The Irish Seed Savers Association has temporarily suspended its online seed sales due to a growing backlog of orders.

In a notice on its website today (Wednesday, January 13), general manager Jennifer McConnell said that 2021 “has started with a bang” due to Covid-19 increasing the interest in gardening, as well as Brexit restricting seed and plant imports.

‘We know that the growing season is on its way’

She said there has been a massive upsurge in the number of people ordering seeds to get ready for the spring, which Irish Seed Savers has “certainly felt”.

“We are experiencing a significant increase in orders for this time of year,” McConnell said.

“As Covid-19 has restricted the numbers of staff we can have onsite, we have limited numbers available to process all orders. Because of this, we are experiencing a growing backlog of orders, and a backlog of emails and phone messages to which we are yet to reply.

We are doing our best to stay on top of the high volume of orders and queries that have come in. However, to meet this demand, we have decided to suspend online ordering of seeds and vouchers until Monday, January 25.

However, supporters of the association can submit their seed order through the paper form sent with their newsletter to claim free supporter seeds, as well as additional seeds.

Other items, such as gardening tools, can still be ordered online. McConnell also noted that if someone has already placed an order, the association will do its best to get it out to them in the coming weeks.

“With the evenings starting to get longer, we know that the growing season is on its way,” McConnell added.

“We are doing everything we can to help make it a success for you – so we appreciate your patience and ongoing support of our work.”