Inside the packet of an iconic seed business

Gerard and Barbara Martin are celebrating 40 years of Kings Seeds this year.

Ask any home gardener and it’ll be more than likely they’ve laid their gloves on a packet of Kings Seeds, which is celebrating 40 years of supplying a myriad of varieties to greenfingers up and down the country.

Owners Gerard and Barbara Martin say it was 1978 when founder Ross King, with wife Glenys, set up a herb nursery at home in Avondale, Auckland, and began selling plants before quickly realising a real demand for herb seed nationwide.

The first Kings Herb Seeds catalogue was produced in 1979 with 24 pages listing 65 herbs and flowers, eight gourmet vegetables and 170 herb plants.

“Ross used to work at Yates in their seed vault. He perceived they were selling flowers and vegetable seeds – but not herb seeds,” says Gerard.

“So he started growing herb plants from home. The first year he grew 5000 parsley plants – they sold out.”

“The second year he discovered it was easier to send seeds – rather than plants – around the place.

“It took off from that point – he kept adding more and more varieties that other companies weren’t offering at the time – herbs to gourmet vegetables – the weird and wonderful varieties.”

Gerard says Ross’ customers were home gardeners all over New Zealand. “He really had a point of difference. And the Kings kept it simple – making their own packets and spooning seed into them, which we still do today.”

In the early-1980s, as the Kings started a retail shop on Great North Rd – which would become an landmark with its unique Tudor-style building full of dried flowers, potpourri, essential oils, gifts, books, seeds, plants, and the mail order seed business – is when Gerard, who was a grower himself in Auckland, would meet Ross.

The Martins then moved to Levin, with Gerard growing cut flowers and producing bulbs and small plants.

“From buying seed from Ross we became friendly. Years later they were looking at retiring and we thought it was good opportunity to pick up a business and run with it,” says Gerard.

In 1999 the Martins moved the business from Avondale to Katikati in one weekend – and discontinued the retail side.

With a background in flower growing, supplying NZ markets with lilies, sunflowers and other varieties for 10-plus years, Gerard and Barbara focused on mail orders.

“One of the very first things Gerard did was create a wholesale pricelist. That encouraged more growers to buy in economical quantities,” says Barbara.

In 1999 their customer database was about 90 per cent home gardeners. “Today our biggest customer group, by a small margin, is commercial growers,” says Barbara.

“What I feel is we’ve had a really loyal group of home gardeners, who have decided they can be quite successful at growing varieties with our seeds.

“So they’ve nearly crossed the line into being commercial growers. They’re small growers that frequent farmers’ markets and such venues selling their produce.

“This group has moved from being a home gardener, who simply does it for pleasure or supplying family with produce, to a small grower making a living out of it.”

But Barbara says their actual type of customer has remained. “They’re still probably 35-60 years of age. “Some will be younger, some older. And the gender-balance is quite even.

“What we’re trying to do, moving into internet activity, is to attract that younger gardener. Because in the end our loyal loving gardeners are an aging population.”

“We need to encourage the next generation to become the gardeners their parents or grandparents were.”

So what else has changed over the years? Staffing has gone from the Martins to nine permanent staff, two casual students, and few extras during the busy spring-time.

And a massive evolution is the way the packet is printed. “It was manual process to start with – now we have machine that prints the packets,” says Barbara.

And in 1999 Gerard says the internet was still in fledging stages. “The database we inherited was simply order forms from the year before in seven banana boxes – about a few thousand. It was very manual.

“We didn’t have emails. A lot of orders were faxed,” says Gerard. Every mail pile was a thick wad of orders.

“The first year we sent out our catalogue in 1999 we literally sat down and hand-addressed every single envelope,” says Barbara.

“Today our database has more than 50,000 people – and the catalogue is printed at the printers, plastic-wrapped, labeled and dispatched without us even seeing it. In fact, our customers see it before we do.”

And today 95 per cent of orders are made via the Kings Seeds website –‘mail’ orders only trickle in.

“I like to think of it not as mail order but internet shopping – because we’re now a virtual shop, open 24/7,” says Barbara.

Gerard says the website has developed as technology has evolved. “New features means it’s easy to move around it, more user-friendly; and people trust more with placing orders online.”

Though people still fax in orders, and a few cheques still arrive.

The number of varieties offered is kept between 900-1000 – but Gerard alters offerings as things go in and out of popularity. “We change the balance of what we offer.”

“Ross’ first catalogue was primarily herbs with a few gourmets. Then he developed the flower section,” says Barbara, who adds dried flower varieties were a big deal in the 1980s. “They really dropped off.”

Today microgreens have ‘wow factor, as do edible flowers, culinary herbs and heirlooms.

“We’ve had microgreens since 2002 and organic varieties since 2000,” says Barbara, putting them at the forefront of these trends. “And we’ve brought in a wildflower section.”

So how does Gerard decide on what to include? “We look at our statistics; what’s sold well, and what hasn’t. I’m always perusing overseas catalogues. We’re a season behind the Northern Hemisphere – so you can get a feel for trends.

“Then I have a look at our range to see if there are gaps to plug. For example, with flowers you can have border plants, cut flowers, hanging basket flowers, climbing flowers – then have you got all of the colours? You soon figure out you haven’t got a blue climber or red border plant etc.”

The Martins source varieties via existing supply networks overseas. “I look what they’re offering; and whether the plant is permitted entry to NZ through MPI’s biosecurity rules.

“We have to ensure each seed variety is compliant and meet the standards; and they’re suitable for growing in NZ. We want to make it easy for people to grow, so people enjoy success.”

Gerard says it’s getting harder each year to comply with biosecurity standards. “There’s just more and more hoops to jump through so much of my time spent just trying to work out compliance. It doesn’t achieve anything more – there is just more rules.”

And there are varieties the Martins just cannot get into NZ due to biosecurity rules. “This is common,” says Gerard. “All [imported] varieties have to be recorded on the NZ Biosecurity Index before you’re allowed to import them.

“If they’re on the index there might be conditions they have to meet. Sometimes suppliers can meet these rules, sometimes they can’t,” says Barbara.

Gerard says it’s extremely hard to get new varieties listed on the NZ Biosecurity Index. “They [the Ministry for Primary Industries] have made it very hard.

“First you have to pay a deposit, then prove there’s an advantage of having the plant here – it can’t be just because it looks pretty, there has to be an economic benefit.

“Then you have to satisfy the Department of Conservation, all regional councils, then you’re required to send a letter out to all iwi in NZ – about 500 – and gain their approval. They are entitled to object.

“You also have to prove it won’t be a weed when it gets here – all these sort of hurdles make it too hard.

As a result, Gerard says NZ seed importers don’t try to add new varieties to the index. “It’s just not economically viable. So no-one imports new varieties – no new species are coming in.”

And so offering new varieties in the catalogue is a real challenge, says Barbara.

Gerard says the index also omits many varieties already present in NZ. “When they [MPI] created this index in 1998 they made a list and said: ‘Right, everything is here; that is it’. But the list wasn’t complete. There’s something like 50,000 species in NZ but the list only comprises of 36,000.

“So a whole big band of plants weren’t put on the index, instead deemed to be foreign plants at that time, you now can’t import despite them already being here.”

What’s stayed the same: “All of the retail packets of seed are still filled by hand”.

And today’s societal values of people wanting to know where their food has come from, organic produce choices, clean eating fads, food sustainability and supporting local business is filtering down to how gardeners choose seeds.

“People like to trace where food has come from, they like to buy local so there’s no food miles attached to purchases, and they also like to eat food with less chemicals involved in the production,” says Gerard.

“So to be spray-free and have no residual chemicals on the fruit or vegetables they eat is in favour. “People seem to understand these sort of issues more.”

Barbara say organics have changed in their time too. “Back in our early days organics were seen as a ‘greenie’ movement; now it’s much more mainstream.

“Ultimately, people want spray-free but if they do have the opportunity to buy something that is organically-certified they will buy it.”

“And while our range has an organically-certified section nearly everything is untreated. So you don’t have to limit yourself to organic to achieve your eating objectives.”

As for the future, the Martins say they’re not interested in doubling or trebling in size – “we want to continue growing but not at an exponential rate that means we loose contact with our customers”.

“Small is okay,” says Gerard.


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