Spring has sprung and what beautiful weather we’ve been having! Many of you have been getting out into your gardens and getting your plants and flowers tended to and looking great!

I want to introduce you to a really great program in our community that is right up the alley of all of you gardeners out there. It is called the Collingwood Seed Library and it is located at the Collingwood Public Library.

This free community seed project lets you sow a seed and save a seed. Essentially, you’ll head into the library where you can help yourself to a packet of seeds for garden. The seed packets are completely free, but there is a fun little catch. At the end of the season, you’ll save some of the seed from your garden and donate it back to the seed library for the following year.

The purpose of saving seeds for the following years is to build up a stock of seed that is well-suited to the Collingwood area. Using local seeds helps build strong gardens and saves you money from purchasing seeds (that may not have been sown locally).

The Collingwood Seed Library was started with generous financial donations from members of the Collingwood community. Starting with heirloom seed varieties, the seed library began on its mission. If you don’t know what heirloom seeds are, they breed exactly as they were meant to, just like their parents, whereas commercially-grown seeds are technically hybrid seeds.

You don’t have to donate only heirloom seeds and you can donate any type of extra seed that you have.

Examples of seeds that grow well in our community include:

• Bush Bean
• Pole Bean
• Cucumber
• Lettuce
• Melon
• Peas
• Pumpkin
• Radish
• Tomato
• Herbs

If gardening is in your blood, you should also check out the Collingwood Horticulture Society. At their next meeting in June, they’ll answer the question “How does your garden grow?” with master gardeners answering anything you need to know. There is also a summer flower and vegetable show in August.

Not many other communities can boast a seed library, although there is a great one in Toronto as well.