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Library-goers might be surprised to see the return of an old-fashioned card catalog cabinet, and even more surprised to see what it contains. Not cards but garden seeds, the brainchild of Young Adult and Reference Librarian Amanda Gogel.
“I started gardening two years ago,” she says, “and I wanted to help others grow their own vegetables.”
The idea of a seed library isn’t new, but it’s only been in the Winchester Public Library since early March.
Some public libraries don’t allow patrons to donate seeds, but Gogel thinks it’s a good way to make it more of a community resource, where gardeners “grow plants, save the seeds from the plants, and donate them. Gardeners are going to want to share—it’s fun, especially to find new plant varieties to grow,” she explains.
At the moment, most of the seeds were purchased from garden suppliers and many have already been taken by library patrons.
Her advice to new gardeners is to start small, either in the ground or in containers (which is where she grows her vegetables). And, like a true librarian, she points out that, “We have so many other resources in books,” including those on how to grow different types of gardens.
“There are books on pollinator gardens, native New England horticulture and how to grow organically,” she says.
Gogel found the cabinet in the library’s attic and cleaned it up. It’s sitting in the reference room near the jigsaw puzzles.
“We ask that the donors include information about the seeds on the little packets we provide,” she says.
Gogel’s favorite vegetables from her garden are carrots and “interesting beans,” such as the Chinese long beans she grew last summer. And she wants readers to know about an upcoming talk about spring gardening.
