Some basic notes on how to grow your gardeners packets of wild flower seeds
Sow your seeds into a seed tray using a sieved seed compost. Protect the larger seeds from being dug up by mice. Cover the moist tray with a piece of stiff white plastic this helps prevent the number 1 problem: the (surface of) the tray drying out! Ideally put a watering tray underneath to keep the compost moist but not soggy. If you have a heated bench they’ll germinate faster. Avoid putting the tray in direct sunlight until after all the seedlings have emerged, just watch the moisture levels. Cover with horticultural fleece at night until the frosty nights are over, until the seedlings are bigger.
When new seedlings have stopped emerging and (as a general rule) they have their first small true leaves, prick them out of the seed tray and into modules or pots. Take them off any heat at this stage, but keep under cover at night in a greenhouse/polytunnel/windowcill.
Once they grow large enough in their pots and all chance of frost has passed they can be planted outside where you want them.
If you put them in a well tended flower bed you’ll get the best out of them, they love to be fed and kept watered.
The plants can survive managed grass once they reach maturity, some can spread if you leave the seeds to mature and fall. Agricultural grasses will choke small trees, imagine what it does to flowers, grass, above all, needs controlled by grazing/cutting in winter.
Creating wild flower meadows just like in nature is a tough act to follow but we humans can do it. We need to connect to the plants, observe how they’re doing regularly, think about the system as a whole and correct problems.
There’s a whole industry on the subject, but the best way to get started is with the seed, experimenting and learning :).
Our Shop Mission
To provide seeds for sale to help fund conservation of our native wild flora and the wild life that they support, for us now and for generations to come, while at the same time providing top quality seeds for all our customers.
Native Wild Flower Seed Bank
By buying your seeds here, you are supporting True Harvest Seeds charity which is continuing our conservation work of populating the Native Wild Flower Seed Bank.
The Seed Bank, is just that, a bank (and not a museum) and seeds in it can be withdrawn for research and restoration purposes should native populations need help.
Seed Sources
Our parent wild flower seeds are sourced from local land owners, who donated seed with express permission for us to grow them out for seed to have to sell – giving our public, for the first time, the option of buying gardeners/community group sized packets. This means you too can support our flora by growing native-origin plants, which are the right plants for the wild life that depends upon them.
Growing the Seed
We grow the wild flower seed in our field at Kilclief. We are registered organic with the Soil Association and about to finish the “In Conversion” period. On 5th May 2022 we will be fully registered organic with the Soil Association. We sow, plant and harvest by hand. We use the tractor for soil preparation and weeding.
We only sell our wild flower seeds within the island of Ireland.
Vegetable Seeds
Our vegetable seeds are sourced from Europe’s best seed houses. We buy in bulk so we can give you better value. 2022 is our second year and we’ve kept going because of our customer’s support. Everything we buy is at least organic standard, with many varieties being Demeter standard. This is because we want to supply you with great seed and also support those who take the time and trouble to produce it. As our customer base grows we can increase buying power and we’ll be passing even better value on to you.
We grow some herb and vegetable seed so you can continue to buy good fresh seed from plants that do well in our climate.
All the seeds we sell are open pollinated so you can save your own seed if you want to do the same!
Our vegetable seeds can be purchased throughout NI, EIRE, EU and GB.
Commercial Growers
We will be spending time this year developing the capacity to offer larger packet sizes. We’d love to hear what you’d like to see here, what would be useful for you to have? Send us an email on shop@trueharvestseeds.org and you can help steer our direction to best serve you.
Resilience
We want people in our country to know about seeds, how to sow and even grow them, how to save them successfully and share them over the garden fence.
There’s tons of “how to” videos out there on youtube and we are really enjoying spending our time providing the best seeds for you.
The rest is up to you and your soil and the weather ????
Gratitude
Producing enough seeds for everyone is quite a job. Without the help of all of us on the team and so many more behind the scenes it would not have been possible. So give a big thanks to the people and to the earth for providing these lovely seeds for us all.
Volunteering
If you would like to come and help, with the easing of lockdowns and the outdoor nature of our activities, we are accepting new enquiries again. Particularly in administration and shop sales. This role we hope will expand into a paid job.
By joining in with current activities you can start to absorb how to grow seeds, harvest them, save them effectively and sow them again ????
See the Volunteering page for details.
