Seed-Lending Library

Frost Free Seed-Lending Library

The Seed Library is a free resource for all Cheshire County residents who need seeds for their home gardens. Its goal is to help improve food security, and to encourage community gardners to develop a healthy and rewarding outdoor hobby.

Getting Started

If this is your first time borrowing seeds, watch for Meet-ups and workshops, and follow our Facebook Group to receive tips, tricks, and advice on home gardens!

If you have any questions during the growing season, take a look at our growing collection of gardening books, or contact us by email at [email protected]

We encourage only experienced seed savers to bring back their seeds, so don't be intimidated if you're a beginner gardener. Feel free to just take a few seed packets and enjoy the perks of a home garden!

For our non-seed saving gardeners, we also will take donations of commercially grown, non-GMO, open-pollinated seeds and/or cash donations to keep the seed library sustainable.

For Our Experienced Savers

Please store your seeds in a cool dry place after they have been cleaned and are completely dry. Make sure that the seeds are as free of plant matter and debris as you are capable of and try your best to not let undesirable varieties pollinate. (ex. cucumber cross pollinated with a melon) until you bring them back to the library.

Only share seeds you feel confidently reflect what you were trying to grow. If you're unsure about whether your plants were isolated well enough, please note that on your donation slip. Your seeds will be sorted and put into next season’s seed library to be shared with other fellow gardeners.

When your seeds are ready to be donated, please write on your donation slips-or the packet itself: The variety, the type, and the year they were harvested. (ex. Cherokee Purple Tomato, 2022). Feel free to include any extra information about what you grew or how you acquired your seeds.

Please only donate heirloom or open pollinated seeds, and NOT hybrids. If you are a beginning seed-saver, please only return your saved seeds from the “easy” category.

Thank You.

-Your fellow Marlborough Seed Savers. ♥