The open House at the Seed Library will be 11am to 1 pm Saturday ,March 29 at the Library in Independence. The notion of the seed library is that you’ll “check out” some seeds early in the season and ‘return’ the seeds that you saved from your harvest. If you are a new gardener or seed saver, you might not have seeds to swap or donate. That’s perfectly fine! Come enjoy some light refreshments, learn about seed saving and take some seeds home. Kids can plant a sunflower, bean or lettuce seed to take home.
Seeds are amazing. The smallest is finer than dust and the largest is a palm tree seed that can weigh 40 pounds. The seed library at the Wythe Grayson Library in Independence doesn’t have anything as exotic as a 40-pound seed, but they do have your basic flower and vegetable seeds. Some have been saved by folks in Grayson County and some are leftovers of purchased seeds donated to the library. The majority are open pollinated varieties. They will come true from seed, which means what you harvest will look like the parent. Hybrids will be clearly marked. Since hybrids are a cross of 2 different varieties, seeds will carry a wide range of traits. It can be fun to see what grows, but it will not be the same as the named variety you saved the seeds from. In recent years, there is growing interest in creating diversity and selecting for new varieties that might be better able to deal with our fluctuating temperatures or heavier rainfalls.
Heirloom seeds are all open pollinated. Not all open pollinated seeds are considered heirlooms. Honestly, heirlooms just have better PR. Some one decided to save grandma’s favorite flower or tasty tomato from the old county, or made up a great story in the hopes of selling more seeds. One of my favorite heirloom stories comes from our librarian Phyllis Bobbit. She knows I’m and avid gardener and was kind enough to share some seeds from one of her favorite tomatoes. She got the seeds from a friend in Boone who’s Mom had been saving them for years. The friends name was Alice. When I shared those seeds with one of my friends, I named it Alice. I don’t know what the family who actually saved the seeds called it! And that’s how you end up with 5 red oxheart shaped tomatoes with 5 different names, and probably 5 different stories.
If you have seeds you’d like to donate to the library, you can drop them off at the front desk anytime the Library is open, or bring them the day of the open house. See you Saturday the 29th and bring a friend!