Seeds, Tubers & Trees, A Seedsaving Workshop with hortculuturist Lucy Bell!
I’m delighted to be part of the third year of the Kildare Library Service Seed Library Project! I’m back for the autumn term doing 5 workshops over the next few weeks in some of the libraries in Kildare! More information and book your FREE place below!
Seeds, Tubers & Trees, A seedsaving workshop with horticulturist Lucy Bell.
How do you grow our wonderful native trees from seed and cuttings, how do you grow food & save some seed for next year! Also an introduction to interesting and unusual perennial crops, roots, tubers and taking cuttings! We’ll be talking all things seed, food growing, tree nurseries and generally how to grow plants from seed to seed with hands on examples during the session!
Book your FREE place in the seedaving workshops here!
SESSION 1: Dates: Tuesday 9th September 2025 – 6.15pm
Venue: Celbridge Library
SESSION 2: Date: Saturday 13th September 2025 – 11am
Venue: Maynooth Library
SESSION 3: Dates: Saturday 13th September 2025 – 2.30pm
Venue:Kildare Town Library
Session 4: Tuesday 16th September 2025 – 6.15pm
Venue: Newbridge Library
Session 5: Saturday 27th September 2025
Venue: Athy Library
Seed-saving is an ancient tradition that was passed down through generations and has become ever more important with the onset of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Saving seeds saves money and conserves heirloom varieties from extinction and develops resilient seed varieties.
This workshop is part of the launch of the new county-wide Kildare Seed Library project. Library users can borrow up to 3 packets of seeds to grow their own vegetables, herbs and edible flowers: saving seeds to share with friends or return to the library.
Seed-saving is an ancient tradition that was passed down through generations and has become ever more important with the onset of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Saving seeds from your vegetables and plants saves money, conserves heirloom varieties from extinction and develops resilient seed varieties. These workshops are forming the launch of the new county-wide Kildare Seed Library project and will help give you an insight into plant botany and the art of seed-saving.
More information on Seed sovereignty and the importance of seedsaving here!
More information about the facilitator:
Lucy is a Kildare-based organic horticulturalist with over 15 years’ experience in food growing, establishing school gardens and teaching people how to grow food in community settings through her company Growing Wild. She has a wealth of experience and passion for seed-saving: having completed the Seed Guardian course with the Irish Seed Savers Association and the Gaia Foundation’s Intermediate Seed-saving course.
More information about the Seed Library Project:
After a successful pilot project in 2023, Kildare Library Service is pleased to announce the expansion of the Kildare Seed Library in 2024. Now based in all our main libraries (Athy, Celbridge, Kildare Town, Leixlip, Maynooth, Naas and Newbridge), the Kildare Seed Library is a collection of organic and open-pollinated seeds available for our library members to use. We have included some heritage varieties which have been preserved and passed down through generations: resilient varieties which have adapted effectively to our changing climate and retained their high quality.
Through this project, we hope to encourage people to grow, eat and share their own vegetables, herbs and edible flowers – ideally without using pesticides and chemicals. Saving the seeds of these plants is a valuable skill practiced over generations. We want to empower people to learn how to seed-save through a range of workshops as part of the project launch. Seed-saving creates a culture of self-sufficiency and sharing, and safeguards varieties adapted to local conditions while also preserving biodiversity.
Library members can ‘borrow’ up to three packets of organic seeds to sow this season. We have chosen varieties which are easy to grow in gardens or pots, and have a high likelihood of success. The plants will also encourage healthy eating through the summer and autumn. We hope people will try to let a few of their plants ‘go to seed’, which means letting a plant grow flowers and collecting their seeds to dry out and save for future use. Saved seeds can be shared with your local community or ‘returned’ to the library in our special donation envelopes. We would like these donated seeds to have been grown without the use of chemicals to preserve the integrity of the library seeds.
To use this service, you need to be a member of Kildare Libraries. It is free to join online or in any of our branches. Throughout the year we will be hosting talks and events to support Kildare’s gardening community, including seed-saving workshops in our main library branches. Subscribe to the library newsletter(s) for details of forthcoming events: https://kildarecoco.ie/library/newsletter/index.html
Through this project, Kildare Libraries aspire to contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 13 (Climate Action) and 15 (Life on Land).