Perparing for seeds from Africa

It's about a week now until Tony Hill, our Programmes Director, gets back from his visit to our offices in Burkina Faso, and I'm beginning to get quite excited! Hopefully he will be bringing with him (after checking the biological customs restrictions with the very friendly government agency fera at http://www.blogger.com/www.fera.defra.gov.uk ) tree seeds from some of the species we work with in Africa.

It is all going to be a bit of surprise as to which species I get, so I'm expecting to have to do some cramming on the trees and their conditions in the wild, just so that I can make them as happy as I can in their pots. I'm hoping Tony will have found me some Mango (Mangifera indica), and Baobab (Adansonia digitata), mostly because they're the most familiar and iconic for me, and also useful, amongst the trees of West Africa.

For now though I'm asking around gardening colleagues and friends for trays and pots to reuse, and considering compost sourcing. Because the seeds are non native I'm expecting quite a high failure rate in germination and before the seedlings get a bit more established, so I'll be sowing lots to start with in the hope that I can nurture some of them beyond and into happy plants. Speaking of which, I must make sure everyone is happy with me staking a claim to their windowsills!