The New Orleans Public Library has everything your family needs this year to flex their green thumbs – including free seeds for native fruits, vegetables, and herbs at seven different seed library locations:

• Alvar Library
• Cita Dennis Hubbell Library
• Rosa F. Keller Library & Community Center
• Mid-City Library
• Milton H. Latter Memorial Library
• Nora Navra Library
• East New Orleans Regional Library

Cardholders can get up to three seed packets at a time. Seeds are available first-come, first-served and cannot be placed on hold. Availability may vary, so be sure to visit a location with a Seed Library for current information on seed offerings.

When you pick up your seeds, check out these books to get the whole family excited to watch your garden grow.

Young Readers:

In All That Grows by Jack Wong, a boy and his sister go for a walk and learn all about the plants they see, making the boy realize how vast the universe is and how much there is to learn, which he will cultivate in his own way.

If there’s a picky eater in your family, growing vegetables together is a great way to encourage them to try something new – a lesson children can get from Jayden’s Secret Ingredient by Melina Mangal. The book follows Jayden, who does not like green beans, but might change his mind after his neighbor grows a beautiful harvest of scarlet runner beans and invites them all over to try them.

Middle Grade:

Maker Comics: Grow a Garden! by Alexis Frederick-Frost is a fun and engaging read that also shares step-by-step instructions to grow a container garden. When Violet, Will, and Basil are assigned the most unpopular teacher at Garden Gnome Academy, they are surprised to take an interest in their lessons about soil, compost and the secrets to growing a healthy garden.

Another wonderful guide to growing is The Nitty-Gritty Gardening Book: Fun Projects for All Seasons by Kari A. Cornell. Through step-by-step, illustrated instructions, this book provides a a variety of seasonal gardening projects for children, including how to create a hanging garden, strawberry basket, and compost bin.

Teen:

Teens are sure to fall in love with Taproot: A Story About a Gardener and a Ghost by Keezy Young. Readers meet Hamal, a gardener happily in love with Blue — a ghost – when something eerie starts happening in town. With the local afterlife unsettled, Blue realizes Hamal’s strange ability may be putting him in danger, setting him on an adventure to save him.

In Rii Abrego’s The Sprite and the Gardener, an ambitious, kind-hearted sprite named Wisteria rekindles her species’ ancient art of gardening, which was lost long ago when humans appeared and began growing their own gardens. Wisteria starts questioning the way things are, she starts discovering her once-dormant skill, to her great delight. However, her newly found skills turn out to be not as welcome as she hoped.

Visit catalog.nolalibrary.org to reserve your books, and nolalibray.org/seed-libraries for more information about this popular service.