Featured project · A Seedbank for Oxfordshire
Twelve walled gardens. One living seed bank.
Hidden behind the walls of a dozen historic Oxfordshire gardens are increasingly rare heritage seeds. We're bringing those gardens together to survey and save what we find.
01What the funding does
From forgotten beds to a living catalogue.
- 01
Survey twelve walled gardens
Physical surveys, wall by wall and bed by bed, where unrecorded or long-lost cultivars may be waiting.
- 02
Catalogue every variety
Recorded and photographed with Garden Organic. Some of these plants are hundreds of years old.
- 03
Train seed guardians
Our first volunteers learn to collect, clean and grow on seed so it can be shared and multiplied.
02From the Thames to Tehran
A heritage 2,500 years in the making.
c. 500 BC
Persia
The first walled gardens, or pairidaeza, are built. Our word paradise comes from them.
Centuries on
Across Europe
The idea travels west, carrying plants, seeds and growing knowledge with it.
Victorian era
Oxfordshire
Estate kitchen gardens flourish, each with its own carefully saved varieties.
Last 100 years
Decline
Industrial agriculture standardises our food. 98% of British vegetable varieties disappear.
Today
HUSK
Twelve walled gardens join together to save what remains, before it is lost.
03The catalogue
The Oxfordshire Index Seminum
Our county seed catalogue, bringing together every seed bank across West Oxfordshire. We're launching it as a new biodiversity service for the whole region: a repository that keeps growing with every entry.
Beyond the target
Where we go next
If we exceed our target, extra funds will expand the network to more walled gardens, develop apothecary plant collections, support a heritage recipe book and grow SeedPals.
- Schools & charities programme
- Community-led projects
- Apothecary collections
- Heritage recipe book
04Watch
Why heritage seeds matter.
Short films on heritage seed saving and the Heritage Seed Library run by our partners at Garden Organic.
Back the Crowdfunder
Help us survey all twelve gardens.
We're raising £25,000 to survey twelve walled gardens, catalogue what we find and train our first seed guardians. Every donation can claim a reward. Pledges close 16 December 2026.