Madison Public Library: Seed Library

Borrowing seeds from Madison Public Library is free and easy!

Visit participating libraries to pick up seeds.
Grow your plants and enjoy the harvest.
After harvest, collect and share seeds with neighbors if you'd like!

By participating in the seed library you are helping to create a culture of sharing and community. Saving seeds leads to a sustainable future for your community and your garden.

Participating Libraries

How do I get seeds?

Visit participating libraries to pick up seeds. There's no limit to the number of seed packets you can request and each packet contains about 10 seeds. Please note, just like with our books, there are a limited number of seeds in the collection.

We've created some helpful book lists to use alongside your seeds, as a way to learn more about a variety of topics related to different kinds of gardening. You can download and print the booklists or peruse them digitally and place holds using LINKcat.

Download Gardening Book List for Adults
Download Gardening Book List for Kids

Seeds in Spring, Summer and Autumn

The seed library offers a variety of vegetable, herb, fruit, and flower seeds from March through September. Varieties are subject to availability, and may include:

Vegetables

Bean
Beet
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrot
Celeriac
Celery
Collards
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Kale
Leek
Lettuce
Okra
Onion
Parsnip
Pea
Pepper (bell, hot)
Pumpkin
Radish
Rutabaga
Spinach
Squash
Swiss Chard
Tomato (slicer, cherry)
Turnip
Zucchini

Herbs

Madison Public Library gives away free seeds to the community through their Seed Library program

Basil
Chives
Cilantro
Dill
Garlic chives
Mustard
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage

Fruits

Melon
Watermelon

Flowers

Cosmos
Marigold
Nasturtium
Pansy
Sunflower
Zinnia

Note: Not all of these seeds will be available at all seed libraries.

Upcoming Events

See all of our upcoming gardening programs at madpl.org/gardening.

Container Gardening

Container gardening has become a hot topic in recent years as more of us are living in condos and apartments and would like to garden. Also, as people age, gardening with containers allows us to garden with less bending and kneeling. To be a successful container gardener, you need to know not only about the plants that grow in containers but also how growing in containers affect plants. A certified Master Gardener Volunteer from Dane County UW-Extension will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of different container types, container soils and their characteristics, watering and fertilizing schedules, plants that are well suited for containers and container design.

Funding

Madison Public Library's Seed Library began as a larger project called the Dane County Seed Library, which was started in 2014 with a $5,000 grant provided by the John A. Johnson Fund and an anonymous donor through the Madison Community Foundation. The Seed Library is currently funded by multiple sources, including the Friends of Madison Public Library and Madison Public Library Foundation.