March 2024 Update:
The 2nd Annual Seed Library Kickoff was held on Saturday, March 9, at the Noah Webster Library. This event marked the start of a second year of our popular Seed Library – a collaboration between the WHPL and the West Hartford Garden Club to expand community access to seeds and support gardeners of all skill levels. Visitors joined us to select free seeds for their gardens, consulted with Master Gardeners, and entered a raffle for a chance to win gardening supplies. The Seed Library is accessible during library hours on the main floor of the Noah Webster Library.
February 2024 Update:
The West Hartford Garden Club’s Civic Projects Committee and West Hartford’s Public Library sponsored a Winter Native Seed Sowing Workshop on Sunday afternoon, February 25, at the Noah Webster Library.
Attendees learned how to grow native wildflowers and grasses using recycled containers and the winter sowing method of starting seeds outdoors in winter. Including native plants in your surroundings is a great way to provide food and habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. They learned that you can expand your native plantings inexpensively by growing them yourself from seed. This workshop covered the benefits of this method of germinating seeds and the advantages it has over indoor seed-starting, which requires grow lights and hardening-off of seedlings.
Everyone was sent home with a mini greenhouse made from an up-cycled plastic jug filled with a planted seed selection. Proper aftercare was also shared.
Presentation was give by Beth Ann Loveland Sennett, Advanced Master Gardener and West Hartford Garden Club Civic Projects Co-Chair, and Peter Picone, DEEP Wildlife Biologist.
June 2023 Update:
As of June 1, the Civic Projects Committee has continued to add flower and veggie seed packets to the free Community Seed Library at the Noah Webster Library for plants that can be directly sown now. We will continue to support this collaboration with the West Hartford Public Library by adding seeds during the summer months, especially for perennials that can be started now in trays, for veggies like lettuces and greens that can be planted successively, and for cool weather crops that will mature in the fall. We have increased the number of seeds saved by club members and are shifting our efforts in favor of organic and open-pollinated seeds that gardeners can save and share themselves. In addition, in October of this year we expect to host a Seed Saving/Seed Swapping Workshop in collaboration with the West Hartford Public Library, which we hope will help us to resupply our cupboards for 2024!
The launch of the West Hartford Garden Club Seed Library was on March 18, 2023 at the Noah Webster Library at 20 South Main Street, West Hartford was a huge success. The turnout was amazing! Door prizes were awarded to the first few visitors, and there was a free raffle of gardening materials. Our community Seed Library is set up in a card catalog near the reference desk in the adult section of the library. Seeds are free. We hope this program interests citizens in gardening and maybe even in growing some of their own food. Educational materials are available. The Seed Library is open during regular library hours. A library card is not required. We encourage gardeners to donate saved seeds from the plants they have grown. We are very interested in ensuring that ethnic flowers and vegetables can be available in the future. West Hartford Life Article
Thank you to the Seed Library Team composed of Janice, Gina, and Christine, and a HUGE shout-out to Janice Schnabel for her leadership! Janice Schnabel made visits to local seed library programs to decide how to move forward with this amazing program, set up all of the meetings involved, connected with the West Hartford Public Library, and organized the program. Janice was also the person who asked Ocean State Job Lot for seeds and was given 3600 seed packets and a $200 gift card – which was what made the launch of this program possible. We thank the Ocean State Job Lot in Bloomfield for their generous donation of 3600 seed packets that helped us to get this program off the ground! We have also been awarded a generous seed grant from UCONN Master Gardener Association, which was announced on March 8, 2023. A grant application was filed with Hudson Valley Seed Company, and recipients have not yet been announced for that grant.
Janice Schnabel and Gina Trusciewicz picked up a $200 gift card from Larry and Cindy at Ocean State Job Lot in Bloomfield for the purchase of seeds. Ocean State Job Lot also donated four boxes of last year’s seeds, which should germinate very well. Janice and Gina were busy sorting! These seeds were provided for the West Hartford Garden Club’s new Seed Library at the West Hartford Noah Webster Library, which launched on March 18. Please contact us with any questions at whgccivicproj@gmail.com.
