Gravette Public Library hosts successful seed swap

GRAVETTE — Gravette Public Library hosted a very successful seed swap Saturday, March 17, with approximately 50 people in attendance.

The Learning Center room where bins of seeds were displayed and made available to patrons was filled with guests as soon as the event began, according to Karen Benson, the library supervisor. Several brought seeds to exchange and others took home some of the 100 packets of seeds donated by the Seed Savers Exchange through the Herman’s Garden Seed Donation Program. Flower, vegetable and herb seeds were distributed.

Representatives of the Benton County Master Gardeners were on hand to answer gardeners’ questions and distribute informative materials and free packets of French marigold seeds. Their displays showed a soils map of Arkansas and gave instructions on how to grow more in less space and how to practice square-foot gardening.

A colorful display on a table in the KidSPACE showed how many seeds of various varieties could be planted in a square foot of ground, an illustration of the square-foot gardening method created by Mel Bartholomew and described in his book, “All New Square Foot Gardening.”

Special activities were available for the youngsters. Library aide Brittany Mangold assisted them in filling cups with soil and planting marigold seeds

they were able to take home. “Life on the Farm” coloring books were given to the children.

A number of attractive gift items were raffled, including a “germination station,” a gardening bench, flavored cooking oils, a “Books and Blooms” basket and a basket donated by “The Pioneer Woman,” Ree Drummond. The basket raffle raised $150. Proceeds will go to help fund library programs.

A book signing is set at the library from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. The library is located at 119 Main St. S.E.

Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND Brittany Mangold (right), library aide at Gravette Public Library, assists youngsters in planting marigold seeds at the library’s seed swap March 17. Here, Mangold instructs Dina Teed and her brother, Paul Teed, how deep to plant their seeds. The...

Photo by Karen Benson Benton County Master Gardeners Phyllis Stair, Vicki Halley, Burt Crume and Linda Crume pose at their booth at the Gravette Public Library seed swap. They displayed colorful posters with gardening information, distributed French marigold seeds and...

Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND A display on one of the tables at the Gravette Public Library seed swap shows how many seeds of different varieties can be planted in a square foot of space. This illustration of the square-foot gardening method was created by Mel Bartholomew and is...