Portrait of a non-profit seed bank in Croatia

An article by Naomi Bosch

Driving through the small village of Vukomeric, south of Zagreb, Croatia, you eventually arrive at the inviting estate of the "Reciklirano imanje" (Recycled Estate) association. Indeed, almost everything here is made from recycled materials: a traditional wooden house that was dismantled elsewhere and rebuilt here, houses made of local clay and straw, and terraced gardens with old car tires. From the outside, however, you'd never guess the treasures hidden in the basement of one of the buildings. For seven years, this association, founded by women, has been collecting treasures here – in the form of seeds. The Croatian women's commitment to preserving native varieties, however, already dates back two decades.

For just over a year now, Dunja Zbiljski has been tending to the approximately 700 varieties of vegetables, grains, and flowers. A trained forestry engineer, she has been involved with permaculture, regenerative gardening, and biodiversity conservation for many years. Here in the seed bank, she is very close to the origin of varietal diversity: the unassuming seeds that pass on their genetic material year after year. The seed bank is kept in a cool, protected environment. Several shelves hold jars of precious seeds, each labeled with the variety name and the year of the last propagation. The seed bank's main goal is to preserve and conserve diversity through the active cultivation and propagation of the varieties. "We cultivate the varieties ourselves in the association's garden. We also have a broad network of members who grow the varieties in their own gardens year after year. This ensures a constant supply of fresh seeds for the seed bank." This is also the origin of the name "Community Seed Bank"—it represents the concept, which involves the active participation of gardeners and seed enthusiasts. Seed bank members can use the seeds free of charge. “Most of our members are hobby gardeners, but we also encourage farmers to propagate seeds from our gene bank and cultivate them in their fields,” says Dunja. Therefore, the association also offers workshops and networking events at the “Recycled Estate.” Only through active cultivation – also known as in-situ conservation – can the varieties adapt to local conditions and climate change.

Prickly spinach and drought-resistant pea

As Dunja strolls through the rows of seeds, she explains the system behind all of this: “We've divided the seeds into two categories. The Alfa category contains seeds that we've identified with certainty and that we or our members have propagated ourselves. The Beta category classifies seeds that we've received, for example, from non-members during a seed exchange. Those only move to the Alfa category after we've tested and cultivated them ourselves.”

Every new seed added to the gene bank must have been cultivated and propagated by the person bringing it in. And Alfa seeds must always be organically grown. Within each category, the seeds are arranged alphabetically—from A for amaranth to Z for zucchini. In addition, every entry is stored in a digital database. The seed bank primarily contains traditional varieties or landraces, including classic vegetables like tomatoes and lettuce, but also rarer, more unusual varieties. “I’m particularly proud of a local spinach variety that we’ve added to the gene bank. The seeds look prickly, but otherwise the spinach is similar to Matador spinach,” Dunja explains, presenting the spiky seeds in her hand. Shortly afterwards, she retrieves another special find from her treasure trove: the field pea (Lathyrus sativus), an almost forgotten variety that once saved many farming families from famine and also thrives in very dry conditions.

Seeds from the library

As head of the seed bank, Dunja is always busy with sorting, managing, explaining, and gardening. She's not only responsible for the upkeep of the garden and the gene bank, but also for educational work. She explains to visiting students why seed diversity is so important and leads workshops on how to prepare your own seeds. The project aims to raise awareness of biodiversity conservation within society. The concept of a "seed library" offers an exciting new approach. More and more libraries in Croatia have added seed packets to their collections alongside books. Each packet is labeled with a barcode and stored in a digital database. Just like the books, the seeds can be "borrowed" — not just to look at, but to sow. Once the plants have matured, their seeds are returned to the library to be used by others. Library members are also welcome to participate in monthly gardening meetings, where they can, for example, prepare seeds under Dunja's guidance and chat about gardening topics in a relaxed atmosphere. "The seed library is really popular, and it's a great way to teach people how to harvest their own seeds," says Dunja happily. She also hopes this will strengthen independence from seed companies. And ultimately, this will increase genetic diversity in gardens – bed by bed.

Working Together

The Community Seed Bank in Vukomerić is well-connected with other gene banks – in Croatia and beyond. Dunja is pleased that, for example, more and more libraries are adopting the seed lending concept. "The Croatian libraries acquired the software for this from a library in Slovenia, and we donated seeds to them – it was a very successful collaboration," says Dunja. There is also a lively exchange with the Austrian association Arche Noah that preserved several varieties from these regions during the Balkan Wars. Now, this rescued cultural heritage can once again be found in national gene banks. Dunja particularly appreciates the political activism of the Austrian association, which seems more important than ever in light of the restrictive EU seed policy.

A highlight for the association is always the large seed exchange at the botanical garden in Zagreb. Every year, hundreds of gardening enthusiasts gather there to replenish their seed stocks and also to share their own treasures. The rule here is: you can take home as many seed packets as you bring with you. This gradually increases the variety of seeds, and many special variety finds its way into the seed bank. And from there, it eventually makes its way back into other people's gardens.

Publishing date: 8 March 2026
Text: Naomi Bosch
Photos: Matej Marjanović