Urgent appeal for seeds for a good cause

Hi everyone!

The nature park I volunteer at are holding a beekeeping event in two weeks time and I have been asked to help out. We have bee hives on site and these will be open to the public to suit up and have a look inside the hives.

We are hoping to be expanding on the day so it won't just be about beekeeping but also garden bees in general. I've got the bumble bee conservation trust involved, who have supplied some fact sheets for the public to read.

But I was hoping to donate some of my bee friendly plant seeds to be given out to the public to take home and sow, helping bees in the process. However my stocks do seem to be running very low as I've already donated 2/3s of my seeds to the trust already.

So I am asking all members if they have any seeds going spare, even out of date seeds that they are able to send to me to give to the public. Foxgloves in particular would be great as they can be sown soon anyway.

Apologies to the mods for posting this in the general section but this is for a good cause.

Anyone interested to help please post in this thread and I will drop you a pm with my address shortly.

Thanks everyone

 

I'll have a rummage, JJ - as you know I hope to be moving soon, so anything I stumble across will have your name on them

You might find this article interesting: Dungeness bumblebee hopes rest on 50 Swedish queens

 

Thanks M

I've drawn up a brief list of bee friendly plants that if anyone has any seeds of that would be great.

Aquilegia
Borage
Californian Poppies
Cardoons
Chives
Echinaceas
Cornflowers
Cosmos
Delphiniums
Forget Me Not
Foxgloves
Echnopsis
Hollyhock
Lupins
Ox Eyed Daisies
Poached Egg Plants
Poppies / Oriental Poppies
Rubbeckias
Runner Beans
Sea Hollys
Sunflowers
Sweet Peas
Teasels
Verbena
Wallflowers

If anyone would like to add to this list please feel free to do so.

 

I will be culling seed parcel this week Jane I will post what I can. already have your address.

 

I will take everything I can, I just PM'd you my address. How could you throw away forget me nots?! They are beautiful things.

Many thanks Pam

Many thanks. I will drop you a PM shortly.

 

Posting today.

 

Hi JJ

Well, a very nice man amongst my network of folk, just happened to have a LOT of packs of seeds that he no longer needed. I just happened to mention that a friend of mine needed some to assist a charity and today he left a bag full of seeds at my desk!

Now, some are a year or so out of date and I'm not clever enough to know if they are bee friendly (although I believe most are) and not all of them would be ok for throwing/sowing/growing *this* year - but: the bees feeding on this years bounty will increase the number of bees needing nectar *next* year too is my thinking )

PM me your address and I'll get them off to you

 

I think this is a very worthy cause. Well done @Jungle Jane.

Do these seeds have to be whole, unopened packets? And do they have to be commercially produced or can they be stuff we've collected?

I have some spare opium poppy seeds. I also have something that is sold as a green manure. Its a relative of borage and comfrey, but not actually either. I chose it because its supposed to be bee friendly.

I also have various unopened, or part used packs of seeds you can have. Just PM me your address and I'll have a rummage and you can have whatever I've got going spare.

I'd add nasturtium to your list of bee plants too. Bumbles love them and they flower for ages. Ideal for the younger gardeners too as they are so easy to handle, so easy to grow, and can go in any time now. I have some somewhere but i haven't seen them for ages, I'll see if I can find them too.

 

That's excellent news! I shall take all the seeds that people pretty much want to give now, even out of date ones or non bee friendly ones. I shall PM you.

This is because over the past two years I have been donating surplus seeds I collect from my garden to the visitor center I work at. As my garden has become more stocked up with plants, so the numbers of packets have increased. I started off making 50 packets in the first year and then last year made 100. Each packet of seed is made from a little wage envelope with a label stuck on the front and sometimes a small button bag for very small seeds. It costs about 4p to make and we ask for 50p per packet and they go quite quickly. I count them every time I work there and roughly 10 a week go.

I think I must have raised £75 so far and want to keep this going. As the Bee day is this weekend I don't think the seeds will arrive to me in time, be repackaged and then given to the public. I had another look into my biscuit tin and found I did indeed have enough foxglove seeds to create about 30 packets of seeds. But I will not turn down other seeds as these will all be on sale to the public. I've donated vegetable seeds to in the past, which also prove to be very popular.

The great thing as well is that some other gardeners who visit us are bringing in their own seeds too. I got some Foxglove Alba to sow this month which I'm really looking forward to introducing to the garden.

I will take whole or opened packets. Sometimes with the opened packets I will mix them with another opened packet of seeds, say Sunflowers for example and sell them as Sunflowers Mixed, then list on the label what is included. Unopened ones are simply placed out as they arrive, even out of date ones. I've sown out of date seeds for years and most come out ok in the end.

Nasturtium's are indeed bee friendly and I forgot to add these

Sorry Shiney I forgot to get back to you. I thought I would wait until Shineyland was over and then contact you but forgot to. Sorry about that. The good news they have arrived and will be put out for sale next week.

I also got the seed swap package from Pamsdish. I'm thrilled there are giant pumpkin seeds in there too, as we are hoping to plant up a pumpkin field ready for Halloween and a couple of giant ones would be great.