Start your Garden... with the Milne Seed Library!

Near the circulation desk, you will see a relic from the past - a Milne Public Library card catalog that was tucked away in the basement. Now the cards have been removed, and replaced with envelopes of seeds for our new Seed Library. There you can find organic seeds of all kinds that you can take with you to grow vegetables, herbs and a few fruits.

Below are some updates, basic guidelines and a few links to gardening resources. Please email kwilliams@cwmars.org with any questions!

UPDATES as of July 16th

1. As the planting part of the season slows down, we've added a small selection of remaining seeds, including some unopened packages which you are free to take. But we will no longer fill envelopes with seeds.

2. As you make progress, please take photos of your garden work!  Please email pics to kwilliams@cwmars.org, and we hope to share them here towards the end of the season.

3. The Provider Beans sent to us by the Common Seed Project have run out, but we have a number of other types of beans available. If you have success with your provider beans the Common Seed folks would love to know about it and any photos you take as well.

4. There will be one more Gardening Talk and Discussion: What should you do in August? - Tuesday, August 5th at 5:30 with Sharon Wyrrick!

5. We have two standing garden beds in the courtyard. All the plants in them are growing like crazy! The basil and cilantro are available - please feel free to snip a bit off of these if you'd like.

6. The beds also include Stockbridge beans - originally grown by the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Indians. We are grateful to have recently acquired these beans from Lucy Grignon, a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans. You can learn more about the crops the Stockbridge-Munsee have grown for centuries in this presentation with Lucy and Ben Grignon.

   
   

Gardening programs coming up:

Tuesday, August 5th, Gardening Talk and Discussion: What should you do in August? with Sharon Wyrrick!

Sharon has also provided a helpful handout:

STARTING A VEGETABLE GARDEN resources.pdf

Download PDF • 83KB

Seed Library Considerations:

• Seeds are grouped by type and then arranged alphabetically by name.  Quantity of seeds in each package are intended for smaller, home gardens.

• Seeds have been provided by High Mowing Farm, Fedco, Seed Savers Exchange, and the Common Seed Project at University of Massachusetts.

• The Common Seed Project has its own instructions and seed packets for you to take.

• Consider your site before selecting seeds; the needs of seeds vary!

  • How much sunlight do you have?

  • How much space do you have?

• Checkout is not required, but please take only what you will use. We ask that only adults take seeds. Quantities provided are intended for gardeners with small plots for a single household.

• Please tally which seeds you have taken on the sheet provided.

• Provide your email address if you’d like any Seed Library or gardening-related news from the library.

• Please see more details about the seeds here; we can also print this list for you here at the library.

• We are not asking you to save and bring back seeds this year, but we hope to do so next year!

We have Gardening Tools in the Thingdom!

See the list at this link.

A few helpful links about seeds and gardening:

Seed Library Network

Common Seed Project

Almanac's Vegetable Gardening for Beginners

Thank you to the following organizations for donating seeds!