Tiny yet resilient

On a drizzly grey March afternoon, faced with an empty raised bed and a carrier bag full of 'expired' seeds, the Veg Patch Sprouts gathered to conduct a little seedy experiment. What if rather than throwing the seeds on the compost, we decided to give the seeds a chance and trust that at least a few of them would germinate? Well, here's the result!

As you can see, our supposedly dud seeds have created a kaleidoscopic cheery welcome to the garden, providing vital food and shelter throughout the heatwave(s) for countless insects, as well as daily doses of joy as new flowers have emerged. The kids have loved exploring the flowers, and have even created bug-eye view videos of the flower 'jungle'.

These plants will remain in-situ for the time being, as it's really important to us that the Sprouts bear witness to each step in the lifecycle of the seeds, but more importantly the plants will continue to provide food and habitat to those we share the space with, long after their flowers have died. And of course we will harvest some of the seeds to share via the Seed Library.

So there we are, if you are fortunate enough to have a little unused ground, or even a tray, why not take a punt and sow those ‘expired’ flower seeds. You never know what life you will unleash!