Seed libraries are a well labelled and organised box containing seeds provided by the community. They can usually be found at crop swaps, edible exchanges or even on people’s mailboxes around the neighbourhood. Again, they work on an honesty system, locals bring their own seeds and exchange them for seeds already provided by the community.

Exchanging seeds with local growers has many advantages over store bought seeds. Seeds are often homegrown, open pollination varieties rather than sterile varieties, which will thrive in the local area. Locally grown seeds are usually at least a few generations old and have often been naturally selected to have the best fruit or the most resilient plant. These neighbourhood seeds are very well suited to the local climate and conditions.

Of course, it is still important to plant annuals seasonally, but you are off to a good start following in the footsteps of other successful local growers. There may be some cross pollination, particularly when it comes to cucurbits, meaning that you could end up with some very unusual pumpkin fruits for example, but locals say that that is just part of the gardening adventure.