Seed Lending Library

To help keep the Seed Lending Library going and to share back to the community, please donate seeds back to the library at the end of the growing season (or anytime really!). 

You can save and donate seeds harvested from your garden or donate a packet or two of commercially grown seeds at the end of the season to help restock the Seed Lending Library.

1) Learn about Seed Saving: You can find information about saving seeds on the How to Grow and Save Seeds page. We recommend starting with easy to save seeds that will stay true to type such as lettuces, peas, beans, tomatoes, and peppers. Many flowers and herbs are also easy to save and will produce new plants that are like the parent plants. We suggest using the information here and just starting with one type of plant. Sign up for our emails using the borrower form to receive information about upcoming events.

2) Save or Purchase Seeds: Save your open-pollinated seeds or consider purchasing a packet or two of commercially grown seeds. If you save your own seeds, please make sure that they are fully dry and also clean them to remove the majority of the chaff, flowers, stems, etc. This can involve picking the seeds out, blowing the chaff off, or separating them with a screen.

3) Donate Seeds to the Seed Lending Library: Bring your seeds in to one of our Seed Library branches. 

If you're donating purchased seeds, just make sure the date the seeds were harvested or sold is on the package and drop them off at the Information Desk. 

For seeds you've saved, we'll ask that you fill out a label with some information about the seeds, including any stories you want to share, and put the label and seeds into one of the bags we provide. 

4) Seeds Available to Borrow: We'll add your seeds back into the Seed Lending Library so that others can borrow them, grow them, and keep the plants going! We do sometimes remove donated seeds that are older (more than 2 years old) or seeds we know are particularly difficult to save properly and unlikely to produce the same plant as the parent plant (squashes come to mind!). For these plants we rely on donations from farms or seed vendors.

6) Repeat! By borrowing, growing, and returning seeds, you’re helping to propagate successful, local seeds, and sharing your knowledge and harvest with our community!