Meet the Yorkshire gardener who is sowing the seeds for preservation or rare vegetables

including rare landrace varieties adapted to specific growing conditions, heirloom varieties saved over generations and varieties no longer available to buy.

Susan Connolly, who lives in Kirk Ella, in the East Riding of Yorkshire has been a member of Garden Organic for 40 years and is now a proud Seed Guardian and passing on her seed saving skills to her nine grandchildren.

Her Taiwanese grandsons – Edmund and Arthur - have been helping her grow a Taiwan black climbing French bean.

Ms Connolly said: “I was particularly delighted to grow this variety as our younger son lives in Taichung with his wife and two young sons, so it has a family connection.

"They visited for the first time in four years, and as soon as eight-year-old Edmund saw the beans he said they grew them in their classroom at school.

“All my grandchildren have really enjoyed helping me grow my heritage seeds. My four-year-old grandson George has been testing the pods for the ‘crackling stage’ and shelling them carefully to dry indoors. It’s been a really enjoyable family effort and resulted in a return of over 500g of beans back to the Heritage Seed Library.”

Seed Guardians grow the plants in their gardens and allotments, collecting, cleaning and drying the seed and sending it back to the Library to be conserved. They also give feedback on factors such as performance, pest and disease resistance and taste.

Varieties have included amaranth ‘Mrs McGhie’, ‘White Belgium’ carrot, ‘Table Talk’ pea, ‘Bob and Mary’s’ climbing French bean and ‘Mescher’ lettuce.

With the diversity of plants diminishing since the early 20th century, many seeds once grown are in danger of being lost. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates 75 per cent of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000.

Each year, up to 150 varieties of the heritage seeds are chosen for inclusion in the annual Heritage Seed Library seed list.

Without schemes such as this, many more varieties will be lost due to commercial pressures but this could lead to further declines in the future.

Ms Connolly added: “If commercial pressures constantly whittle down the list of seeds available, growers will become over-dependant on certain ones that may prove, in time, not to suit certain geographical areas, changing seasons or growing conditions.

“Who knows what will be needed in the future but without a resource like the Heritage Seed Library, there will be extremely limited choice available to growers in years to come. I try to pass on my skills to the next generation – but failing that I hope they ‘catch’ the enthusiasm I have for gardening.”

Garden Organic was founded in the 1950s as the Henry Doubleday Research Association,