Corbin Public Library offering new ‘seed library’ for gardeners this growing season

Whether you are an experienced green thumb, or if you are just beginning to cultivate your gardening skills, the Corbin Public Library invites you to come and take advantage of their brand new “seed library” program, which provides seeds of all types for free to anyone who wants them.

While it costs absolutely nothing to take advantage of this new program, there are some caveats. “We want to make it as simple as possible,” explained CPL Program Director Leah White. “Anyone can come in and look through our selection. There will be a signout process at the front desk for anyone who wants to take seeds, and we are setting a five-packet a month limit right now.”

“This is for anybody,” White said. “We are not requiring you to have a library account, although it would be in people’s interest to have a card. We are definitely getting more and more printed materials in on gardening that will be available to check out.”

White said that the idea for the seed library was actually something that her predecessor had been working on, but her and Library Director John Baker have been able to bring the project to fruition this year thanks to the success of a seed swap event back in January where several people donated seeds to go in the library cabinet.

“We already had the cabinet, and a lot of the materials,” White said. “We did some research on what other libraries have done with similar programs, and within the last month or so we were able to finalize everything.”

“The first seeds came from packs that were bought last summer,” White continued. “A regular seed envelope has a lot of seeds, so I divided them out into different envelopes to help them go further. We started with about 100 envelopes in all, and then we did the seed swap in January where people came and donated seeds.”

Even though White has a good amount of seeds available in the cabinet to get this new program rolling, she said that she hopes more seed donations will arrive in the coming days, as there are still several drawers that need to be filled.

White said that she encourages anyone who takes seeds this spring and summer to consider harvesting some new seeds at the end of the growing season to return to the seed library. By doing this, it will help to ensure that the program can be offered each year moving forward.

“We would like to be able to offer a variety of seeds – food, herbs, flowers,” White said. “I am really excited about it. We have already had a few people come by to take advantage.”

The CPL’s new seed library will be available anytime during normal business hours. For more information, visit the library at 215 Roy Kidd Ave., call them at (606) 528-6366, or visit them online at corbinkylibrary.org.