Guelph Seed Library

A seed library is a sharing hub of seeds where community members “borrow” seeds. This means they take a package/or a number of seeds, grow them and try to save a similar quantity or more to give back to the seed library for the next year.

How to Participate during the Growing Season

You can participate in 3 ways:

1. The Guelph Seed Library operates primarily online, through our Facebook page. Seed offerings, request threads and support is offered there.
2. If you don’t have Facebook or the internet, you can still drop by the Guelph Tool Library during open hours, and fill in a paper form requesting seeds.
3. Curated selections of seasonal seeds will be available at the Bullfrog and Scottsdale branches of the Guelph Public Library. Drop by and see what’s available!

We currently are not accepting seed requests through email or phone calls as our volunteer capacity to track them is limited.

Our inventory is stored at the Guelph Tool Library, but is not open to the public.

Saving seeds

We run a few information sessions every year so that new members have some basic training in seed saving. The most important thing to remember is to dry them well before putting in a plastic bag or jar. Beans, peas, kale, arugula, cilantro, dill, and parsley are some easy seeds to save. Let them go to flower, let the seeds form and dry then cut the stalks and put them in large paper or plastic bags to shake the seeds out. You’ll need to dry them for a couple of weeks before putting them in a jar or sealed plastic bag. Remember to label them with the crop, variety and year harvested.

Please be aware that saving seeds from melons and squash is tricky, so we do not accept seed from any homegrown cucurbits, such as cucumber, squash, pumpkins, zucchini and melons.

Donating seeds

Please label your seeds with the crop name, variety, the year they were saved, and your name, and drop them off at the Guelph Tool LIbrary.

Cash donations are always welcome, but the seed library is free to use.

Resources

Seeds of Diversity: Planning and Planting Your Seed Saving Garden