UPDATE (20 June): Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee has increased the total number of seed packets available to 400,000 from 150,000, due to overwhelming response.
He said 250,000 registrations have been received, and registration will close when the number of registrations hits 400,000, he said on Facebook. It will reopen again at a later date after that, he added.
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With countless trees and bushes lining our streets and boulevards, it’s no surprise that Singapore is widely known as the Garden City.
In a bid to encourage Singaporeans to bring nature closer to home, the National Parks Board (NParks) announced a new initiative on Thursday (18 Jun) that will see free vegetable seeds distributed to interested households.
Image courtesy of NParks
Named “Gardening with Edibles”, the initiative is reportedly aimed at promoting home gardening.
It also hopes to bolster our nation’s food resilience, which will contribute towards our nation’s “30 by 30” goal of producing 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030.
Eligible households will receive a seed pack containing:
The 2 kinds of seeds will include one species from each category below:
Each packet will reportedly contain around 1,000 seeds, which can be used to plant a few rounds for consumption, according to Channel NewsAsia.
Seeds will be issued at random, but recipients may choose to exchange their seeds with neighbours and relatives to get their vegetable of choice.
Apart from the physical guide on how to plant the vegetables, in the package, NParks has also curated a series of videos on its YouTube page for gardeners.
If you’re interested in getting the seeds, simply fill in the form on NParks’ website or call them at 6499 1099.
Public registration has already started and will close on 30 Jun. Successful applicants can expect to receive their packages between mid-July and 1 Aug.
As the Covid-19 outbreak is showing no signs of abating, we are likely to be spending more time at home, at least for the foreseeable future.
If you’re tired of staring at screens or mashing keyboard buttons all the time, try out gardening for a change.
Who knows, if your fingers are sufficiently green, you might be able to use some of the plants you’ve grown as ingredients for sambal kangkong or curry fishhead the next time you cook for your fam.
Featured image adapted from NParks.
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