Grainothèque

Brussels has several existing seed libraries, where neighbours can freely exchange seeds to plant throughout the year. In anticipation of a significant seed collection to come from the herbs grown in Jardin Essentiel, the site of the festival will host the newest “Grainothèque”, where seed aficionados are invited to learn how to collect, clean and catalogue seeds.

For this 2016 edition of Parckdesign, a special temporary seed library or 'Grainothèque' is installed in Parc Duden bringing together five seed libraries already operating in Brussels – focussing on medicinal and aromatic herbs for your garden or balcony. Here you will be able to prepare and collect seeds from the Jardin Essentiel in small sachets, assisted by a librarian, and take them home. At the end of the summer, we invite you to bring any seeds you succeed in harvesting back to one of the permanent seed libraries in Brussels.

If you wish, you can also donate seeds here from other plants. In this way you contribute to the biodiversity of plants, some of which have been present locally for generations, or you might enable your fellow residents to discover forgotten vegetables or particular spices...