Ready to get your hands dirty? The seed library returns to Christian County Library for its fifth year, beginning Monday, March 1. Community members can use their library cards to check out up to five seed packets to plant in their garden at home. These seed packets will be available through June 30, 2021, at the Clever, Nixa and Ozark Community Branch locations, and soon at the Sparta Community Branch after it opens later this spring.
Gardening is not only a fun way to be active and eat healthily but also a method for improving stress and mental health, as well as becoming an extremely popular hobby.
“As families started more home-based hobbies, many area seed companies and garden centers saw an increase in competition for seeds of certain popular varieties,” the library’s Programming and Training Coordinator, Charlee Evans, found out while working with vendors to acquire seeds for the collection. Having seeds available to check out at the library provides a new avenue of access that may otherwise be challenging.
Ready to dig in? The seed library has over 180 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers for all skill levels. Whether you’re a first-time gardener or a master gardener, there is something for everyone. This year’s collection includes popular garden staples such as tomatoes, peppers, and beans, as well as a few unique varieties like the Atlantic Giant Pumpkin, which has the potential to produce a whopping 1,000-pound pumpkin! In fact, the world’s largest pumpkin grown to date was an Atlantic Giant weighing in at 2,624 pounds.
“We would love to see a 1,000-pound pumpkin grown in somebody’s backyard and it would be fun to see everybody’s gardening progress,” Evans challenges.
Whether you’re growing the next great pumpkin, a tasty strawberry patch, or a healthy side dish make sure to show off your progress. Track your own gardening progress by submitting photos and updates about your plants to programming@christiancountylibrary.org. Towards the end of the growing season on June 30, 2021, those that submitted their gardening progress will be entered in a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card!
Ready to participate, but new to gardening or not sure where to begin? The library can help! Check out one of the many gardening how-to books, eBooks, and magazines either in one of the community branches or digitally. We are also hosting a beginning seed starting class led by the Greene County Master Gardeners on Tuesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Visit the library event calendar for more virtual programs.
The seed library is another way the Christian County library strives to provide services, events and resources to help our community learn and grow. We can’t wait to see everybody’s progress this growing season. We are rooting for you!