Urban Growing
By Guy Manchester
On Sunday 23 February 2025, Bristol’s long-running community-run seed swap returns to Trinity Centre, bringing people together to exchange seeds, promote food growing and gardening and encourage resilience in our food system. Find out more.
Running for over 20 years and organised exclusively by volunteers, Bristol Seed Swap returns to Trinity Centre this February with its usual mix of seed tables, talks, stalls, a kids’ area and the ever-popular café.
Entry to Bristol Seed Swap is free and any seeds people pick up on the day are also free, but people are encouraged to donate via our collection buckets if they can afford it.
People new to gardening are especially encouraged to come along so they can have all their burning questions about seeds and seed saving answered, mingle with a community of like-minded gardeners and growers and go away excited about the growing season ahead.
Our Seed Guardian initiative is now in its third year. It is integral to our goal of encouraging resilience and security in our food system.
Through the initiative, we support people who pledge to save seeds. We’ll have seed-saving experts on hand throughout the Swap in the dedicated seed guardian area to offer advice and encouragement.
Our popular talks return this year as well, this time with the addition of a five-person panel exploring ways to get growing if you don’t have your own space to do so. The panel will focus on community growing spaces and includes speakers from Redcatch Community Garden, Garden Folk CIC, Goldenhill, Community Garden, ALIVEgardening and Hazelnut Community Farm.
With increasing numbers of people in precarious accommodation and more and more homes being built without gardens, as well as lengthy waiting lists for allotments, community growing spaces are providing an invaluable opportunity for many people to keep connected to the soil and the seasons.
Fortunately, Bristol has many such options – from Community Supported Agriculture schemes to Community Gardens centred on wellbeing – and this panel will be showcasing many of them.
Our other talks include Becs Griffiths from Rhizome Community Herbal Clinic, who’ll be explaining how herbs can revitalise you, improving your immunity, mood and energy and a doubleheader from Seed Swap organisers Diane Holness & Daniel Fox, who’ll be borrowing from their experiences to cover the topic of seed saving as plant breeding for resilient crops.
Bristol Seed Swap is excited to once again be able to bring its annual community event to the people of Bristol and to allow them to share seeds, no matter what their financial situation.
To stay up to date with Bristol Seed Swap, visit our website bristolseedswap.com. We can also be found on Facebook and Instagram.
All photos © Guy Manchester.
So, what change do you want to see happen that will transform food in Bristol by 2030? Do you already have an idea for how Bristol can make this happen? Join the conversation now.
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