- It's that time of year when gardeners are starting to get their seed catalogs and get excited about planning their garden.

But did you know you can get seeds for free at the Salt Lake City Public Library?

We are here at the library to learn more about the Seed Library, how it works, and why having a free Seed Library is so important for communities and gardeners.

And if you like this video, please subscribe to our Modern Gardener channel.

- [Rikki] We have like a ton of kale seeds, not a literal ton, we know it's 2,000 pounds, but we do have 25 pounds.

- [Host] We met with Rikki Longino who's the Seed Library and Garden Coordinator for the Salt Lake City Public Library.

- So this is a repurposed old fashioned card catalog, and instead of having book catalogs in here, we actually have a of seed packets.

Anybody, absolutely anybody, you don't have to have a library card, can come grab whatever kinda seed you need for your garden.

- [Host] I used the Seed Library myself.

I picked out a handful of seed packets, filled out these little forms, and handed them into the librarian at the front desk.

- This order form is also online, you can look at our catalog online, all the seeds we have, we'll pack it up for you, and let you know when it's ready, and then you can just come to the library and pick up your seeds.

- That's so cool.

I was looking at the online seed catalog, and I loved the way it was organized with the scientific name.

- These seeds just sitting in the catalog or sitting in a vault somewhere will lose viability over time, but if these can be freely put into soil and grow now, then that adds a layer of genetic resiliency that then comes back to the Seed Library.

This is just one of five of our Seed Libraries that are spread throughout the city of Salt Lake.

- [Host] You can visit the Seed Library at the main branch, as well as Sprague, Marmalade, Glendale, Day-Riverside, and this year, they're adding a sixth Seed Library to the Chapman Branch.

Besides getting seeds from the Seed Library, Rikki and their team encourage gardeners to donate seeds to the Seed Library.

In fact, Rikki says this exchange of seeds is part of what makes the concept of Seed Library so invaluable to communities and gardeners.

- Seed Libraries are a place where you can get viable seeds that are shared and exchanged and interconnected as part of our ecosystem.

We're sharing, exchanging, kind of intermingling all of these things that we're growing in our plots, in our little backyard labs.

- Yeah.

- And to be able to share that and have a free space that you can just donate and take seeds at will, I think is really, really crucial - [Host] When donating seeds to the Seed Library, there are some simple guidelines to follow.

You can find more information on donating seeds by visiting one of the Seed Libraries or the Seed Library website.

- I think the Seed Library is really critical, because at this time as the climate is changing, as we're kind of having to learn more about resilient kind of food sovereignty and industrial food systems are becoming more and more fragile, the more decentralized we can be with seeds the better.

- [Host] As a gardener themselves, I asked Rikki their advice on growing from seed.

- I try not to be too precious about each individual's seed, each one is sacred, each one has so much potential, and also, if the crop doesn't grow, if it's struggling, it's okay to kind of let it decompose, become compost, and plant something new that does better.

We have no shortage of seeds right now, and so, I think it's important to allow yourself to play, allow things to pass along and not get too attached to each individual seed, because that's why they produce so many thousands of seeds.

And rather than having just one central Seed Library, it's better if every neighborhood can have a Seed Library to make it as accessible and usable as possible.

- We hope this video inspired you to visit the Salt Lake City Public Library's Seed Library and start growing the garden of your dreams.

Stay tuned for the next Modern Gardener video by subscribing to our channel and turning on notifications.

Thanks everyone, bye.

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