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Seed Lending Library: Where to Start

List of Seeds

This link takes you to a Google document listing our current seeds. This document updates regularly.

List of Seeds

You can also see what seeds are available through the library's catalog.

Search using keywords such as:

The plant's common name

The plant variety

The plant's scientific name

The words "Seed Library"

The words "seed harvesting"

 

Where to Start: Choosing Seeds to Borrow, Grow, and Return

The HC Seed Lending Library is currently organized by alphabetical order of seed variety. The drawer label provides the following information: variety common name and botanical name, challenge level, and brief notes (for example, "great for containers"). You will also see symbols to help you decide which seeds you would like: Bee (attracts pollinators) | Fork & spoon (edible) | Flower (ornamental uses, although most of our varieties produce flowers which are edible AND nice to look at!)

Seeds labeled with "Low" challenge levels are a great place to start.

The seeds labeled "Intermediate" or "Advanced" require special planning. Often this is to ensure that the seeds that you harvest from these plants are true-to-type - meaning - you need to take extra steps to make sure that the seeds of the plant you're growing don't get pollinated by another plant, which may yield a hybrid, sterile, or inedible plant in just one generation. Please only borrow "Intermediate" or "Advanced" seeds after you have learned about isolating plants to prevent cross-pollination.

We also have a binder that houses the seed packaging for each variety that we have in the catalog. Feel free to make photocopies of any information you find in the binder - but please be sure to return whatever you remove, so that the next seed-grower can use the information, too!