Sowing the seeds of sustainability

Taradale Library is sowing the seeds of sustainable gardening practices in the community through the opening of a Seed Library.

The initial stock has been made possible by the donation of vegetable, herb and flower seeds from a Tauranga-based seed company. An email was sent to Kings Seeds to ask if it was willing to help, and the request was met.

Nicola Saunders, Napier Libraries Manager, says the seeds are available for anyone in the community to take away and plant at home.
“This is a special service we want to provide to the community, regardless of whether people are library members. We can support their interest in gardening as we have plenty of information about all sorts of plants, and ways to nurture their growth.”
“We would love keen gardeners to harvest some seeds to keep our library going, and we would appreciate seed donations from other growers too.”
The seeds have been stored in envelopes library staff made from deleted, damaged books, which would otherwise have been recycled.
“Using the seed library can help people develop their understanding of nature and where food comes from,” explains Nicola. “The idea of setting up a seed library came from a conversation between librarians. There are other libraries in New Zealand and internationally that have set up seed libraries. The staff thought this was something Napier people may like.”

The library is also running a workshop this Saturday to pass on planting tips to young gardeners aged six-plus. The event has been partially sponsored by Mitre10.

25 September 2023

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