Garden club, seed bank support local gardeners

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Apr 18, 20190

With spring in the air, it is time to start thinking about what seeds are going in the ground. To encourage those with green thumbs of all shades, a new garden club has sprouted and the dormant seed bank project is blooming once more.

Malden library hosted the first meeting of a new garden club April 9. Seeds were shown and shared and those in attendance talked about future projects.

“It was a nice start,” said Vanessa Place, Malden librarian. One of the club members is a long-time resident with a bushel of gardening know-how. Place admitted that, while she has gardening experience, she does not have experience with local soils and climate. She had multiple residents interested in having a garden club in Malden, so she decided to have the library facilitate one.

“It will be an opportunity for new gardeners and advanced gardeners,” she said.

The next meeting will be April 23 at 11 a.m. The group is set to start lettuce beds with the soil and seeds being provided. Place noted the event is open to anyone who wants to join and encourages participants to bring a container to put the lettuce bed in.

Place anticipates the club continuing through the spring and summer to share knowledge and experience with gardening crafts.

Those not able to attend the new garden club may still find some horticulture help from the Whitman County Library. The library’s seed bank has been revived with a new volunteer doling out seed.

“Seed libraries are very time intensive,” noted Shirley Cornelius, WCL business manager.

The seed bank was initiated by a WSU student under the premise students would continue to maintain it. That lasted until the student graduated.

Library staff managed the seed bank for about a year, then it fell into dormancy.

Mary Wiley has taken over the growing of the seed bank. She has gathered donations of seed packets from around the area and broken out those seed packets. Smaller amounts of seeds have been put in bags and envelopes for residents to check out from the seed bank. Cornelius noted Wiley also wrote the expiration date on the envelopes.

“So we don’t keep old stale ones,” she said. After sitting idle, stale seeds were a problem with the seed bank and it had to basically start over with Wiley’s donated harvest.

Similar to checking out a book from the library, citizens just have to write down their names and what seeds they took.

“We encourage them to give back if they have seeds (to share),” Cornelius said. It is not required to return, but the gardeners can deposit seeds into the seed bank, whether they are harvested from the plant grown from the seeds or entirely different seeds.