Move over books! The Pueblo library district also has seeds and gardening tools on the shelves

Shovels, rakes and other tools are now available for gardeners to borrow from the Rawlings Library in Pueblo as the district expands its seed lending program.

Double sweet corn, scarlet radish and pink penstemon are among the dozens of choices in the library’s online seed catalog. Library card holders can check out up to five packets at a time from any one of six branches and are encouraged to save seeds from their harvest to return to the collection.

Tools — available only from Rawlings — can be reserved online too, but borrowers must be over 18 and sign a waiver. Users must return the equipment clean within seven days. The Pueblo Food Project is collaborating on the tool library.

Along with lending tools, the library is offering monthly gardening workshops taught by Colorado Master Gardeners and CSU Extension-Pueblo County. Those begin this weekend, April 29, with a session on starting seeds.

The seed library project began in 2015 and is aimed at helping residents grow their own food and flowers and protecting the region’s plant diversity.

Pueblo City-County Library District Seed Library locations include:

• Giodone Branch Library, 24655 U.S. Hwy. 50 E.
• Greenhorn Valley Branch, 4801 Cibola Drive, Colorado City
• Lamb Branch Library, 2525 S. Pueblo Blvd.
• Patrick A. Lucero Branch Library, 1315 E. 7th St.
• Pueblo West Branch Library, 298 S. Joe Martinez Blvd.
• Rawlings Branch Library, 100 E. Abriendo Ave.

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