Over the last 12 months COVID related periods of lockdown and isolation have seen more and more people interested and spending time gardening. Gardening has long been attributed to helping people get through challenging times and has multiple physical and mental health benefits.
My awesome idea is to establish a Lake Macquarie seed library. Seed libraries are becoming increasing popular and are noted for having many benefits such as - being a fun way to link likeminded gardeners, helping new green thumbs to develop their gardening skills and encouraging the preserving of quality seeds that are adapted to our local growing area.
Growing your own produce and flowers from seed is:
• Ecofriendly
• Something that can be enjoyed by citizens of all ages.
• An opportunity to exercise and gain Vitamin D.
• Money saving
• More Nutritious
How would the proposed Lake Mac Seed library work? Through a partnership developed with Lake Macquarie Council (to be developed) the seed library would be established and delivered by volunteers based at either the Landcare Resource Centre Teralba or Speers Point Library. A repurposed wooden cabinet with dividable draws or old display fridge is proposed to be used to house the seeds. Local gardeners would then be asked for seed donations of edible and non-edible plants. Seeds would be divided into categories of “super easy,” “easy,” and “difficult” to describe the difficulty level involved in planting, growing, and saving the seeds. New gardeners then simple “borrow” seeds from the library at planting time. At the end of the growing season, they are encouraged to save seeds from the best plants and return a portion of of the seeds to the library.

It is suggested that this initiative would be promoted through existing local online and print mediums e.g. Lake Mac Grows Facebook Group, Lake Mac Backyard Habitat for Wildlife Facebook group, Councils Eco Advocate, Councils Library and General Newsletters, Landcare Newsletters etc.