Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Virtual Seed Bank

If you could donate the seeds of one plant which was typical of your area to a seed bank, what would it be? Here in northern Italy there's no question - it would have to be the Lombardy Poplar (Populus nigra Italica).


There are seed banks all over the world - repositories of seeds intended to preserve genetic diversity and prevent extinction due to factors such as climate change, and to ensure replacements for vital crop seeds after natural or man-made disasters. But if a disaster did happen, it might well wipe out not only the local vegetation but also the seed bank itself.

For the last twelve months, engineers have been drilling a vault deep inside the rock and permafrost of a mountain on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean. It will house the Svalbard International Seed Bank, and was officially opened last week,when the Prime Minister of Norway (which has provided the £5m to build the bank) deposited the first packet of seeds.


When it's full, the vault will ultimately contain over two billion seeds of more than 4.5 million types from countries all over the world. 130m inside the mountain, it has been built to withstand any natural disaster - from an asteroid strike to a nuclear war - and the seeds inside, kept at a temperature of -18°C, are expected to last for centuries. The bank is intended as a back-up to national seed banks, and the seeds it contains will be determined by the countries wishing to use it. If a regional disaster happened, and a local seed bank was destroyed, the International Seed Bank would be able to supply replacements.

So why have I chosen the Lombardy Poplar to start the virtual seed bank? If you lived here you'd know - it's not called the Lombardy Poplar for nothing. They're everywhere, used as windbreaks, grown in plantations for their wood, or just ... there. In May they shed copious quantities white, cottony, pollen filaments that fill the air, and make it seem as if it's been snowing. If you've ever seen the film Amarcord, there's a scene (the first scene ??) in a field with all the poplar pollen swirling around. They're lovely to see, but cause a hideous allergic reaction and mean a lot of clearing up - I sweep buckets of the stuff off the balcony every summer.


So what about you? If you'd like to contribute to the virtual seed bank, write a post saying which plant you'd include in the bank to represent your area. Leave a comment when your post is up so we can find you, and if enough people join in I'll publish the list in the sidebar. Can we beat Svalbard's 4.5m plants ???

Explore some more ....

  • For more information on seed banks, and a video taken inside the Svalbard vault, click here.
  • The photos in this post aren't mine. They're both provided under Creative Commons Licence and were originally posted on flickr. Thanks to laurettag and sheepshop for their generosity.



at 1:41 AM
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Monday, February 25, 2008

When gardening seems like housework...


It seems that spring is here. We've had temperatures around 12-15° centigrade, and despite a sudden dip when it dropped to 1° overnight, killing off the surfinia I'd nursed all through the winter months but had recently uncovered, things are starting to grow again. The pansies have doubled in size, the biennials and perennials are putting out new foliage...



and the sedum is covered in flower shoots.


The bulbs I planted last year are also all well on their way. Look - who's this poking his head through? It's the Monster from the Deep.


Unfortunately though, spring also means spring cleaning. Balconies get mucky - especially in a horrendously polluted city like Milan - and believe me, cleaning a balcony is no more fun than cleaning the kitchen. But now's the best time to do it really thoroughly, before all the containers go back in place, get filled with plants and become difficult to move.

So last weekend saw me out there with my bucket of Ajax, washing down the railings and all the shelving that the containers sit on. And next weekend is the turn of the containers themselves, which need emptying, washing out and disinfecting - important to stop the spread of any diseases from last year to this year's plants.

Then I need to wash the plants. Yes, them too. As rain only comes onto the balcony in a really severe storm, they get just as dirty as the balcony itself. And it's a job I hate. I am not a patient, precise person, and standing for hours gently cleaning one leaf at a time is not my idea of the fun side of gardening.

That done though, there's only one job left - I'll have to get rid of the old soil. Luckily I only have to carry it all downstairs, as it can go in the garden underneath the balcony. Last year quite a lot of seeds seemed to have got themselves mixed up in it. Funny that.

And then, with all the clearing up done, I can finally start again. Pass me the trowel someone.

at 11:30 PM
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