Hello Gardeners
10 Year Celebration
The 10 year celebration of the seed library was a
fun event! I hope you got a chance to attend. I enjoyed meeting many enthusiastic
gardeners and future gardeners (kids) interested in growing their plants from
seeds. I am always amazed at how such a little seed can produce such wonderful
plants!
Probably the last seed
packaging event until fall is Wednesday, May 6th from 6-8 pm at the
Lion’s Den room at the White Bear Lake library!
No experience is necessary. It’s a fun event where
you can help out the seed library and talk with other gardeners. No
registration is necessary. Come anytime during the event.
The
Extraordinary Caterpillar Movie Showing
Date/Time
04/29/2026
6:15 pm – 7:45 pm
Location
Ramsey
County Library, Roseville
2180 North Hamline Ave, Roseville
Big River Big Woods is pleased to host a community
screening of The Extraordinary Caterpillar movie. Caterpillars are the engine
of food webs. They feed birds, support pollinators, and keep ecosystems
thriving. Through this screening we hope to raise awareness and inspire people
to restore caterpillar populations by restoring native plants in their very own
backyard.
Homegrown National Park is proud to be the official
U.S. partner for The Extraordinary Caterpillar, a new documentary by Jeff
McKay. The film features our co-founder, Dr. Doug Tallamy, and shines a
spotlight on the critical—but often overlooked—role caterpillars play in
biodiversity.
More information: Extraordinary
Caterpillar
Seed Starting Basics
Just a quick note about seed starting. The average
last date of frost in zone 4 is May 10th.
If your seeds need to be started 8 weeks before this
date, you can start them on March 15. If your seeds need 6 weeks, start them on
March 29th. If they need 4 weeks, start them on April 12th.
Yes, I know it’s hard to wait, but if you start your
seeds too early, you run the risk of having leggy, weak seedlings, which don’t
transplant as well as short, stocky seedlings. Don’t forget that tender plants
such as eggplant, tomatoes and peppers need it to be 50 degrees both day and
night before transplanting outside. This typical occurs 1-3 weeks after the
last frost date.
There are 3 things a seed needs to germinate: water,
sunlight and someplace to set down roots. If you provide these 3 basics, you’ll
probably have a successful seed starting adventure. But before you place the
first seed you need to do a little preparation. Nothing is worse than being all
excited about starting seeds to find you don’t have all the supplies needed and
have to interrupt that enthusiasm to buy or find supplies.
Basic Supplies:
Seeds, Water, Soil-less medium, Containers and trays,
Light source, Location to grow
Seeds – find at the WBL seed library, garden
centers, dollar stores, grocery stores, online seed catalogs, etc. Make sure the
seed package has a date on it. Older seeds have a lower germination rate. If
you find really cheap seeds online be careful. Check the date and reviews of
the company. There’s nothing worse than trying to start seeds that end up not germinating.
Water – Seeds need damp soil not soaking soil. Too
much water could increase mold issues.
Soil-less medium – meaning not your backyard soil as
it’s too heavy or too sandy and could be full of pathogens. Buy a bag of seed
starting or potting mix. Try to find some with the least amount of peatmoss as
that is a not an easy renewable resource. Coir is an option, but I found it needs
to be mixed with regular potting soil as it doesn’t have enough nutrients.
Containers and trays – there are hundreds of
variations of containers and trays for many different prices. All have pluses
and minuses which are too numerous to list in this email. The cheapest route is
to reuse plastic food container you punched drain holes in. I’ll bring some
options I use to the seed packaging this Saturday.
Light source – No, a south facing window won’t be
enough to produce quality seedlings. Minnesota does not have long enough or
reliable sunlight to satisfy most seedling needs of 12-14 hours of light per
day. There are hundreds of both led and fluorescent lights available. Again,
too many options to list here, but I’ll talk about what I use on Saturday.
Location – Seeds usually need a 24 hour warm place
to grow. Starting them in an unheated porch is risky in Minnesota as there are
still many weeks of temperature below freezing. Basements may not even have
enough warmth. Placing trays of tiny seedlings where pets or children play is
likely not going to end well for your seedlings. For example, my cats love to
nip off 1-2” seedlings, decide they don’t like them and let them lay on the
soil. Argh! (I’ve now placed a wire fence around my seedlings with holes too
small for furry paws.)
When to start seeds – Read the back of the package
to determine when is the ideal time to start seeds. Most peppers it is 6-8
weeks before last date of frost. Tomatoes are 4-6 weeks. In zone 4 (Twin Cities
area) the average date of last frost is May 10th.
Depending on the seed variety, you may need to start
these seeds anywhere from 14 weeks to 4 weeks before the average last frost
date. The reason these plants need to have their seeds started early is that
they need a longer growing season then our typical Minnesota growing season
which is from the last spring frost to the first fall frost.
BUT that doesn’t mean you can put outside your
tomatoes and peppers on May 11th! First off, that is just an
average. More importantly, both tomatoes and peppers don’t do well if the
temperature at any point goes below 50 degrees. Especially, young plants.
So, it is likely you will still be growing these
seedlings inside for longer. Keep in mind you may have to transplant them to
larger pots before planting them outside. The longer they have to grow inside,
the leggier they will be. You want strong compact plants, not tall, skinny
plants.
One more thing – don’t forget to gradually acclimate
your seedlings to the outdoors before planting. This involves bringing them
outside for increasing lengths over a week or two.
An Act Locally Opportunity!
I want to make a
request for locally grown tomato, lettuce, bean or pea seeds you harvested from
your garden this season. Though the seed library gets
donations of commercial seed packets, I especially like getting locally grown
seeds. These locally grown seeds have started adapting to our local environment
and in time will grow better than produce, flowers and seeds from plants grown
elsewhere in the country.
Pam
Plant Sales:
Big River, Big Woods
Wild Ones Plant Sale
WHEN:
Saturday
and Sunday May 30-311st, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
WHERE: Shoreview, MN
There will be more than 70 types of wildflowers, ferns, sedges, grasses and
shrubs available for purchase on both days. The sale is first come, first
served. There will be a discount on 3-packs of the same species. These are
native plants, supportive of pollinators and birds.
For more information see website
Friends School Plant
Sale – May 8, 9, 10, 2026 at the State Fair grounds.
They
have over 2,100 varieties of plants (vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruit, trees,
perennials, etc.) all grown neonics free. Neonicotinoids are systemic
insecticides that harm pollinators. See info about this here.
Friends
School sale information can be found here
AFSA School Plant Sale
– May 7-9, 2026 at AFSA High School
100
Vadnais Blvd, Vadnais Heights, MN 55127
Plant
Sale Hours: Thr: May 7th 3:30 - 6:00 p.m., Fri: May 8th 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Sat:
May 9th 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
AFSA's
plant sale is held in the greenhouse at the high school. The sale is the
largest fundraiser the school holds each year. The profits from this sale go to
support a variety of FFA activities at the school.
All
the plants are grown by AFSA students in our greenhouse. We grow a wide variety
of annuals, herbs, tomatoes, and peppers. We take - Cash, Check and Credit
Cards.
Anoka County Master
Gardener sale – May 12, 2026 9am – 7 pm
Anoka County
Fairgrounds 3200 Saint Francis Boulevard Northwest Anoka, MN, 55303
Join us for one of Anoka County’s best kept
secrets—our annual Master Gardener Plant sale! Select from thousands of unique
plants—perennials, annuals, herbs, vegetables, trees/shrubs and more! All
plants are of the highest quality and affordable prices that can’t be beat.
There’s no better place to stock up for the coming growing season!
More
information website
Ramsey County Master
Gardener sale – May 16, 2026
Ramsey County Master Gardeners are hosting their
annual plant sale on Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Aldrich Arena,
1850 White Bear Ave, Maplewood.
The sale includes a large selection of native
plants, vegetables, favorite and unique varieties of tomatoes, herbs, annual
and perennial flowers, houseplants, quality garden gloves, and other great
items to get your garden growing strong. Funds raised support Master
Gardener community and youth education programs in Ramsey County. Cash, checks
and credit cards accepted.
For more information, visit www.RamseyMasterGardeners.org/plantsale.
Landscape Revival –
Saturday June 6, 9 am – 1 pm
Rockpoint
Church, 5825 Kelvin Ave N, Lake Elmo, MN 55042
Sponsored by the St. Paul Bird Alliance
Market: Purchase MN native plants from multiple growers. No cultivars or systemic
insecticides. Includes native plant growers from around the Twin Cities are
surrounding areas that will have native plants in all sizes for sale. Cash or
check preferred.
Expo: Learn to select and
grow native plants for pollinators, wildlife, and water quality. Visit with
educators and experts from conservation and environmental organizations. Get
your landscaping questions answered.
For
more information: Landscape Revival
Local Greenhouses and
Nurseries
As
a request from our volunteers, I am adding a list of various local greenhouses
or garden centers that sell plants. Many of these establishments do not use
neonicotinoids on their plants that they grow. But the buyer should beware: they may sell plants that were grown
previously at a different wholesaler which did use systemic pesticides. You
should ask the growers at these establishments whether neonics were used on the
plants you wish to purchase.
Neonicotinoids
or ‘neonics’ are a systemic pesticides used on plants to kill insects.
Unfortunately, these insecticides also harm pollinators as the insecticide gets
into all parts of the plant including the pollen and nectar.
The only way to be sure
a plant has not been treated with neonics is to buy certified organic seed and
grow it yourself, or buy a certified organically grown plant.
More
information here.
Goldman’s Greenhouse – East Bethel, MN
Website:
Goldman's
MNL
– Ecological
restoration and native species landscaping, retail and whole sale seeds.
Website: MNL
Norther
Hollar – Specializes
in growing native plants of the Midwest. Website: Northern Hollar
Outback Nursery – Hastings, MN
Seller
of Minnesota native trees, shrubs and perennials.
Website:
Outback
Prairie Moon Nursery – Winona, MN and order
online
They
have hundreds of varieties of native plant seeds, plants and bare root stock.
Website:
Prairiemoon
Prairie Restorations – Scandia, MN
Seller
of Minnesota native plants.
Website:
Prairieresto
Contact
info:
Email:
wblseedlibrary@gmail.com
Website:
https://wblseedlibrary.blogspot.com/
