If you’ve ever started a garden, you know that seeds, in addition to soil, water, and sun, are required for success. The City of Asheville is happy to share and support Seed Libraries for residents to access seeds for free!
Seed Libraries are a great community resource that offer vegetable, flower, and herb seeds to help you take advantage of the wonderful opportunity that comes around each year to put a seed in the earth and watch it grow. Depending on what type of seeds you choose, you could be harvesting fresh vegetables, adding yummy seasoning to your food, or enjoying a flash of color while providing habitat for bees and butterflies. Although most seed libraries encourage you to save some seeds at the end of your growing season to give back to the library, it isn’t a requirement and shouldn’t be an obstacle to stopping by for some seeds.
Not only is growing a garden and harvesting the bounty a joyful experience, but gardening also helps build community resilience while creating opportunities to get outdoors and connect with community members and natural cycles that come and go with the seasons. Each vegetable you grow is one less item you need to buy, saving resources and reducing waste, especially if it means avoiding food typically wrapped in plastic.
Seed Libraries and the folks that help keep them stocked can help you get started. The City offers Seed Libraries at three of our community centers, Burton Street, Linwood Crump Shiloh, and Stephens-Lee, and there are others at Black Mountain Library, Leicester Library Giving Garden, Lucy S. Herring Peace Garden, Peace Garden & Markets, and Southside Community Farm. Keep an eye on the Bountiful Cities website for additional location updates.
If you’re interested in gardening but don’t have a good space, you could check out a nearby community garden, and if you want more support from people who have been growing and harvesting plants for a long time, consider joining the following workdays or workshops:
- 4/19 GWC edible park workday 2:30 PM
- 4/28 Edible Plant Walk
For those of you more interested in harvesting than planting, our AVL edibles map can point you in the right direction.
We hope these resources will help you enjoy a garden soon!