During the pandemic many people began gardening for the first time. Not only is growing your own food nourishing for your body, but gardening and caring for plants can also be a great way to care for yourself. Christopher Griffin, a.k.a. Plant Kween, and Marcus Bridgewater talk about the many benefits of gardening in their books You Grow Gurl! and How to Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself. You don't necessarily need a lot of space and can grow plants, herbs, and vegetables on a small patch of land or in pots outside or in your home.
Whether you're planting a garden for the first time or you're already a seasoned gardener, OPL has plenty of new gardening books to help.
Need seeds? We have those, too! Many of our branches have Seed Lending Libraries where you can pick up seeds. If you have seeds to donate we'll gladly accept those, too.
You'll find a gardening playlist on our Seed Lending Library page with tips to help your garden grow. You can also visit our Tool Lending Library to check out gardening tools you may need.
Not sure what to plant? The Ecology Center's East Bay Planting Times guide is a great resource to help you decide which seeds to plant according to the months and seasons.
We also invite you to celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month this May by picking up a “Grab and Grow” kit from Asian Branch Library, in Chinatown, while supplies last. Each kit includes 4 types of Asian seeds—Japanese mizuna, Korean perilla, Chinese parsley (cilantro), Thai Basil— and a pamphlet with growing instructions, recipes, and cultural information!
Happy gardening!
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