Dear friends,
As librarians working with the Seed Library, our job is to help nurture a community-supported regionally adapted seed supply that is free and accessible to all Pima County residents. We are always exploring new ways to empower gardeners to grow as seed savers. Nine years ago, the Seed Library started the One Seed, Pima County as a way to encourage more gardeners to incorporate growing from seed and seed saving into their gardening. As our tenth anniversary approaches, we continue to embrace the idea that through shared experience, in this case, of growing, learning, and saving seeds together, we can achieve a greater sense of (comm)UNITY and move closer to a locally sustained, genetically adapted, people-powered seed shed.
As we continue to grow participation in One Seed Pima County, we invite you to join us in planting seeds for this season’s chosen plant, the Crackerjack Marigold, or Cempasúchil, in your home, community, or school garden. Through social media, blog posts, and interactive programming, we hope to increase awareness of how to grow, use, and save marigold seeds.
As the saying goes, it starts with a seed. We hope you will consider making Pima County radiantly beautiful by planting marigold seeds with us this year!
In community,
PCPL Seed Librarians
The Scoop on One Seed and How to Participate
One Seed Pima County 2022 will kick-off at the end of April! Planting will continue throughout the spring, summer, and fall planting seasons.
End of April through September
Libraries across Pima County will have Crackerjack Marigold seed displays with barcoded seeds for One Seed participants to check out. They can also be reserved online for pickup. We will also have bulk quantities of seeds for community partners to plant. You can reach out to us at seed.library@pima.gov if you have questions about partnering to grow a large quantity of marigolds in your community or school garden.
Ongoing
We encourage One Seed participants to return a portion of their completely dry harvest of marigold seeds to any library location, anytime. The Crackerjack Marigold seeds we save as a community will be combined to become one, community-wide seed donation that will sustain our growing for future generations. Would you like more information about saving and sharing seeds? Visit this page for a guide with helpful information!
Special consideration
We are asking One Seed participants to commit to only growing this one variety of marigold (Crackerjack Marigold) this season if planning to contribute some of their seeds to the library. If other varieties of marigold are grown nearby they can cross-pollinate, increasing the likelihood of hybrid seeds, which cannot be shared through the Seed Library. Please remember to fill out a donation form and attach it to your donation.
Get involved on social media
We hope you'll join us in using social media throughout the spring and summer months to share your own photos, stories, and other resources highlighting the planting, growing, and seed collecting of Crackerjack Marigolds. Please tag us on Facebook and use the hashtags #OneSeedPimaCounty, #CommunitySupportedSeeds, and #SeedLibraryPCPL.
