Welcome back spring by Checking Out the new varieties at the library’s seed library! at the Seed Library of the T.B. Scott
Free Library in Merrill!
This year, the library will once again be checking out heirloom seeds for FREE to library card holders. Six of the seven available seed types are new varieties of fruits and vegetables so patrons who have used the seed library in the past, will find something new to grow. Seed varieties for this year include: Calypso Dry Beans, Miniature White Cucumbers, Kentucky Wonder Bush Beans, Tom Thumb Peas, Beam’s Yellow Pear Tomatoes, Burgess Buttercup Squash, and the only repeat, Minnesota Midget Melons.
Varieties are chosen for their short growing period and their suitability for small spaces. “All of our seed choices are suitable for either growing in your yard garden or in containers,” says Seed
Librarian Elizabeth McCrank, “So even renters or people with limited space can take advantage of the seeds being offered. We brought back the Minnesota Midget Melons because they are just about the only melon that has a short enough growing period for this area,” McCrank adds.
The principle behind the seed library is simple; library patrons check out their choice of seeds, enjoy the growing season all summer long, then “return” a portion of the seeds that they collect
from their fall harvest, so that those seeds can be used for next year’s crop of seed borrowers.
Borrowers are encouraged to keep the bulk of the seeds they collect, so as to have them for the next year’s planting. Because all of the seeds are open-pollinated heirloom seeds, borrowers only need to get each variety of seeds once, in order to have many years of crops going forward. Over time, borrowers can amass a large range of seeds which both saves the gardeners money and helps to preserve a diversity of fruit and vegetable crops, beyond the hybrid standards that grocery stores are often limited to. All of the seeds chosen come from the Seed Saver’s Exchange, an Iowa-based non-profit whose goal is to preserve and promote plant diversity in home gardens.
The 2019 Seeds will be available for checkout on Wednesday, May 1, at the 1 st floor Circulation Desk of the Library. Stop by and get some for yourself soon, summer is short!.
For more information on the seed library or to find out about other Scott Free library programs, check out our website, http://www.tbscottlibrary.org or call the Library at 715-536-7191.