Our mission:

• Create a culture of sharing through education about seed saving and gardening
• Increase the quantity and quality of wholesome food in Douglas County
• Preserve our local plant diversity

To borrow seeds:

• You will need your Douglas County Library card to check out seeds.
• Each person can borrow up to 3 packets of seeds.
• Seeds are in alphabetical order and color coded to show seed saving collection method
  • Green = Easy (dry processing)
  • Yellow = Advanced (wet processing or biennial plant)
  • Red = Do not save seeds from these plants
• Choose the seed packets you would like and bring them to the Circulation Desk

That's all! Bring your seeds home and follow the planting guidelines in the brochure. 

Learn more:

Visit your local farmer's market and talk to your farmers! Borrow books about gardening. They can be found in the nonfiction section at 635.

Grow a little extra:

Consider setting aside space in your garden and grow a little extra this summer to help provide fresh, healthy, home-grown produce to those in need within Douglas County.

Why save seeds?

Humans have been saving seed for over 12,000 years. However, in our culture, much of that knowledge has been lost over the last hundred years, along with significant biodiversity. When you grow your own plants and save seeds, you will help develop stock that is well suited to our climate, save money, and have quality control. When you participate in the seed library, you help create a culture of sharing and abundance.

New to seed saving?

Start with seeds that have green labels. These vegetable offer the beginning seed saver the best chance for successful seed saving. They produce more seed the same season as planted and are mostly self-pollinating.

Seeds with yellow labels require some special planning to preserve varietal purity. You can plan on saving these after you have learned about isolating plants to prevent cross-pollination.

Seeds with red labels are hybrids or type of plant with seeds that should not be saved.

Our seeds are free, yet they are priceless.

The more seeds in the seed library, the more our community can experience the pleasures of growing their food!

Thanks to:

• The State Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) for their support in seed donation
• The Douglas County Master Gardeners for sharing best practices in gardening
• All the Seed Library participants return seeds at the end of the growing season.