinoa - Chenopodiaceae Family

Lettuce, Salsify - Compositae Family

Cucumber, Courgette, Melon, Squash, Pumpkin -

Cucurbitaceae Family

Oats, Sweetcorn - Gramineae Family

Broad Beans, French Beans, Runner Beans, Peas -

Leguminoseae Family

Asparagus - Liliaceae Family

Linseed / Flax - Linaceae Family

Pepper, Chilli Pepper, Tomato, Cape Gooseberry -

Solanaceae Family

Carrot, Parsnip, Celeriac, Celery, Root Parsley -

Umbelliferae Family

Salad Leaves & Greens

Herbs

Flowers & Fruit

Vegetable & Herb Seeds €2.95 & Flower Seeds €3.25

4-6

6-11

12-14

15-16

16-20

20

21-28

28

29

29-34

35-37

37-38

39-40

40-42

Irish Seed Savers, Capparoe, Scariff, Co. Clarewww.irishseedsavers.ie . info@irishseedsavers.ie . 061-921866

SEED LIST SPRING 2020Welcome to our 2020 catalogue packed with seeds that are all grown in Ireland.We continue with growing and saving as many heritage and open pollinated vegetable varieties as possible and hope this is reflected in the choices available to you. Several varieties are only for supporters until the order closing date of April 3rd 2020.

Making the choice yourselves to save seed of even one of these varieties is a step towards independence and control over your own food source, as well as helping these crops to adapt to your own environmental conditions and a contribution towards the conservation of diversity for the future.

Our objective is to preserve Ireland’s rich food crop heritage by conserving rare varieties of vegetables, grains and heritage apple trees, suitable for our climate and soil.

We connect with communities throughout Ireland to encourage and share our skills to pro-vide awareness, education and on-site opportunities to teach the importance of self-suffi-ciency, seed sovereignty programme and protecting our environment

This knowledge and seed base means that Ireland continues to have some control over its future food security in times of continuing industrialisation of food and diminishing resources worldwide.

To date, we have saved and researched over 600 varieties of organic, open pollinated heritage seeds - some even from extinction, which are housed in our purpose built living seed bank. Through this catalogue we hope to give you a taste of some of the heritage varieties we have saved to date.

All our seed is Open Pollinated, grown in Ireland in accordance with organic principles, although some of our seed growers are small scale so do not have official organic certifi-cation. Those varieties that are certified organic have C.O. by the name.

It brings great pleasure when filling out orders, to read your gardening news and tips, how different crops grew in different places, recipes or stories, and for us makes contact with you that little bit more real and personal. So if you have time please put pen to paper or finger to keyboard.

A thousand thanks for continuing to support us and believing in the importance of this work for the next generations.

As an Indian proverb tells; ‘All the food, the flowers, the life for tomorrow is held in the seed of today’

1

STAFF AND VOLUNTEER CROP PICKS

Deirdre: Sugar Snap PeasSo sweet, tasty, crunchy and very healthy looking.

Jason: Common CabbageThe sheer size and beauty, amazing... plus all that food!

Barry: Suzan lettuceUtterly gorgeous.

Felice: Morning GlorySuch beautiful flowers.

Jen: Tommy Toe TomatoI liked the succulent taste, so good in salad and very productive.

Marrianne: Londonderry broad BeanSweet, nutty flavour and grew well even from old seed, kept long past the sell by date.

Gemma: Red venture CeleryMy children adored it and Gabacho Negro tomato a big hit.

Tristan: Wintercrop LeeksWatching them flower, loved the seed head, so striking with the black seed inside the seed pods, as good as ornamental alliums for beauty.

Jo: Malinowy TomatoBlown away by the utter deliciousness of this tomato, every bit as tasty as Brandy-wine, but much easier to grow!

Tansy: Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) I love these beautiful oriental looking fruits. They have a shiny wax like surface, and when you bit into the fruit it has a texture not unlike a firm tomato with the flesh and seeds, but the taste is a sweet taste with a sour aftertaste similar to fresh cranberries. These wonderful little fruit are high in Vitamin C and Vitamin A.

2

3

DATES TO REMEMBER FOR 2020Community Seed Exchange - Sunday, 1st March 2 - 4pmBring your extra seeds to share on the day, and take home some seeds to plan your garden for the year.

Community Plant Exchange - Sunday, 17th May 2 - 4pmBring your surplus seeds, plants, seedlings and shrubs to share. Meet our team of experts to learn how your support helps protect Ireland’s collection of rare and heritage food seeds and fruit trees.

The Great Irish Garden - Sunday, July 5th - time tbcA day dedicated to showcasing the wonderful heritage seed gardens in full bloom at Irish Seed Savers. Along with garden tours, childrens activities, refreshments, including Irish Seed Savers own organic apple juice, will be available on the day. This event is a great learning, fun and interactive event, connecting all to the won-ders of our own natural heritage on the doorstop of East Clare.

Heritage Tour - Tuesday, 18th August - time tbcAs part of National Heritage Week we will be giving tours of our heritage seed gardens and orchards.

Apple Day - Sunday, September 14th - time tbcA day dedicated to showcasing the heritage Irish apple tree collection. Along with orchard tours, childrens activities, refreshments, including Irish Seed Savers own organic apple juice, will be available on the day.

Please follow us on social media, sign-up to our ezene or check our website for more information on events and tours.

www.irishseedsavers.ie . info@irishseedsavers.ie . 061-921866

ONIONS & LEEKS ALLIACEAE FAMILY

Onions (Allium cepa)Note: To grow onions from seed: Sow in trays/modules under cover in February. Plant out seedlings approx 15cm apart in April into really moist soil (water well if dry). Onions need to have plenty of green leaf growth by solstice, when the change in daylight starts the pro-cess of swelling the bulb. Harvest when tops have started to die back in August.

Buan – CO This is a true native Irish onion bred by Barnie Crombie who was still doing on-ion trials up until the 1980’s when he passed on. However, he had sent seed to the Russian and English gene banks from which Irish Seed Savers Associ-ation received seed and we have been growing and saving this unique vari-ety since. It has performed extremely well in the most adverse conditions for ‘good quality onions’, i.e. an average Irish summer. The name comes from old Irish, ‘Long life’, and it is indeed a really good white fleshed storage bulb, often not sprouting until summer the following season.

James long keeping - CO This is one of the most “asked about” crop varieties that we have. The RHS of 1819 states ‘Well known sort raised by market gardener of the name James several years ago”. Dropped from the national list in 1993 in Britain, this wonderful onion has good flavour me-dium size red/brown bulbs and as the name suggests, is an excellent keeper. Amazing to see its still popular after 200 years.

Paille Des Vertus - COThis variety is a French heirloom also known as ‘Brown Spanish’, a standard variety in Europe for over 200 years. It was said by ‘Vilmorin in 1855 in his famous book ‘Les Plantes Potageres’, ‘That the winter supply of onions for Paris and Europe consists chiefly of this variety’. Now it is rare and very hard to find. The onion is a productive ear-ly cropper with flat bulbs up to 10cm across, Full of flavour, brown/copper skin and keeps well.

Up to date - CO This onion goes back 80 years, once a commercial registered variety but hard to find now, the Up to date onion has good resistance to the disease white rot. A yel-low skinned variety good all round and excellent for storage.

4Buan Onion Up to Date

Stamme Gold (globe selection) - COSUPPORTERS ONLY ‘Stamme’ is an old variety from Norway and the word itself translates as, ‘tribe, trunk, sense of belonging, strength, root-edness’. We got the original seed from a gene bank and found the variety to be of mixed types but grows’ well in our short, cool summer. We have gradually been selecting different strains from the original and this is one with gold globe shaped bulbs. You may find a few that display other traits like slightly red skin or flesh or more flattened bulbs, but you could also start your own Stamme adapted line.

Red onion Wiener Rote - COSUPPORTERS ONLYThis is a variety from Arche Noah, seed savers in Austria with dark red flat rounded bulbs and grows well.

Overwintering VarietiesNote; These are best sown in late July/August in trays and planted out as seed-lings September/October. These onions produce really well in a cool tunnel, start harvesting as fresh scallions in April, leaving remainder to mature into big bulbs by late June.

Sendai Ki Tamanegi - CO Tamanegi is in fact the Japanese word for onion. This great variety came from the open pollinated small seed compa-ny visited by one of our staff in Japan. Grows lovely large bulbs from a late summer sowing and also stores well.

Bunching onions (Allium fistulosum)Evergreen SUPPORTERS ONLYThis an easy to grow perennial onion that forms a clump of lush green stems much like scallions and never forms a bulb. Sometimes known as a ‘Welsh onion’. To harvest you just keep cutting the stems to use

Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum)Note: Leeks need a long growing sea-son, we usually sow them in trays under cover in February, ready for planting outdoors in their final bed by the end of April or early May by which time the seedlings are quite sturdy. If you have a polytunnel, a side bed can be used as a direct sown seedling bed. When trans-planting use a dibber to create a good long planting hole 15cm apart and make sure the soil is very moist, soak before planting if dry.

American Flag/Giant Musselburgh - COThis variety is also known as ‘Scotch flag’, nothing to do with patriotic senti-ment the term flag is an old reference to plants with sword-like foliage as have leeks. This vari-ety remains pop-ular, going back as far as 1870. Broad, green leaves and good thick stalks with mild and tender flavour.

5

American Flag

Blue Green Winter - CO SUPPORTERS ONLYContinental heirloom, very hardy win-ter leek with upright, attractive blue/green leaves.

King Richard - COAn early maturing leek which we found also overwinters here in mild Ireland Noteworthy long shanks, white/pale green with excellent flavour. Support-er Niki Griffin commented, ‘they were still standing in March with no rust and good flavour’

Lyon - CO A classic Leek, also known as Prize-taker dating back to 1886 from the UK. Uniform, long white thick stems of mild flavour. Very cold-hardy, will stand well all winter Great for showing in competitions as they form the perfect leek.

Monstrueux D’Elbeuf - COA traditional French cultivar grown in the alluvial plains of the Seine in Nor-

mandy. It has short, chunky stems and lovely bright green foli-age, good for autumn and winter har-vesting.

6

CABBAGE, KALE, BRUSSEL SPROUTS, SEA KALE, CAULIFLOWER, SWEDE, TURNIP, RADISHBRASSICACEAE FAMILY

Cabbage(Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

Flat Dutch (Common) - CO A selection from the native Irish on-farm collection of seed; these big white/green heads of flat dutch cabbage were often locally just called plain ‘Common cabbage’. They are big heads that stand well through the winter and also good for making fermented cabbage.

Gortahork - COThis variety has been maintained by three generations of the Sweeney fam-ily from Gortahork village in Donegal, the original seed was brought back from Scotland by Owen Sweeney in 1910 and saved ever since. A distinct landrace, large drumhead winter hardy cabbage with excellent flavour.

Flat Dutch

Monstrueux D’Elbeuf

Irish Savoy Drumhead - COBeautiful dark green savoy heads of medium size cabbage that are winter hardy, grown out from the native Irish collection.

Paddy’s Cabbage - COAn heirloom developed by an Irish allot-ment holder who then shared seed with his allotment neighbours. The variety is spring sown for use from late summer onwards, a vigorous grower produc-ing large heads, good and crunchy and standing well into winter. Mona, a lo-cal market gardener and seed guardian, grew this one for seed and was very im-pressed with it and is going to continue growing the cabbage for sale.

Shetland Cabbage/Kale This is the oldest known local vegetable variety in Scotland, grown on the Shet-land Isles possibly since the 1500’s. The heads are quite open, the green leaves tinged a beautiful pink-purple, deep-ening as winter progresses. The out-er dropped leaves where traditionally used as animal feed. Due to the extreme weather on the Shetlands, the cabbage seeds used to be planted in “Plantie Crubs”, small circular stone walled en-closures before transplanting into larg-er fields also enclosed in stone walls. This rare cabbage grew beautifully on a windy hillside in Clare, hardy right through the winter, the cabbage itself has a distinctive peppery taste that was once a prized ingredient of mutton stew on the Northern Isles.

Spring Cabbage - CO From our native Irish collection, these particular Spring cabbages were grown and collected in and around Cork city. Lush tender greens and small pointed heads all through spring. Will produce even in hard winters.

Note: Sow Spring cabbage end of July/ beginning August for the following Spring in modules and plant out trans-plants 4-6 weeks later 30-40cm apart. Spring Cabbages were traditionally grown where early potatoes had been dug.

Cut-n-Come Cabbage(B. Oleracea var. acephala)Crops that are primarily for winter use, we sow in early summer. This spreads both the work and propagating space. Hardy crops like kale/swede can be sown outdoors. We use module trays and transplant; but you can also direct sow, though crops are then more vulner-able to slugs. For baby leaves for salads they can be sown up until September.

Delaway Cabbage - CO A popular native Irish cut ‘n’ come cabbage with great resilience even in difficult growing conditions like wa-terlogged soil or exposed places. it provides delicious purple/green tender crinkled leaves that can be picked for several months and go on producing more. Lovely addition to the winter garden.

7

Dunbard Standard Spring Greens - CO These are lovely strong plants with large luscious dark green leaves that can be picked from summer to late the following Spring. So sweet and tender they can even be used raw.

Winter Greens Mix A mix of different varieties of kale, cut and come greens and mustard leaves that can be sown often and used when small for baby leaf tangy salad leaves or thinned out and left to mature for de-licious, nutritious winter greens.

Kale

Red Russian Very tender and mild, a pre 1885 heir-loom variety. Big oak shaped leaves can have a red tinge especially after frost, very tender with great flavour.

Siberian - CO Compact plants with lots of tender curled green leaves that keep going all winter. One of the hardiest kales, leaves sweetening after frost. Grown by Jason, market gardener and seed guardian,who

said customers found it very tasty and he could barely keep up with demand at the market.

Thousand Headed - COVery productive 1m high kale originat-ing in the west of France prior to 1865, known as ‘Branching Borecole’. Easy to grow, plain leaf kale with spread-ing foliage. Winter hardy, particularly suited to our climate, reliable and very tolerant of poor soils. Supporter, Hilary Killops sug-gests eating it, ‘Lightly steamed and served with a sauce of yo-ghurt and a lit-tle chilli pep-per.’

Uncle John’s This variety was grown and saved by John Burke in Co. Cork for 50 years. It has proved to be extremely popular be-ing a most delicious, tender and sweet kale, with lovely bright green leaves that thrive all through the winter well into spring, showing good resistance to black spot. Megan Bromley, school gar-den coordinator, writes’ ‘Uncle Johns has a great flavour and the new growth impressively tender.’

NB. Remember when kales start pro-ducing flowering shoots in spring these can be pinched off and eaten like sprouting broccoli.

8

Dunbard Standard Spring Greens

Thousand Headed

Brussels Sprouts (B. oleracea var. gemmifera)

Balbriggan - CO A native Irish selection of hardy and vigorous sprouts, holds its own with whatever the winter weather brings. Overall large plants with numerous big sprouts holding well through winter, but as with any landrace types you will find some variation.

Dublin Cropper - CONow an Irish heirloom, probably once grown in the horticultural fields around Dublin. As the name suggests a great ‘cropper’ of delicious mild flavoured, medium size sprouts that keep on pro-ducing all through the vagaries of win-ter weather.

Irish Glacier - CO Once a very popular variety especially with commercial growers, it was given to us from the Wellsbourne gene bank. Barry Murphy, who made the original on-farm collection of Irish brassicas, describes it as an outstanding variety,

with small tight sprouts, good for freezing. Plants are very neat and uniform. It lives on as a parent to the modern F1 variety Lunet, bred in Holland.

Cauliflower (B. oleracea var. botytris)

Winter Roscoff - CO This great cauliflower was collected in Co. Dublin in 1982 from an elderly farmer and produces magnificent curds. Kim Tyler told us ‘It is super reliable year after year, can’t remember when I received seed from you but it’s the only cauliflower I grow now it’s so good!’Sow July/ August and plant out in Sep-tember for an early crop the following spring; can also be grown in tunnels over winter for an even earlier crop.

Purple sprouting Broccoli (B. oleracea var. italica)

CardinalSUPPORTERS ONLY Crops in Spring over many weeks from March to May. Heavy cropping with medium to large, deep purple spears of excellent flavour. This variety won the RHS award of garden merit in 2013.

9

Winter Roscoff

Irish Glacier

Sea Kale (Crambe maritima)

Lily white - CO This is a perennial crop, so it requires a permanent site. It has distinctive grey/blue green fleshy leaves and gives a beautiful display of pure white flowers in late spring. However, as a food crop it is the early shoots (like asparagus) that are eaten raw or cooked. They are best when blanched, so put a thick lay-er of straw over them in autumn/winter. Don’t start cropping until the second year. The seeds come in a little round-ish fruit each containing only one seed, which are sown whole and take a few weeks to germinate, much longer than other Brassica species.

Swede (Brassica napus)Note: these are a much undervalued vegetable these days being so easy to grow and are very hardy, left in the ground all winter for harvesting when needed. Full of nutrition and almost as versitile as the spud, you can boil, mash, roast or even make chips with the swede and a great addition to soup, I’ve even had them grated in salad. They also long predate the pumpkin as the Halloween Lantern.

Best of all - CO A traditional swede/turnip, with purple and white skin growing to a good size. Golden flesh very sweet and tasty, last-ing well into spring before going woody, all round ‘excellent’ as described by a supporter. Madeline at Brown Envelope seeds trialled it one winter in conjunc-tion with popular commercial varities and it came out ‘Best of All’!

Major DunneThis was a popular variety common-ly grown in the north and given to us by John McCormack of Co. Down. It grows quite upright, ‘high’ on the sur-face thus not prone to soil pests like eel worm. Good purple colour, sweet tasty flesh and hardy through the win-ter. Many grow to a good size. If you prefer small Swedes, delay the sowing and planting until the very end of June.

Six Mix - CO We grew out all the six native Irish swede varieties together in 2015 so we could do botanical descriptor work on them. This seed is then a mix of all six varieties and there may be some in-teresting surprises if the flowers were cross pollinated!

10

Lily White Sea Kale

Best of all

Tipperary Turnip - CO A favourite crop of seed guardian Jason Horner, as the Tipperary Turnip does not suffer from Boron deficiency on his land to the same degree as other variet-ies. A native cultivar of swede returned to us from the Wellesbourne gene bank. Like other native Brassicas, it is hardy and disease resistant. It has a delicate, mellow, sweet flavour, still remembered by many of the locals.“The flesh” says supporter, Andrew Williams, “is not tough at all and keeps well through win-ter”.

Western Perfection - CO A popular variety grown in Cork and donated to us by Eddie Lucey. A round, medium sized swede turnip with pur-ple/magenta skin and delicious golden flesh. Good disease resistance and very hardy even in exposed locations.

York - CO Sometimes known as York Purple Top, it has the distinction of being grand champion at the royal winter Fair in Toronto. Smooth, uniform, fine quality roots with purple shoulders and sweet yellow flesh. Small to medium in size and excellent winter keeper.

Turnip (Brassica rapa)

White Egg - CO 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 transpalned from modules.

Radish (Raphanus sativus)

Black - CO A large white root with thin black skin and crisp pungent flesh. Very cold har-dy and can be harvested through the winter after a late summer planting. The roots will sweeten when cooked. Very disease-resistant and easy to grow.

Daikon - CO This is an oriental radish, can grow up to 25cm long with dense and crunchy flesh, mild flavour. In Japan they are tra-ditionally pickled but can also be used in stir fry or grated raw. Winter hardy can be sown from Spring to Autumn.

Purple Plum - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA lovely radish with bright purple co-lourful skin, and sweet crisp white flesh that does not get pithy, growing up to 3-4cm.

Round Red Forcing - CO Quick growing red radish of good size, very reliable, not too hot but crisp and juicy. Sow successionally from Spring and can also be used for Winter produc-tion under cover.

11

BEETROOT, CHARD,

SPINACH, QUINOA

CHENOPODIACEAE FAMILY

Beetroot (Beta vulgaris)NB: A great way to use small beetroot is roasted whole with a little balsamic vin-egar, black pepper and goats’ cheese. Perfection!

Dagger leaf - COThe leaves of this variety, (from the 1800’s) are indeed ‘dagger’ like, nar-row, long and graceful, purple-red in co-lour with a metallic lustre. They grow in a thick cluster and picked for a beautiful addition to the salad bowl. The roots are long, smooth and spindle shaped with blood red tender flesh.

Dobbies PurpleThis variety was bred in the 19th centu-ry by a then, small independant Scottish seed company ‘Dobbies’ which down the years has now morphed into a chain that is part of the Tesco empire!They are very sweet beets with long ta-pered roots that can be cut to cook with-out the colour bleeding.

Early Wonder - COSUPPORTERS ONLYIntroduced in 1911, this old variety has semi globe roots and smooth dark red skin. Deep red flesh and glossy leaves that can make good greens. It matures early but also a single sowing can be

harvested over a long period. Here are descriptions from the staff who tried a taste test - ‘moist, mouthwatering, sweet, juicy and tender’.

Egyptian Flat Top - COA variety of very old heritage dating back to the 1800’s, originating in Egypt. Vilmorin in his crop descriptions in 1885 states ‘Exceedingly early variety, best of all early kitchen garden kinds’ This is echoed in modern times by gar-dener Bob Flowerdew proclaiming it to have ‘the best flavour’. Early maturing, smooth skin on wide roots, deep crim-son/purple flesh both sweet and tender. Very popular among the staff taste tests. Grows above the ground so easy to pull for harvest.

Feuer Kugel - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA rare, smooth-skinned variety from Switzerland. Described by growers as “spectacular, tender bulbs with fantastic flavour and bolt resistant”, “Very suc-cessful and absolutely delicious”.

12

Egyptian Flat Top

Cylindra/Formanova - COA wonderful heirloom from Denmark, famous for slicing with long cylindri-cal roots. This tender and sweet variety with dark red flesh is also known as ‘Butter Slicer’ or ‘Cooks Delight’ be-cause of its wonderful texture.

RotundaFrom the Italian ‘rotonda’ meaning ‘round’, this beetroot grows quite large into perfect round spheres. Very juicy and sweet, with a distinct earthy fla-vour.

Runde Kugel - COThis translates simply as ‘Round ball’, deep red in colour with a delicious fruity, mild taste particularly good in salads.

Sanguina - COVery productive ‘blood’ red conical beetroot with juicy, intense flesh that remains tender and sweet even when quite large.

Touchstone Gold - CODelicious, smooth, round gold roots with sweet flavoured bright yellow flesh, the colour retained even when cooked. This variety has been ‘rebred’ from old seed stocks to create this vig-orous, quick growing brilliant yellow beet.

Chard/Leaf Beet

Note; Chard has been cultivated for millennia, Aristotle mentions cultivat-ing red chards in ancient Greece. Much more robust, long lasting, versatile and easier to grow than Spinach, giving lush greens nearly year round. Sown April- June either in modules or di-rect, it will last to the following spring. Young leaves make a great addition to salads while large leaves along with the stems can be boiled, stir fried or steamed. With all the different colour stems giving you a range of nutritious phyto-nutrients

Ladakh Beta Chard The seeds of this variety were brought back from an international slow food gathering in Turin, Italy. We weren’t initially sure whether it was going to be a leaf/chard type or a fodder beet-root crop. When grown in our gardens it turned out to be a vigorous, hardy crop with large light green leaves.

Orange Oriole - COThis came to us from Baker Creek heir-loom seeds in America. A stunning all orange stalk selection that will brighten up the gar-den, delicious leaves.

13Orange Oriole

Luccullus - COThis variety of Italian heritage, was named after a Roman General ‘Lucius Luccullus’ renowned for his splendid banquets and vast gardens some 2000 years ago. It was introduced in 1914 and won the RHS award of garden merit. Quite hardy through the winter, with heavily ‘crumpled’, bright, lush green leaves and white stalks that can be almost like asparagus when cooked. Young flowering stalks in Spring can be used like sprouting broccoli.It has the seal of approval from Scoil Chroi, Galway, ‘Lucullus a big hit with students of all ages, they loved it de-vouring it raw.’

Spinach (Spinacia oleraceae)N.B. Whilst Spinach is found cultivated in many areas, it has never been found in its wild state. It is thought to have come west form Persia with the Arabs, named ‘Prince of Vegetables’, as far back as the 6th Century. The leaves are rich in iron, iodine, carotene, folic acid and chlorophyll.

Bloomsdale - COSometimes also called Bloomsdale Long standing, this heirloom has been cultivated since 1925.It is perhaps the most popular open pollinated variety being very slow to bolt, even in the warmer months. The glossy, dark sa-voyed leaves are tender and rich in fla-vour, the plants upright and vigorous.Can be sown from Feb – Oct, grows very well under cover over winter.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

Quinoa is a fairly easy and trouble-free crop. Direct sow in drills in April, grows up to1.5m tall, harvest early September. Quinoa is a small grain, sacred and highly nutritious food of the Inca peo-ple. It has been found to contain a near-ly perfect protein for human consump-tion together with essential amino acids and a good source of calcium and Iron. The grain contains bitter saponins (a chemical defence against birds), which needs to be washed out before use.

Rainbow - COSUPPORTERS ONLYThis one is a mix of the many colours of different types of Quinoa, tan, red, orange and black, each with a slightly different attribute - sweeter or nuttier or chewier.

Red Faro - CO From the North of Chile, Red Faro is both productive for the grain and attrac-tive with red-pink foliage and cream seed heads.

Temuco - CO This variety is from Temuco in southern Chile and has an open head shape thus less prone to mould and suitable for our cool, damper climate.

14

Temuco

LETTUCE, SALSIFYCOMPOSITAE FAMILY

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

Brown Gold Ring - COA lettuce with heritage; it won an award of merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1923. A Romaine/Cos variety with upright, compact head, dark green crunchy leaves that have a slight golden bronze colouring. Especially beautiful in the sunshine when the leaves shim-mer. Can be grown both in summer and overwinter.

Crisp Mint - COSUPPORTERS ONLYAn old variety of Romaine type from the USA. Upright, compact heads growing upto 25cm with straight, bright green leaves almost serrated. Holds well through the winter under cover, so the delicious and crunchy leaves of crisp mint can be grown all year round.

Deer Tongue - CO This is a really rare old heirloom vari-ety going back to the 1700’s from the Amish people. Very unusual rosette shaped heads with bright green triangu-lar leaves. The heart is creamy, tender and sweet. Reliable, all season lettuce and very cold tolerant. A real gem.

Forellenschluss - CO An heirloom from Austria originally, the name means ‘speckled like a trout’.

The loose leaf heads have apple green leaves, speckled maroon/scarlet. It has lovely buttery flavour, holds well in warm weather with good resistance to bolting.

Garnet Oak Leaf - COThis is an outstanding variety bred by Alan Kapaler in Oregon for organic conditions. It has proved to be a favou-rite, very hardy, ovewinters well (out-side as well as in a tunnel). A giant cut n come lettuce with lush deep red lobed leaves that can be picked all through au-tumn, Winter and Spring.

Grandpa Admires - CO Named after an American civil war vet-eran born in 1822. This variety grows well, surviving poor weather and has large, crisp juicy leaves, light green with a bronze-red tinge and a loose heart.

Oreilles du diable - CO The name translates as ‘Ears of the Devil’, but do not be put off. This is an extremely old heirloom variety, leaves that are triangular shaped, red burgundy in colour and delicious. A unique and beautiful variety.

Outredgeous - COThis is a wonderful lettuce bred by Wild Garden Seeds in Oregon. A large loose leaf but upright cos typehead perfect for ‘cutting and coming again’. It is out-rageously red, a colourful addition to salad. Hardy over Winter, also good for Spring sowing.

15

Rubin - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA Swiss Ruby variety which is very cold hardy, with an upright habit and a loose head of deep maroon leaves, ex-cellent for cut and come the year round.

Suzan - COThis variety was sent into us by Stephen Marsh, a long-standing supporter of our work. He described it as a ‘beauti-ful butterhead’, that he used to grow 50 years ago and was then very popular. In 2016 he rediscovered it in a catalogue and sent us the seeds. Light green tasty big heads with tightly packed fleshy hearts. It is described as a Spring/ Sum-mer sown type, but we sowed in early autumn and it grow fine and healthy un-der cover.

Verde a Foglia Riccia - COA lovely large loose curled green leafy lettuce with very crunchy leaves of great texture. Especially good addition to a salad mix. Grows well year round. Donated to us by supporter Steven Marsh.

Salsify - CO (Tragopogon porrifolius) This is a root vegetable that goes back to the middle ages. Pulled in winter it has long tapering roots with a distinct flavour, similar to oysters, delicious in a vegetable stew. If left in the ground, the flower is the ornamental gardeners best kept secret as all summer long they bloom with brilliant purple large daisy like flowers. The seed heads are puff balls that shine as golden orbs in sun-shine.

CUCUMBER, COURGETTE,

MELON, SQUASH,

PUMPKIN

CUCURBITACEAE FAMILY

Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus)

Early Fortune - COAlso called ‘Special Dark Green’, this variety was a selection from ‘Davis Perfect’ (now extinct), which on release in 1906 was hailed as the earliest and best ever offered. A dependable garden cucumber up to 20cm long with a re-freshing clean taste. Good for slicing or pickling.

16

Suzan

Salsify Root

Izjatnoi - COEstonian variety with medium size fruits. Tolerant of cool temperatures and producing solid skinned, soft juicy flesh cucumber. Another Open Pollinated va-riety that is not bitter.

Parade - COOriginally from Russia, this is quite a hardy variety so worth trying outdoors, reputed to be resistant to extreme weath-er conditions. It can be eaten fresh, has no bitterness but comes into its own as a gherkin ie. for pickling and storage. Fruits are about 12cm and very uniform.

Shintokiwa - COA long Japanese burpless type, tender and sweet even when large, productive and delicious. Needs to be grown with protection.

Suyo Long - COSUPPORTERS ONLYAmazing hardy Chinese cucumber. Grows exceptionally long fruit up to 50-60cm but retains a lovely fresh flavour, crisp and tender flesh, which does not get bitter. Definitely one for the cucum-ber lover, keeps fruiting all summer. The skin is slightly prickly, but easily rubbed smooth.

Melon (Cucumis melo)

Green Nutmeg - COThis is an 1850’s heirloom variety, an early ripening small musk melon with oval fruit and rough, netted green skin. It holds within a sweet perfumed, pale green flesh. Needs to be grown under cover and yields several fruits per vine.

Squash, Pumpkins & Courgettes

Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata)

Aussie - COBig Butternut squash, seed brought back from a trip down under. Charac-teristic dense, delicious flesh perfect for roasting. Fruit keeps stored all winter into spring.

Waltham - COSUPPORTERS ONLYSmooth light-tan fruits which are bottle shaped and exceptionally good keepers. Flesh is fine-textured, rich, dry, solid and golden orange. Vigourous and de-pendable between four and seven fruits per vine, each fruit has a very small seed count, the rest is solid flesh.

17

ShintokiwaAussie

Courgette(Cucurbita pepo)

Black Beauty - COAn heirloom from Italy also called ‘Nero di Milano’, with cylindrical, smooth, dark green fruits best eaten about 15cm long. It is a bush variety with open growth and is quite early ma-turing.

Blanche De Virginie - COA French heirloom ‘Full of delicate surprises’. Small, clear pale green fruit with a pleasant fruity flavour. ‘Carpac-cio’ is a great way to enjoy this gem – cut the courgette into vertical slices, grill briefly on both sides, then marinate with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and fresh coriander.

Gene Bank Marrow - CO We had seven seeds in a packet from the German gene bank, dated 1999, the place of origin, Sweden, the description ‘vegetable marrow’. The six that ger-minated grew amazingly well, quick-ly covering an entire bed in the tunnel with their small tasty courgette’s and also good as the more traditional mar-row.

Serafina - CO Reliable bush type, with an open habit, thus easy to harvest he many shiny dark green slightly marbled fruits over a long season.

Syrian White - COThis variety came from a Syrian ref-ugee. The young courgettes are pale green, quite small very delicious and retain good flavour when mature. Sup-porter Angela Plunkett describes it as ‘A particular favourite – lovely in a salad when young’, echoed by Julia McMas-ter saying, ‘It is the tastiest courgette ever, I would even nibble them fresh when I the garden working’.

White Volunteer - CO SUPPORTERS ONLYProlific producer of short, chubby, very pale green courgettes that keep on com-ing all season. Slightly more subtle and fruity in flavour to the dark green types. They remain tender even when allowed to swell to marrows.

Squash

Table Queen Acorn - CO So called as the fruits are acorn shaped; dark green ribbed skin about 20cm long, several per plant. However, when you come to eat them it’s clear why the ‘Table Queen’ part is so fitting be-cause the deep orange dry, thick flesh is so incredibly sweet and delicious. The squash can be eaten fresh or stored over winter. It was introduced in 1913 by Des Moines’s Iowa Seed Company and in a ‘bake off’ in the 1930’s reigned su-preme against three dozen other squash-es. However, it is believed to have orig-inated from the Arikara Tribe of North Dakota.

18

Pumpkins (Cucurbita maxima)

Anna Swartz Hubbard - CO The Hubbard types have been described as ‘squash with personality’, however they are said to be the “acme of per-fection in squashdom”. This one was a family heirloom producing big fruits in hard shells, so good for winter storage. The flesh is sweet, creamy, deep orange and delicious. This variety is recom-mended as being cool tolerant.

Australian Blue - COAustralia is the land that gave birth to the ‘Blues’... at least in the world of pumpkins. This one has indeed blue-green skin, fruits of varying size, round and ribbed but slightly flattened at the top and bottom, good for storing. Dense brilliant orange tasty flesh. Produced very well outdoors.

Crown Prince - COSUPPORTERS ONLYThis variety you will find often listed as an F1. However, it is quite possibly the same as listed by Vilmorin in 1856 as ‘Verte d’Australie’ Mona one of our seed growers has kept her own seed year on year and it grows reliably the same each time, so almost definitely not an F1. As do all the blue pumpkins, it hails from Australia, the silvery-blue skin contrasts beautifully with its bright orange flesh. The dense flesh delicious-ly sweet and nutty, second to none. Good for storage.

Pink Banana - COSUPPORTERS ONLYCalled also ‘Mexican Banana’ and ‘Plymouth Rock’, this heirloom was in-troduced in the USA in 1893. The fruits are, well, kind-of banana shaped, cylin-drical rather than round, the skin turn-ing pink-orange as they ripen. The skin is quite thin, smooth and velvety which makes them very attractive (and you don’t need to peel for roasting or soup making). Golden orange flesh is thick, firm, sweet and ‘superbly fine tasting’. It actually melts in the mouth. Each plant can produce several large fruits. A good keeper as it stores for up to six months. For Supporter Kim Tyner, it gave a ‘bumper crop outdoors, grown under sweetcorn, tastes super and so easy to cut and cook’

Green Crinkled - COIf beauty is in the eye of the beholder, these are indeed a beautiful pumpkin that falls into the Turban & Buttercup group of squashes. They are a pumpkin within a pumpkin – one end having a pumpkin of smooth skin bursting out through a lumpy and highly ridged shoulder. The taste is excellent – quite sweet with a nutty, chestnut flavour and firm texture – good for roasting or making pumpkin pie or soup.

19

Green Crinkled

Uchiki KuriMedium-sized squash from Japan orig-inally, brilliant orange, tear drop shape. Smooth yellow flesh with sweet and nutty flavour. Quite a long trailing hab-it, early to mature, suited to our climate and grows well outdoors. Good for stor-age through the winter.

Note; Pumpkins and Squash can take up a lot of ground space with their trail-ing growth habit so it can be benefical to poly crop with a crop like sweetcorn that is tall and upright casting little shade ón the crop below. Make sure you plant the pumpkin away from the corn so the roots are not in competition.Some growers prefer to support them growing upwards like cucumber but with the bigger fruits they need a net hung to take the weight.

OATS, SWEETCORNGRAMINEAE FAMILY

Oats (Avena sativum)

Glasnevin Success - CO We have almost no infomation on this variety, but from the name it must be one of many Irish oats bred ‘’Success-fully’’at Glasnevin in the last century. It grew well and strong here at Cap-paroe, as part of our ongoing conserva-tion work of heritage cereals.

Corn (Zea Mays)

True Gold - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA variety of Sweetcorn that has been selected from a 1955 hybrid and which is now open pollinated. Described as an ‘old fashioned’ corn that will transform any plate to a luxurious meal. A late season corn that delivers tender, sweet, rich, delicious golden cobs up to 3 per plant.

True Platinum - COThis unusual sweetcorn has been bred by Alan Kapular, a plant breeder of what are called ‘Tomorrows Heirlooms’ in Oregon U.S.A. This variety is an Open Pollinated one actually bred out from a popular hybrid Platinum Sweet Lady. The corn is a pale cream colour with a delicious buttery mild sweet fla-vour. The seed is almost translucent- so a little different to usual varieties of sweetcorn.

Glass Gem - COThis stunning corn was bred from a number of Native American varieties by Carl White Eagle Barnes, famous Cherokee corn collector whose life work was preserving and sharing native corns. It has several very beautiful, multi co-loured, translucent kernels resembling glass beads, growing on each tall stalk. As well as being so decorative it is an edible ‘flint corn’ either gound into corn meal or made into ‘popped’corn.

20

BROAD BEANS, FRENCH BEANS, RUNNER BEANS, PEAS LEGUMINOSEAE FAMILY

Broad Bean (Vicia faba)Broad beans or favas are ideally suit-ed to cool climes, thus a good choice for Ireland. In fact, if the weather is too warm they will not flower and set pods so best grown either overwinter or from and early Spring sowing. The beans are high in plant protein, dietary fibres and essential vitamins and minerals. They can also be made into a lovely hummus dish, no need to import other beans from far off places for this!

Bacardi - CO Productive compact variety that grows to about 1m high. It averages about five small beans per pod, with a delicate fla-vour.

Black Russian - COThis was a bean selected in the Gri-bovsky Russian breeding station in the 1950’s. Compact plants with beautiful lilac flowers that fruit in a short season, pods 8cm or so long. The beans are small and tender and of course, deep purple – very beautiful.

Canadian Purple - COThis variety produces good sized beans on bushy plants. The beans vary in shade from pale to deep purple making this variety an attractive addition to a dish. They dry to a very dark purple.

Hangdown - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA Spring sown variety that gives a bumper crop. Long pods (that ‘hang-down’) with at least 5 or 6 delicious meaty beans inside.

Londonderry - COThis came from the British Heritage Seed library, but presumably has Irish origins. It grows well and is very hardy, the flowers have a lovely scent. Produc-es long pods with four or five creamy seeds. Can be used for autumn sowing.

Oldambaster - COA Dutch heritage variety from the prov-ince of Gronigen. It has unusual pure white flowers which smell wonder-ful. Medium pods packed with beans growing up the whole stem, thus very productive. Good for both Autumn and Spring sowing.

21

Londonderry

Black Russian

Sutton DwarfSUPPORTERS ONLYBred by Suttons Seeds in 1925 this va-riety continues to hold its own nearly a century later, winning the RHS Award of Merit in 1993 and reconfirmed in 1999. Very easy to grow, the dwarf plants produce a large number of pods with 4 or 5 beans of superior quality. Can be used for Spring and Autumn sowing.

Tarma Spiral - COSUPPORTERS ONLYThese beans collected in Peru (Tarma is a highland market town there). May also be called ‘Atawallapas’ finger-print’, after the last great Inca Emperor who died in 1533. This is an astounding living artifact, with amazing concentric circle spiral marking on the bean itself, dark brown against a buff background. They are not as productive as modern varieties but interesting to grow.

Vectra - COCompact plants which produced a huge number of neat smallish pods, contain-ing 4-5 beans. The beans are very pale green with a lovely mild and pleasant flavour and quite tender.

French Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Note; It can be good to grow both a bush and climbing variety especially if you enjoy beans fresh. Bush types start producing beans a lot quicker than the climbers so give an earlier crop but is then finished ,at which time the climb-ers have done all their growing and will start cropping over a longer season.For dried beans to store (or seed), leave the pods as long as possible on the plant until they are brown and parchment like before picking.

Dwarf Varieties

Black Coco - CO This variety is an early maturing up-right, strong bushy plant. The beans are good both as green snap beans and quick maturing for dried beans with a rich, nutty flavour. Buerre De Roquencourt - CONamed from the French town situat-ed in rich, farming country, this yel-low pod wax bean yields well in most climes. The beans are uniform in size, slim, stringless, crisp and firm with fine flavour.

Canadian Wonder - COA reliable old favourite Victorian heir-loom variety. Prolific long, round and thick fleshy green pods, tender and tasty. They dry to a type of kidney bean, great for chill con carne.

22

Vectra

Dragon Tongue - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA Dutch heirloom with beans up to 16cm long, streaked purple that are de-licious both fresh and as podded beans.

Eastern ButterwaxSUPPORTERS ONLYThe ‘butterwax’ beans have curved yellow pods up to 10 cm long with jet black seeds. Good stringless snap bean fresh and cooked.

Jersey - COGrown for generations in the Channel Islands, an essential ingredient when dried, of a local dish there called the ‘Jersey bean Crock Pot’. The flat bean pods are stripped, very productive and can be eaten either fresh or matured and dried.

Climbing Varieties

Carol Leenstra’s - COAn Italian heirloom bean that grows well here, as Micheal Viney from Mayo says ‘gave an outstanding crop in my tunnel, almost too vigorous’. The plants climb very quickly producing an abun-dant crop of delicious flat green podded beans late season. They are good for growing outdoors. A supporter in Ker-ry had great success using them as dry storage beans.

Cherokee Trail of Tears - CO This heirloom bean was preserved by Cherokee Indians as a staple food when

forced out of their homelands on the ‘trail of tears’ in 1838. It’s a prolific va-riety with lovely pink flowers and slim green pods that turn purple as they ma-ture. Use the fresh beans when they are approx. 15cm long or leave to dry on the plant as the small black beans are good for storage. When the pods begin to turn purple, the plant itself becomes most strikingly decorative.

Corona d’ Oro - CO‘Heavy cropping yellow pencil pod type beans, virtually string-less with excellent flavour’ says supporter Liam Gaffney who sent in seed for us to trial and save.

Early Riser - CO This is an excellent variety for northern climates as it has a short growing sea-son, approximately 55 days to the start of harvest. A Romano type, with long delicious flat green pods, stringless and very tender, keeps producing to late in the season. Also know as ‘Northeaster’ or ‘Kwintus’.

23

Cherokee Trail of Tears

Hunter - COA classic variety of French Bean, heavy-yielding with a wide, flattened pod, they are tender and reliable. Pro-duce bright green beans that are almost stringless and can grow to around 25cm long. Delicious flavour, they’re best picked young to enjoy at their most ten-der.

KlosterfrauenA rare variety from Switzerland going back to 1912. This climbing bean pro-duces many quite short, wide, flat pods that can be eaten green. Left to mature, the beautiful two-colour dark red and white beans develop, which are deli-cious when podded and cooked.

Mr Ferns - COThis variety has greatly impressed our seed guardian, market gardener Jason Horner, who told me it thrived and pro-duced far better than his usual commer-cial variety in a poor summer. Original-ly donated by a supporter as one of his favourites, Mr Fern has beautiful pink flowers and tender green beans that hold well.

Mrs Fortunes - CO Given to Doris Fortune (hence the name) by the head gardener at Windsor, then to the Heritage Seed Library. This lovely climber has pale blue flowers, smooth green and blue/purple mottled pods that darken as they mature. String-less pods, a delicious fresh shelling bean or also good dried.

Pams Speckled - COSUPPORTERS ONLYDonated to us by supporter Pam from Wales, who has saved this beautiful bean for 20 years which originally came from China. Pods are stripped red and have quite a lot of variation which is lovely to see and taste great.

San Antonio - CO This climbing, green-podded variety was sourced from the Heritage Seed Li-brary. Vigorous and prolific, the young beans are lovely fresh and also freeze well, retaining their rich sweet flavour. Look closer at the seed eye... each seed is marked with a saint-like figure in monk’s robes.

Slovenian Market - CO - ISSABrought from a local market in Slo-venia, this wonderful bean is pictur-esque with creamy-beige flowers and lovely yellow/green pods that produce the most delicious creamy, melt in the mouth beans.

24

Slovenian Market

Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus)

Note: Although runner beans have per-fect flowers, they need to be ‘jiggled’ for pollination to occur, especially if you are growing an early crop under cover when there is little insect activi-ty (this is why beans sometimes fail to develop in the early bracts of flowers). This can be achieved by gently shaking the vines or directing a good stream of water spray from a hose.

Coal - COThis is a variety once grown by miners in a Shropshire village passed down through generations of families. Known as Coal because the seeds are black. Sturdy and vigorous plants producing clusters of long beans up to 40cm long.

Jacks - COBred by Alan Kapular of Peace seeds in Oregon, ‘Jacks’ bean lives up to its name growing up tall very fast. Lots of pods of medium size and curved at the end which may be eaten while young, but comes into its own when the big white beans develop used fresh or dried as a wonderful ‘Butter’ bean substitute. Yardstick - CO An old variety originally coming from a miner and keen gardener in South Wales. He had saved his own seed for years and Jo Newton (Seed Curator) has saved this seed in Clare for over fif-teen years, so its well acclimatised. The

plants are vigourous, long pods which develop maroon streaking (a charac-teristic more common in old varieties). Pick the young and tender pods as they come. Peas (Pisum sativum)

BountyQuite a compact vining pea only 1 – 1.2m high. Hardy and early, giving large fat pods – on such small plants. 8 peas per pod and very good flavour.

Daniel O’Rourke - CO This pea was widely cultivated in the 1800’s, also known as Sangsters No. 1. An article in the New York times 1881 describes bushels being sold ev-ery Spring on both sides of the Atlan-tic. There is even a drawing of this pea and others by Charles Darwin in 1898. It has been given a new lease of life on repatriation to us from the Vavilov Rus-sian gene bank. A tall vine, with prolif-ic quantities of pods full of sweet peas, best eaten while young. Good disease resistance. The peas can also be left to mature and dry off to be used as a soup pea in winter.

25

Daniel O’Rourke

Fill the bucket - COAn Irish pea of distinction, also known as Fill the basket or even Fillbasket. It is listed in the Edmonson Brothers Dublin seed catalogue in 1921. It was sent in to us by John O Neil, his neighbours, the Christies from Tipperary town had grown and saved this variety for over 50 years. Easy to grow small plants 1-1.2m but very productive with truly delicious peas, enough to ‘fill a bucket’.

Green Arrow - CO This variety is the progenitor of a whole type of peas with long slender curved pods packed with 8 or more fat, green peas. Prolific, heavy cropping and long lasting. Have been known to win a prize or two in the country show.

Hurst Greenshaft An exceptional pea, reliably producing heavy crops (9-11 peas per pod) with superb sweet flavour. It has good mil-dew and fusarium wilt resistance. This variety won the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1993 – and then reconfirmed in 2005.

Irish Green Pea - COOne of our most popular varieties, repa-triated from the Vavilov Gene Bank in Russia. The plants grow swiftly in our temperate climate, so need good sup-port. They produce an abundance of delicious sweet round peas, described by many as a wonderful crop. They have good mildew resistance and are less prone to sprouting in the pod in a wet summer.

Irish Preans - COSUPPORTERS ONLYThis was returned to us from the Brit-ish Heritage seed library, having come originally from an Irish agricultural re-searsh station. Very tall growing up to 2m, flowers are maroon/mauve which develop into large pods of enormous peas. They are in fact more like a bean (hence the name prean), coming into their own when cooked in soups and stews as they have good substance and nutrition. It may be easier to grown them as a climbing bean although they are botanically a pea.

Josh Toombs Purple Pod - CO This wonderful heirloom pea came to us from Josh Toombs in Co. Antrim. Josh got in touch with Seed Savers when he was 79 years old because he wished to share this pea with other gardeners. It had been preserved in his family for over a century. The decorative pink and mauve/purple flowers produce a classic dark purple pod. Peas are good eaten fresh when young and immature, or left to dry on the plant which make an excellent storage pea. Supporter Julia gave this feedback, ‘I always grow Josh Toombs pea as it is healthy, fruitfull, easy to pick and tasty.’

26

Josh Toombs Purple Pod

Little Marvel - COCultivated since 1900 when you grow this pea you can understand why. Vig-orous dwarf plants 1 m high, very high yielding with pods packed with 6 or 7delicious dark green peas. It also has a good extended picking season.

Magnum BonumTranslates as ‘Great Good’, this pea has been around since 1872 and with good reason. Described as ‘a willing giant of a pea, brimming with health and large luscious pods’. Needs firm supports.

Purple Pod Capucijners - COThe name comes from an order of monks in Holland, who have long been custodians of diverse fruit and vege-tables. This is a tall vigorous plant so needs good support. It has beautiful pink/white flowers and deep purple pods. In the Scoil Chroi school garden Galway, students enjoyed the purple peas both raw and dried for soup.

Robinson - CO SUPPORTERS ONLYA Scottish heritage variety with long slim pods packed full with up to 11 peas with outstanding flavour, remain-ing sweet even when quite mature. It was once a very popular variety with exhibitors with such ‘perfect’ pods. Grows quite tall, up to 1.5m and is very productive. Has become famous since Monty Don pronounced it one of his favourites on television gardening pro-gramme.

Twiggy From the Court of Eden seed savers in Holland. These pea plants are quite remarkable with beautiful extensive-ly curled ‘twig’ like tendrils. Approx. 1.2m tall, pods full with up to 8 peas, excellent flavour.

Ultra U - COThis beautiful, tall pea came originally from the Northern Irish Organic garden Society having been grown in Ireland for three generations. Needs good sup-ports, but worth the effort giving a great abundance of large pods filled with the sweetest peas. Thanks to supporter Liam Gaffney for sending seed for us to grow on.

Sugar Snap & Mangetout Varieties

Dwarf Green Sugar - CO A unique variety donated to us many years back by an elderly seed saver, the name a perfect description. Compact, short vines that produce multitude of small mangetout pods, best eaten when the peas inside are just starting to swell. They keep a nice firm, crunchy texture when cooked.

27

Twiggy

Golden Sweet Mangetout - CO A rare variety collected originally from a market in India.Tall vines that flower with abundant purple/maroon blooms and are absolutely stunning. The pods are a beautiful lemon yellow, best picked while quite flat and perfect for stir fry. Can be autumn sown under cov-er.

Sugar Snap - COA tall variety of sugar snap pea so re-quires good staking, but is worth it for an amazing harvest of sweet, succulent, crispy pods, best eaten when the peas are well-developed, whole pod and all, raw or cooked. This variety was given to us years back by Stormy Hall seed company to save, as it has been dropped from the commercial seed register.

Winterkefe Mangetout - CO If sown under cover in October, Winter-kefe will produce wonderful pink and magenta flowers from February and an abundant crop of mangetout from mid April onwards. A very tall vigor-ous plant; this landrace is originally from Switzerland. “Sown in February, it grew vigorously and supplied pods in great quantity; excellent, delicious, easy and rewarding. I thoroughly rec-ommend this variety.” says a member from Galway.

ASPARAGUSLILIACEAE FAMILY

Asparagus (Aspargus officinalis)

Cherbury - COThis was sent in to us by Suzette Hughes (of the Hughes family who donated the famous Delaway cabbage to us). The original plants were grown in the Edgeworth gardens near Dublin called Cherbury, where her mother worked as a young girl. Suzette has been growing them successfully in her own garden for the last 40 years and sent in seeds to us three years ago. Normally Asparagus are propagated vegetatively but we had great success growing it from the seeds. We tasted the shoots for the first time this year, and they were delicious, even raw. In a final twist of irony, those aged gardens live on in the name of the mod-ern housing estate built there ‘Cherbury Gardens’.

28

Cherbury

LINSEED / FLAXLINACEAE FAMILY

Linseed/Flax (Linum usitatissimum)Easy to grow, just sow direct in spring, and then from summer to autumn you will be treated to delicate satiny sky blue flowers each day. Harvest the pods, full of seeds as they dry out in autumn. These of course are a highly nutritious super food. You can thresh them using a rolling pin or bottle to crush pods and separate from seed. Beware of bird competition when they ripen.

We have four varieties on offer this year three of which came from the Vavilov Gene bank in Russia and are listed as having been grown in Ireland for either flax or the seeds. These are;

Gossamer - COSuffolk - CONorthern Princess - CO

Dr Stewarts - CO The seed of this variety was donated to us by a Dr. Stewart of Bective, Co. Meath. It produces a much larger seed than ordinary varieties of linseed and is low growing which makes it suitable to grow in more exposed locations. It yields very well.

PEPPER, CHILLI PEPPER, TOMATO, CAPE GOOSEBERRYSOLANACEAE FAMILY

Pepper - Sweet (Capsicum annum)NB. To grow peppers successfully in our climate, they really need to be un-der cover in a polytunnel, greenhouse or conservatory for the extra warmth and shelter. Sow them in trays Febru-ary/early March on heat as they are slow to get growing.

Antohi Romanian - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA Romanian heirloom, brought to the USA by an acrobat called Jan Antohi. Upright, compact plants, that produce a good yeild of delicious thick walled sweet peppers that ripen to a scalet red, large and small pointed fruits that ripen through late Summer, into late Autumn.

29

Linseed / Flax Flower

Ferenc TenderEarly ripening, rare variety from Hun-gary with long, pointed mild fruit, sweet and crunchy. High yielding ripening to scarlet red, excellent for roasting.

Mila’s Bulgarian red - COBeautiful long tapering juicy thick-walled scarlet peppers growing on vig-orous strong plants. The fruits started ripening to red in early September and have a distinctive waxy skin, which may help to extend their keeping quali-ties. Productive plants with many fruits 10-15cm long, and a delicious, sweet flavour.

Lipstick - COA dependable cropper of rich sweet fruits even in cool summers. The plants are compact but productive (equal or better than many F1 hybrid types). They ripen to a beautiful glossy deep red and are delicious both raw and cooked.

Klari Baby Cheese - COThis is an extraordinary pepper, Klari being the name of the woman who maintained this ancient variety in Hun-gary. The fruit resembles a small round

of cheese, looking more like tomatoes than peppers, produced in great abun-dance on compact plants. They benefit from some support. The fruit size rang-es from small, like cherry tomatoes up to 100gm, the colour from creamy-yel-low to pale green to brilliant red. The flesh is very thick, creamy and sweet, delicious raw or cooked, perfect for stuffed peppers.

Pepper - Chilli N.B. When processing the chilli pep-pers, take care and wash your hands af-terwards. The seeds are very irritating so wear rubber gloves to remove and do not touch your face or eyes.

Elfantenrussel - COA European heirloom, productive and disease resistant. Quite tall plants with long branches bearing huge quantities of fruit. The peppers are long and slen-der starting as dark green they ripen to a brilliant yellow. A medium hot and de-licious Chilli pepper. Supporter Nicky says ‘I love them, have bags of them in the freezer as it is so easy to freeze them whole!’

Bolivian Hairy (C. pubescens) - COIt is called hairy because the leaves have a downy covering, not the fruits, which is in fact a lovely hot chilli. They ripen from bright green to scarlet red in autumn.

30

Lipstick

Tomato(Lycopersicon lycopersicum)

Red varieties

Amateur - COA tried and tested heirloom variety of bush tomato, that is guaranteed to suc-ceed even in a poor summer, worth try-ing outdoors. It grows only 45cm high, and bears many good quality medi-um-size red fruits.

Arctic circle - CO Compact bush type, low growing so good for ‘pot’ cultivations or side beds of tunnel. There are several ‘arctic’ type varieties bred in Canada especially for short season gardening and cool climes. Bright scarlet fruits, mix of sizes with sweet, tangy taste.

Dorenia - COThis cordon variety was bred by biody-namic growers in Germany. A cordon rounded-oval plum tomato, has good resistance to blight and fruit splitting. Yields well, with a fruity flavour, firm skin, holds its shape when cut, perfect in a salad or sandwich.

Mrs Rucks - COOn a visit to the Eden project in Corn-wall, Jo Newton (Seed Curator) saw this bush tomato growing outdoors, the friend with her was reminded of seeing it growing and tasting it in a walled gar-den in Brighton when she was a child and remembered the name it being quite unusual. Jo liberated a couple of fruit and we have since sown and grown the crop. A sprawly bush that gives a huge amount of scarlet, juicy fruit small, me-dium, mild fresh tangy flavour that rip-en early. It turns out Mrs Ruck was the last lady of Audley End Estate in Essex (now managed by English heritage) and had passed on the seed when she moved away. Red pear - CO This cordon variety gives high yields of pear shaped cherry tomatoes, quite late to start ripening, but once started just keeps on with truss after truss. It is a very old heirloom, cultivated since the 1700’s. Lovely balanced flavour of tanginess and sweetness, perfect for sal-ads, the shape creating additional inter-est to any dish.

San Marzano - COOriginally from the small town of San Marzono Dul Sarno near Napoli and first grown in the volcanic soils of Mt Vesuvius. It is a late plum variety, long, thin pointed fruit with a sweet, strong taste.It is ideal for sauce as it is meatier, has fewer seeds and lower acidity than many other plum types.

31

Dorenia

The skin is quite thick, therefore easy to peel when cooking. Apparently it is one of the two designated varieties of tomato that can be used to make a ‘True Neapolitan Pizza’.

Stupice - CO A Czech cordon variety highly rec-ommended by many who have grown it over the years being a very reliable and a good cropper ripening quite ear-ly with an abundance of medium-sized round, tangy red fruits. Can crop well outdoors too.

Sweet Aperitif - COWith its multi branching habit, this red skinned cherry tomato produces excel-lent yields of delicious, bite sized toma-toes that are thin-skinned, shiny fruits. It has a nice balanced flavour of sweet/acid ratio.

Tommy Toe - COBred in the Ozark mountains of Arkan-sas this tomato is regarded as one of the tastiest heirlooms. Clusters of 5 - 9 fruit the size of a large cherry ripen up the vine over a long season. Red, sweet and juicy, productive and with some disease resistance.

Pink variety

Amish salad - CO This is a very rare variety coming from the Amish people of Pennsylvania. A cordon, the fruit is slightly plum shaped, medium sized, pink/red, giving many trusses full of fruit. They have a lovely fresh sweet but tangy flavour. Excellent sliced for salads, but good cooked too.

Berner Rose - CO‘The Rose from Bern’ is a Swiss heir-loom well suited to cooler climes. A cordon type producing thin skinned round pink/ red fruit quite large and fleshy that are utterly juicy and deli-cious. Seed Guardian Mona has been growing this one for years as her fam-ily favourite to eat fresh, sliced and cooked, reliable and versaitile.

Brandywine - COThis legendary potato leaf variety is of Amish heritage. It was introduced in 1889, named after the Brandywine river in Pennsylvania. The fruit is deep pink and can grow large, in fact up to a kilo. The flavour has been described as transcendental or ‘tomato heaven’. Sweet, rich and juicy it has acquired a reputation as the flavour standard for tomatoes. It is per-fect for slicing raw or its dense flesh and large toma-toes make amazing sauces.

32

Tommy Toe Brandywine

Malinowy - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA bumper cropper of very large (300-400gr) sweet, succulent juicy raspberry coloured fruit. In fact Malinowy means ‘Raspberry’ in Polish where this won-derful tomato hails from. The trusses of this cordon type, were heavily lad-en early in the season and sweet before ever experiencing much sunshine. The fruit is both perfect for slicing raw with dense flesh and for making the juici-est sauces. Thanks to supporter Liam Gaffney for introducing this one to us. Apparently the seed had been saved for many years by the grandfather of a Pol-ish guy working in Scotland.

Yellow varieties

Amber - COA heritage variety from Russia. Produc-tive and early fruiting bush. The fruit are medium sized and round, ripening to a deep golden yellow/ amber, mild and sweet.

Broad Ripple Currant - CO Sweet yellow fruit, more cherry-sized than currant. Vigorous cordon plants. Goes back to the 1900’s when it was originally found growing through a crack in the pavement in an American city. Very good variety for outdoor cul-tivation, showed excellent blight resis-tance and gave a good sweet crop very late into the autumn.

Dzintare Lasite - CO A favourite from our tomato trials of Latvian varieties. A medium, tear drop-shaped golden tomato of incredi-ble sweetness. Yellow tomatoes tend to be less acidic than red ones. A grower in Meath goes on to say, “I grew Dz-intare Lasite outside in a sheltered spot and they did very well, better than red ones.”

Golden Sunrise - COA favourite of Mona one of our seed guardians who has saved seed of this variety for over 15 years. A cordon giv-ing a plentiful supply of sweet, sweet round medium size bright yellow fruit.

Polen - CO This seed from Poland was collected by the German gene-bank at Gatersleben. A cordon variety that produces quantities of small gold, thin-skinned plum toma-toes, still delicious even in November. Stephen Carrington in Wicklow was still harvesting a few in January from a polytun-nel. Has also fruited well outdoors in the past.

33

Polen

Russian Emerald Apple - COThis variety a real wonder, originally as the name suggests of Russian heritage, it produces amazing fruit subtle shades of golden/yellow/green, with darker green striping. They are beefsteak like in shape and size and have a delicious tart flavour with deep sweet overtones. Very, very juicy perfect for slicing fresh but as a fried or grilled tomato they are sublime. Perhaps the origin of the fa-mous ‘Fried green tomato’! Orange variety

Caro Riche - COBeautiful smooth orange fruit medium to large size with delicious and dense flesh excellent for cooking. This tomato has an exceptionally high beta-carotene

and vitamin A content ( up to 10 times that of other tomatoes). A cordon type, high yielding.

Old Flame - COBi-colour orange/yellow streaked red beefsteak like fruits, though range in size, medium-large. Incredibly beau-tiful and have sweet, utterly delicious meaty flesh with low acidity. Very, very productive continuing to fruit well into late Autumn. Old American heirloom from West Virginia dating from the 1880’s.

Purple / Black variety

Black Krim A Russian heirloom variety. The large fruits are unique looking, dark red-pur-ple, juicy and have a rich sweet flavour. Popular variety for many chefs.

Brown Berry - CO An unusual variety with cherry-type fruit dressed in appealing, earthy- brown skins. More than a novelty - the fruits have very good flavour and are semi-sweet and juicy. Indeterminate vines that are sturdy and uniform. Pro-duces over a long season.

Cherokee Purple - COAn heirloom of Cherokee Indian origin. The vines, though cordons, are relative-ly short. The fruits are unusual, large, beefsteak like, up to 300g each. They ripen to a dusky dark purple/ pink/ brown, with a sweet, rich, smoky fla-vour.

Gabacho Negro - CO This unusual tomato came to us from a seed saving community in Portugal. The name literally is ‘the Black French Guy’. A striking fruit to look at, the fruit is oval in shape and has an amaz-ing dark red colour, with darker shoul-ders, medium sized and absolutely ideal for cooking delicious sauces. A cordon type and healthy cropper too.

34

Caro Riche

35

CARROT, PARSNIP, CELERIAC, CELERY, ROOT PARSLEYUMBELLIFERAE FAMILY

Carrots (Daucus carota)NB. When sowing carrots it can aid germination if when sowing you cover the seed in a layer of fine sand. They will grow easily in deep boxes which can provide some protection from slugs which can decimate tiny seedlings in the ground.

Belgium WhiteProbably the best cultivated white car-rot praised in 1863 as ‘remarkable for its productiveness’. It does indeed grow to a big size with mild sweet flavour and crisp, crunchy texture. Tansy thought it one of the most delicious carrots when cooked.

Beta lll - COSUPPORTERS ONLYA variety bred in the US for the high carotene content (three times the norm). Dark orange/red roots a medium size tapered with no hard centre. Especially good when eaten young.

Danvers - CO An American heirloom carrot that orig-inated among market gardeners near Danvers, Massachusettes in the late 1800’s. Adapted to many different soil types, this main crop variety stores well. Deep orange flesh, thick tapered roots around 15-20cm long, nearly coreless, good flavour.

Erstling CzechThis carrot came out of the Czech gene bank, bred in the 1940s, a time of expert plant breeding. These deliciously fla-voursome and very juicy carrots grow to a medium sized main crop.

Limburg Yellow - CODelicious vibrant golden-yellow carrot with crisp smooth flesh. It comes origi-nally from the Limburg province in the Netherlands. Grows vigorously from a Spring sowing and good for winter stor-age. It is also proven by some gardeners to be less prone to carrot root fly than the orange varieties.

Longue Jaune des DoubsSUPPORTERS ONLYA delicious bright lemon yellow car-rot from France dating back to 1800’s. Crisp dense flesh with an almost fruity flavour, sweet and well balanced. Jo with the Belgium White

36

Parsnips (Pastinaca sativa)

Parsnip is an ancient vegetable traces of which have been found in archaeo-logical digs in prehistoric sites on the continent. By Roman times it was do-mesticated and much enjoyed and prob-ably in Ireland and Britain was a main stay winter food before the arrival of the potato. In an Ancient text of ‘Sim-ple Medicine’ by Platerius it is recom-mended ‘ raw or cooked, for those who have just recovered from illness or mel-ancholy’. Thus the perfect antidote to winter blues. It is best to sow fresh seed each year, parsnip is the most short lived of our seeds, the germination rate drops to about 50% by the second year. Bedford Monarch - COA rare, old variety of open-pollinat-ed parsnip. Large broad roots with smooth white skin, utterly delicious when roasted. Very good canker resis-tance. John, a local grower, reported excellent tolerance to the cold – in the ‘big freeze’ of a few winters ago, after removing the soil on top with a pick-axe, he was able to pull perfectly clean parsnip from the frozen ground with no effort – and delighted in their sweet, delicious flavour. Nicky Griffin sows in may, 3 seeds per station, 15cm apart. Some roots reached 3lb in weight, the size of a mans hand across but retained the excellent flavour.

Suttons Student - CO Introduced to the market in 1861 select-ed from wild stock or ‘ennobled’ by a Professor at Cirencester Agricultural College. It was then taken up by Sut-tons. This long cultivated variety has long tapering roots of good size and pleasant flavour.

ViceroySUPPORTERS ONLYAnother rare old variety coming origi-nally from an heirloom collection from Seeds by Size in England. Long taper-ing roots, sweet to eat and very hardy.

Celeriac (Apium graveolens)

Giant Prague - COA variety that goes back to 1871, this is a great winter vegetable with good sized, globed roots and white flesh. Very tasty in soups and stews or even roasted, with that distinctive ‘celery’ flavour

Celery (Apium graveolens)

Red Venture - CO A productive plant of succulent red stalks, much more juicy and tender than expected from a red variety. Unusual looking with deep red stems with bright green leaves. The stalks retain their colour when cooked.

37

Root Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)(Subsp. tuberosum)

Halas - COThis is the continental parsley often known as Hamburg parsley. Rather than eating the leaves, this parsley is grown for eating its root. The variety actually comes from Croatia. It has broad shoulders with a conical shape and good flavour. Dig them in autumn/winter and use them as you would pars-nips, good roasted with other roots and tubers.

SALAD LEAVES & GREENS

The following crops are very well suit-ed to either early spring sowing or late summer/ autumn sowing, giving fresh nutritious greens for salad and cooking throughout the year. If sown early sum-mer they tend to bolt (go to seed) very rapidly in response to the long light days, so at least delay sowing until af-ter the midsummer solstice. Most are very cold tolerant but will grow more lush undercover in winter.

Claytonia/ Winter purslane SUPPORTERS ONLYAn attractive winter salad crop. The leaves and stems are both edible and have a refreshingly succulent mild fla-vour. Can be used on a cut and come basis, has pretty white flowers which

are also edible. Sometimes called ‘Min-ers lettuce’, as it formed a valuable part of the diet of miners in the 1850’s gold rush in America, helping to prevent scurvy when fresh vegetables were scarce. Self seeds easily.

Corn Salad/ Lambs LettuceThis hardy salad has been cultivated and eaten for hundreds of years. The small green leaves have a soft texture and mild, gentle flavour invaluable in winter salads. Aso known as field salad or mache.

De Vit Lambs Lettuce - COEasy to grow, vigorous variety for Spring and autumn sowing, mildew re-sistant. Has lovely glossy green leaves that are tender and delicate.

Endive, Winter of Bordeaux - CO Endive is eaten widely on the conti-nent and this French heirloom, broad-leaf type is easy to grow; very hardy so can be used for an over-winter crop. Its crisp furled leaves give nice texture to salads, though they have a slightly bit-ter edge (this stimulates the appetite). Leaves respond well to cut and come again treatment making them a most productive winter salad.

N.B. If you prefer the leaves slightly sweeter, endive can be easily blanched (exclude light for a few days by either tying up the outside leaves over the cen-tre ones, or covering the entire plant with a container).

38

February Orchid - COSUPPORTERS ONLYThis is a brassica plant also known as ‘Chinese Violet Cress’, used for salad or cooking greens. Coming originally from China made popular by Joy Lar-koms’ recommendation, it gives mild but tasty leaves through the Winter, followed by beautiful violet flowers in Spring which are also edible

Hayachinena Japanese Greens - CO Wonderful mustard greens with lush big, brilliant green leaves. A delicious flavour, not too strong, especially nice steamed, and served with a lemon juice and soya sauce dressing.

Mizuna - COA Japanese green that grows as a large rosette of fineley lobed leaves, crisp with a characteristic peppery flavour that spices up a salad and can also be used in stir fry. To have a continuous supply of young leaves keep cutting regularly.

Mustard Lettuce - CO This one captured the interest of many visitors. Brilliant emerald green leaves with curly, serrated-edges - most attrac-tive. A great flavour with the distinct

mustard hot tang. It can be used in salads or cooked. Its very hardy and can be grown out-doors all winter as well as under cover, with a long growing season.

Pac Choi Tai Sai - COA fine sturdy heirloom variety, with long, deep green leaves, juicy white stems, giving a fresh taste to salad and stir fry.

Ruby streaks mustard - CO A lovely ornamental mustard leaf, with deeply serrated leaves, flashed deep with purple-magenta veining. Quite a tender mild mustard flavour to liven up salads, and good for steaming or stir fry.

Salad mix - CO A mix of lush cut-n-come varieties of salads. Including lettuce, cornsal-ad, mustard leaves, pac choi, endive, shungiku and herbs.

Shungiku / Chop Suey Greens - CO A surprise in the salad bowl – flavour-some serrated leaves that taste some-where between celery and carrots. Grows well over winter under cover and also provids a spectacular display of yellow and orange flowers in early summer that are a big hit with the bees, hover-flies and other beneficial insects as well as visitors – delightful.

Shungiku GreensShungiku Flower

39

HERBS

Angelica (Angelica archangelica)This herb took its name from an angel that revealed its virtues of protection from infection to a monk. It is a statu-esque bienniel, though often lives lon-ger and can reach 2m high. All parts of the plant are subtly aromatic and have both medicinal and culinary uses.It is often cooked in conjunction with tart fruits like rhubarb as it helps reduce the acidity. The seeds are used in biscuits and both seed and root are ingredients in some liqueurs.Easy to grow, prefers damp ground and self seeds readily.

Coriander, GilGil (Coriandrum sativum) - COA hardy annual, with characteristic pun-gent leaves used in salads, curries and pickles. This variety was brought to us from the Kenyan seed savers in 2017, very vigorous and easy to grow. For a constant supply sow direct, little and often from early Spring. Coriander has a long history of use, seeds were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, these days the seeds have been found helpful in lowering blood cholesterol levels.

Dill, Sweet Mona’s (Anethum graveolens)Very easy to grow, sow in April, with lovely aromatic ferny leaves, used in salads, pickles and sauces. The seeds are also used for flavouring (particu-

larly in gherkins) Lovely flowers, with clear lemon-yellow heads, attractive to many beneficial insects.

Sacred Basil (Ocimum sanctum) - CO This is a hardy cousin of the usual basil. It produces smaller, sweetly pungent leaves and attracts hundreds of bees when in flower. It is easy to grow and produces well outdoors as well as un-der cover. Can be used in salads, pes-tos, sauces and herb teas. Also know as ‘Holy Basil’ or ‘Tulsi’, as a lot of health benefits.

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)

Note; Parsley can survive through our mild winters outdoors but if you want to be sure of a supply of those wonderful-ly nutritious leaves for soup and salad, dig up a couple of plants at the end of summer and replant undercover. Leave it growing a little longer in Spring and you will easily be able to harvest some seed from the flowering umbrels.

Frise Vert Fonce - COThis translates as ‘curled, dark green’ an accurate description of this old French vari-ety. The tightly curled leaves are held clear of the ground on long stalks for clean and easy harvest.

40

Gigante d’ ItaliaFlat leaf heirloom parsley from Italy, with early seedling vigour and prolific, strong growing, large, open plants. High yielding dark green, lush leaves with rich, sweet flavour. The thick stalks can be eaten like celery.

Yerevan – COGood hardy landrace parsley from an Armenian market place (as the name suggests). Flat-leaved, with great fla-vour and hardy large clumps, we picked from the outdoor plants all through the winter.

FLOWERS & FRUIT

A – AnnualP – PerennialB – Biennial

Calendula Marigold - A - CO What garden would be complete with-out these brilliant, cheerful orange and yellow-gold flowers? Flower petals can be eaten, good for companion planting and lots of medicinal uses. Self-seeds with abundance.

California Poppy – A - CO SUPPORTERS ONLYBrilliant orange flowers that continue opening throughout the summer. In-tense colour that brings joy even on the greyest day. Lovely fine blue/green pinnate (feathery) foliage. Best grown in full sun. Seeds develop in long slim pods that can be harvested as they dry.

Chamomile - A Pretty yellow centred white flowers with a pungent smell. Very easy to grow, they flower from early Summer to late Autumn. The dried flowers can be harvested eight weeks after sowing and used for herbal tea which is reputed to soothe the stomach.

Echinacea purpurea – POnce established echinacea is quite hardy, it grows best in a sunny position. The flowers are ideal for cutting, they are tall pinky/mauve and daisy-like, with pronounced cone centers of or-angey-brown (sometimes called cone flower), blooming July - September. The medicinal value is now widely recognized (it was long used by Native Americans Tribes) for stimulating the immune system, an effective de-toxi-cant, promotes healing and has anti-vi-rus and anti-bacterial effects. It is the rhizomes and roots that are used, dug and dried, for infusions, powders and tinctures.

Calendula

41

Elephant Amaranth - A - COThis is a plant with character and strik-ing beauty. A Heirloom that went to the USA with German immigrants in 1880, but is in fact an ancient grain of both the far East and the Aztecs. The name Am-aranth actually comes from the greek for ‘everlasting’.It can grow up to 1.5 m tall, thick maroon red flower stalk that looks like an upraised elephant trunk, from whence the name comes. As well as a stunning flower display , the young leaves are edible and late in the season will give a plentiful amount of nutri-tious high protein seeds.

Evening Primrose – B - CO Easy to grow, tall plant that opens its beautiful yellow phosphorescent flow-ers in the evening which also gives rise to such names as ‘Evening star’ or ‘Moths Moonflower’. Another com-mon name is ‘Kings cure all’ as this plant has so many medicinal properties. The Oijbwe tribe in America were per-haps the first to realise the medicinal potential, using it as a poultice to heal bruising and skin problems but also to help asthma. All parts of Evening prim-rose can be eaten, the roots apparently taste like parsnip!

French Honeysuckle – PSUPPORTERS ONLYA hardy perennial, once seen never for-gotten! 1m high open bush with silver rimmed leaves and fantastic, fragrant, dense spikes of crimson red flowers, rich in nectar and exotic in appearance.

Best grown in a sunny position but like s moist soil and is also Nitrogen fixing.

Morning Glory – A - COSUPPORTERS ONLYTwining climber with heart-shaped lobed bright green leaves. Big funnel shaped flowers of an intense, vibrant purple that keep opening all summer into autumn. Can grow to over 4m high and flowers best with some protection.

Mugwort - POnce known as ‘the Mother of herbs’ with many uses. Being very aromat-ic it is a good insect repellent, indeed even the name possibly comes from old English meaning ‘Midge plant’. A tall plant with yellow or reddish brown flowers and a silvery fuzz on the leaves, used as a yellow dye, as flavouring in fish and meat dishes or even stuffed in the shoes to ward off travel weariness and fatigue.

Poppy mix - A - CO This is a mix of various shades of poppy, pink, magenta, mauve purple and some with frilly petals or double blooms! Easy to grow, direct sow, self seed easily.

Russian Sunflowers – A - COThey grow up to 1.5m tall, with huge brilliant yellow flower heads and dark centers. Despite the size, they are multi-flowering, so make a good show over a long period. They need some support. The seeds are large, so may provide a good food crop too.

42

Sunflower Mix - A The perfect choice for any sunflow-er lover, this mix will attract a love-ly crowd of pollinators and provide blooms all summer long. Leave seeds to ripen for birds.

Sweet Pea – A - COSUPPORTERS ONLYOld fashioned mix of absolutely vi-brant colours, pink, white, mauve, pur-ple,deep red – with that most lovely evocative fragrance.

Sweet William – B - CO Early flowering, lovely fragrant mix of bright shades of pink and white. Long, firm stems making it an ideal cut flower through early summer.

Tagetes Marigold Pinwheel metamorph - A - CO These make an absolutely stunning display of dark red,orange and yellow concentric, stripped flowers, blooming in vivid profusion from May – October. Tall plants up to 1m high with the pun-gent smell of the tagetes marigolds that can also help to confuse pests. Given to us by Peace Seeds in Oregon.

Cinnibar Gt Dixter - A One of the best ornamentals with deep, rusty red, single flowers outlined in yel-low. Prefers a sunny position, growing up to 1m tall and long blooming through summer and autumn.

Wildflower mix A mix of brightly coloured annual and

biennial flowers which attract butter-flies, bees and other insects; flowers from April to September. Included in the mix are wild campion, foxgloves, poppies, linseed, bluebell, oxeye daisy, ragged robin, angelica, mullien, sweet cicely woad, , clover and vetch . Al-ways sow in bare cultivated soil with fine tilth to get established.

Rhubarb

Bull ‘ N’ Gate - PThis is a mighty rhubarb with huge, long thick stalks. The growing of the original crown goes back 100 years. To grow from seed sow in pots or modules Spring – Autumn and allow splants to develop for a season before planting out the most vigorous in final position, rich, moist soil with plenty of compost.stalks, slightly tart in flavour. Came to us from Walker family in Ballingate, Co Wicklow.

Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana)Coqueret de Perou - CO These need some protection to get start-ed, and produce much better under cover though can grow successfully outdoors. They are perennial, but often grown as an annual growing up to 2m so may need support. During winter cover the root clump with mulch for protection. They have very lovely lantern flowers which develop to contain edible round golden fruits, with a delicious tangy/sweet flavour and high in vitamin C.

39

BIG Workshop Weekends at Irish Seed Savers

Make the most of your annual subscription by learning new skills in gardening, biodiversity care, and

self-sufficiency. 10% discount available to supporters.To make the most go to: www.irishseedsavers.ie

Spring Workshop Weekend - March 21 & 22Summer Workshop Weekend - June 13 & 14

Autumn Workshop Weekend - September 26 & 27Winter Workshop Weekend - November 7 & 8

Creating an Orchard, Grafting, Natural Skincare & Cosmetic Making,Making the most of your Polytunnel, Organic Gardening, Soil Health,

Herbal Medicine Making, Bird Watching, Wild Food Foraging, Gardening for Seniors, Cider Making, Beer Making, Hydrosol Making,

Fermenting & Cultured Food, Permaculture Design, Beekeeping Botanical Drawing, Biodynamic Gardening and of Course Seed Saving!

We share our knowledge so you too can make a difference. We get very positive feedback from participants who are delighted with the hands on expert tutors, sharing their years of experience. The weekend format also offers you the opportunity to meet like-minded people and to spend some time in our gardens, orchards and woodlands in beautiful East Clare.

Get Your Schools InvolvedOur Education team also offers to help you attain your Green Flag award in schools, and

delivers biodiversity workshops, and setting up school gardens. Contact education@irishseedsavers.ie for information on school visits.

Bird Watching Cider Making Herbal Medicine

BacardiBroad Bean

DaikonRadish

Red Pear Tomato

RobinsonPea

Sacred Basil Sendai Ki winter onion

Shungiku Chop Suy Greens

Spring Cabbage

Bolivian HairyChilli Pepper

Mrs RucksTomato Calendula Pac Choi

True Platinium Sweet Corn

Viceroy Parsnip

Winter RoscoffCauliflower Lyon Leek

Tagetes Marigold

CalendulaMarigold

James Long Keeping Onion

IzjatnoiCucumber

Irish Seed Savers Association are very grateful to Pobal, Clare LEADER, the Depart-ment of Agriculture, The Jackson Foundation, DCCAE and the Irish Environmental Network, Clare County Council, Patagonia & The Tides Foundation, SEAI, The GAIA Foundation, The Heritage Council and Croí publishing for their very valued support of our organisation.