Want to add some colour to your garden? How about attracting some more native birds, bees and butterflies? Or are you looking to kickstart a kitchen garden with some fruit and vegetable plantings?
Whatever your garden goals, you can achieve them with the help of two new seed libraries opening at Woodcroft Library and the Willunga Environment Centre in late July and early August.
What’s a seed library? Like those for books, seed libraries allow the community to come in and “borrow” seeds for free. Along with your seed packets (maximum two per resident), you can take home instructions and other information about how to sow and care for your seeds and seedlings (you can also find these resources online).
During the first year of the libraries’ operation, seed donations from your new plants or your existing garden won’t be accepted in return, however this may change after the one-year trial.
Woodcroft Library’s seed library officially opened this week, while the Willunga Environment Centre’s will open on Wednesday 2 August. No library card is required to receive your seeds from the library boxes.
The inaugural seed packets, which have been collected and packed by volunteers from the Woodcroft Morphett Vale Neighbourhood Centre and Wirra Creek Community Garden, include sunflower, hollyhock, cucumber, tomatoes, shallot, marigold, chive and carrot seeds. The number of seeds available will depend on the season—sometimes there will be heaps, other times none or few.
The new seed libraries are a partnership between Willunga Environment Centre, Woodcroft Morphett Vale Neighbourhood Centre and the City of Onkaparinga (Woodcroft Library and Sustainable Onkaparinga).
To further support and encourage the community to learn to grow their own food, or improve on their existing skills and knowledge, seasonal garden ‘tips and tricks’ tours, and a range of workshops and activities will be hosted in collaboration with Woodcroft’s community garden volunteers and Sustainable Onkaparinga.
Visit their website or follow them on Facebook to find out what’s on and when.