Seed Lending Library

Click here for a list of gardening cookbooks at the Framingham Public Library.

Click here for a list of gardening books at the Framingham Public Library.

If you would like to donate seeds to the seed library there are seed bags and blank inserts located on the seed catalog at the main library and at the McAuliffe Library. Or you can give your seeds to library staff and we will repackage them. Thank you so much!

• Save from healthy plants. Helps produce disease resistant plants.
• Save from a number of plants. Gives the crop genetic diversity. The number depends on the type of plant. Self-pollinating plants like tomatoes requires a minimum of six plants. Cross-pollinating plants like corn require a much larger population.
• Open-pollinated. Please harvest seeds from an open-pollinated variety.
• Isolate cross pollinators. Isolation means preventing pollen from plants within the same species from co-mingling. This keeps the seed “true-to-type” so that it will grow the exact same plant again. Isolate varieties by planting them far enough away from each other. Check here for an explanation and a guide from Seed Savers Exchange.
• Dry. Make sure seeds are dry before putting in bags.
• Clean. Have seeds cleaned by removing as much of chaff as possible.
• Label. Please fill in as much information as you can about the seed. Crop, variety, age, planting information.

Thanks again!

*Information for this guide was gathered from West County Community Seed Exchange in California and Round Valley Public Library in California.