Guildford Seed Bank Initiative

Who we are?

A community project dedicated to saving and swapping open pollinated seeds in the Guildford, Godalming and Farnham areas to preserve as wide a diversity of plants as possible, by growing, saving and sharing - ensuring they are accessible to all. Our first growing season was 2022, and since then we have distributed thousands of packets of locally saved seed including rare and heirloom varieties. We run an annual seed swap in Guildford bringing gardneners and allotment holders together to share seeds.

Latest news: A selection of seeds and envelopes will available at Haslemere library for Green Libraries Week "Seeds of Change" - 27 October - 2 November

Coming up: Guildford Seed Swap 2026 - 1 March 1100-1400 at the Trinity Centre, Trinity Churchyard, Guildford

"I will argue that every scrap of biological diversity is priceless, to be learned and cherished, and never to be surrendered without a struggle."

-E.O. Wilson

What is a seed bank?

A community seed bank, sometimes known as a seed library, is geared toward protecting biodiversity, is a way for people to save seed, and share locally-adapted seed. Unlike the massive seed banks which keep seed in cold temperatures for decades, a community seed bank is all about saving and using the seed in the next growing season – a renewing cycle each season.

We strongly believe that in a world where our food security is threatened, every single person should have access to seed. This can allow us to collectively plan as communities how we adapt to a changing planet.

2025 will hopefully see Guildford Seed Bank evolve and grow – we already have seed swap libraries at Guildford and Haslemere libraries as well as at Zero Carbon Guildford’s new home. The seed swap in February was our best yet with over 200 attendees with over 600 packets of seed to swap for something different, including a large number of seeds saved by members of the Guildford Seed Bank including a number of rare and heirloom varieties.

If you have seed from a variety of flower or vegetable that you have grown for years or that has been passed down to you, or if you know of local varieties that you would like to see preserved then please do get in contact.

The aims of Guildford Seed Bank can be summarised in the following six points:

Growing and saving seed with an aim to preserve biodiversity and maintain heritage/heirloom varieties - especially those with a local connection and those which may no longer be commercially available, to develop and maintain locally adapted, resilient varieties.

Sharing seed, plants and cuttings between ourselves and the wider community through the running of an annual seed swap event in Guildford

Distributing spare seed from local growers and from seed companies, avoiding waste, through the seed libraries in the local area.

Outreach to promote awareness through events, social media and collaborating with other local and national seed saving organisations.

Education on practical seed saving, propagating plants and understanding and experimenting on how we adapt to growing plants in a changing climate and recording and disseminating the results of our trials.

Promote diversity and inclusion in our activities to ensure all people have an opportunity to contribute and participate in the aims of Guildford Seed Bank, free from barriers or discrimination.

2024 was another challenging growing year and like 2023, was a cooler, wetter summer, but we have still managed to collect decent amounts of seed to distribute at seed swaps and local events. A selection of herbs and vegetables which will be on offer at the 2025 seed swap are below:

Tomatoes: Quadro, Yellow Drop, Hillbilly Potato Leaf, Jersey Devil, Black From Tula

Beans: Kew Blue, Uncle Bills (a climbing French bean grown in the Farncombe and Elstead area for the last 50 years), Old Homestead as well as some rare varieties such as Jacobs Cattle Beans and Montezuma's Red

Peas: Carlin Peas, Rosakrone

Chilli: Hot Wax, Aleppo

Herbs: Flat leaf parsley, lovage, chives, basil

Salads & Leafy Greens: Cos Lettuce, raddiccio, chard

A larger list will be published and distributed ahead of the event which will include varieties that we are looking for more volunteers to grow on so we can bulk up the amount of available seed of some rare or at risk varieties.

Upcoming Events & Features

Previous Events:

Guildford Seed Swap 2025, 23 February, 1100-1400 at the Trinity Centre, Trinity Churchyard (off Guildford High Street). There will be displays on seed saving and growing in a small space with seeds that we have selected

6 October 2024 - Guildford Seed Bank Autumn Gathering comes at the end of this year's harvest. Hear about seed saving techniques from expert speaker André Tranquilini, Head Gardener at Waltham Place.

14 August 2023 - Godalming Green Gala, Bury's Field

1 October 2022, 10:00-14:00 Hart Shopping Centre, Fleet

We'll be there with a stall as part of the Great Big Green Week organised by Hart District Council

16 October 2022, 11:00-13:00, The Spike Community Centre, Warren Road, Guildford GU1 3JH

We are hosting a ‘hands-on’ seed saving course with expert Peter Brinch of the Open-Pollinated Seeds Initiative at The Spike Community Centre, Guildford. Join us for a fun morning of learning how to save seeds for key vegetable crops, covering details such as pollination, isolation, number of plants required, seed harvesting, extraction and storage.

Find Out More

Seed Swap

Seeds

The community seed swap in February 2022 formed part of our launch day for the Guildford Seed Bank, a seed sovereignty initiative aimed at giving the community a thriving, sustainable source of seeds that are adapted to local growing conditions. We are very greatful to the suppliers who have kindly donated seeds for the previous events, and will be running a similar event early in 2024.

Seed Bank

How does it work?

The aim of the seed bank is to build a network of growers who are interested in seed saving and who are keen to get more people growing. Each grower (or group) then waits for the plant to go produce seed and harvests it. In the autumn we will then get together to pool our harvests. The seeds will then be distributed to anyone who would like to grow their own.

Seed Library

We now have a new location for the seed library in Guildford Library for people to swap and exchange seeds and collect those grown by the volunteers of the Guildford Seed Bank. It is just outside the non-fiction section on the first floor.