Heirloom vegetables are older varieties than those you find in supermarkets today. They can be truly weird and wonderful - your grandparents might have eaten purple carrots, striped cucumbers or green tomatoes! Once there were hundreds of different varieties of each fruit and vegetable to choose from, but today mass production has reduced this to only a few. We reckon it's important to preserve these plants. We're working hard to educate young children about healthy produce and heirloom varieties and you can too.
Last year 3,600 children visited the Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden at Adelaide Botanic Garden, where they learned how important these old breeds are. They helped to maintain the garden and then took home their own mystery seeds to grow at their school. You can help preserve heirloom vegetables by choosing to buy from farmers' markets, or grow non-hybrid or non-genetically modified crops in your own garden. We can’t afford to let these species die out. Your gift today will help preserve them for future generations to enjoy.
$35 will provide a starter kit of heirloom seeds for a preschool
$150 will train a teacher so they can create an edible garden in their kindergarten or school
$325 will run an edible gardening school holiday workshop with take-home seeds for 20 children
$1000 will help grow the Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden at Adelaide Botanic Garden
Donate online today.
Donate via phone by calling (08) 8222 9311
Sign up for the Gardens monthly e-newsletter for more info on heirloom produce, events, videos and more delivered straight to your inbox.