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While most people know that you can check out books, movies, CDs and even passes to California State Parks at the Menlo Park Library, some may not know that you can also check out seeds for your garden. Celebrate spring by visiting the Menlo Park Seed Lending Library and taking home some seeds.
What is the seed lending library? For those who have not yet heard of it, the Menlo Park Seed Lending Library is a collection of heritage vegetable, herb, fruit and flower seeds that residents can pick up at no cost for use in their home gardens.
The seed lending library is currently carrying beet, carrot, tomato, radish, pea, sunflower and bean seeds, among others. Available seed varieties are rotated seasonally according to optimal planting times for our area. Luckily, the Bay Area has great weather for gardening year-round, so there are seeds in the library every month of the year.
Though libraries usually require you to return the items you check out, the seed library works a little differently. You don’t even need a library card to take seeds home. The seeds that you check out from the seed library are yours to keep and use as you like in your garden. You can find the seeds stored in an old library card catalog in the middle of the library. To take seeds home all you need to do is fill out a paper form. Each resident is limited to four seed packets at a time.
“Our program is more of a giveaway than a lending program or a swap program. We don’t yet ask users to bring back seeds from the plants that they have grown, or require a seed for seed swap,” said Nick Szegda, assistant director of library services for the city of Menlo Park.
The seeds are selected by library volunteers and purchased from the Seed Savers Exchange, a group which works to preserve heirloom vegetable varieties. All seed varieties in the Menlo Park Seed Lending Library are non-hybrid and non-GMO.
“We select seeds that are easy to grow, happy in our local environment and available for purchase. As we see the interest of our patrons, we adjust our choices,” said seed library volunteers Betsy Colby and Carolyn Rusch.
Since the program’s start in early 2020, the Seed Lending Library has given away more than 10,000 seed packets to residents.
“It’s a very popular program,” said Szegda.
The Menlo Park Seed Lending Library program also aims to provide gardening resources to residents that go beyond simple seed giveaways. The library hosts various seasonal gardening workshops throughout the year, along with monthly Garden Talks held over Zoom on the first Wednesday evening of every month.
Menlo Park’s biannual seed swap also provides local gardeners an opportunity to give seeds back to the community.
“We are not set up for accepting donations of harvested seeds. But if people are saving their own seeds, we have Seed Swaps in the spring and fall which are a great place to share with fellow gardeners,” said Colby and Rusch.
Additionally, the library offers hundreds of books on gardening that you can check out.
“The Seed Lending Library is meant to educate, build community, and encourage residents to grow good food,” Szegda said. “We hope that this resource sharing encourages sharing throughout the community, and helps build community resilience and self-reliance.”
Menlo Park is not the only library offering seeds to residents. The Belmont, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Redwood City, San Carlos, Palo Alto and Woodside libraries also boast seed libraries.
There are currently seed libraries in both the Menlo Park Library, at 800 Alma Street, and the Belle Haven Library, at 413 Ivy Drive. Menlo Park Library staff hope to expand the seed library and other gardening programs to the new Belle Haven Community Campus, which will open later this spring.
For more information on the seed library, visit the city’s website at menlopark.gov.