From arugula to zucchini: Yukoners swapping seeds and advice at 'seed library'

It's a welcome sign of spring after a long Yukon winter: people in Whitehorse are once again borrowing from the seed library.

"People can come and borrow seeds, take them home, grow the plants and then do the best to harvest seeds from those plants in the fall," says Anna Pearson, manager of the departmental library for Energy, Mines and Resources.

Pearson has been helping to manage the small project since employees started it in 2015.

The seed library is accessible in the Elijah Smith building in Whitehorse, in a corner of the Yukon Energy, Mines and Resources library which is open year-round during business hours.

The seed library does not require any government funding. Employees re-purposed an old microfilm cabinet, which today holds more than 1,000 packets of seeds.

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The seed library is an experiment in genetic selection.

Pearson says the goal is to encourage "hardy, more adapted strains of flowers, vegetables, herbs that are well-suited to our colder growing conditions."

250 people registered to exchange seeds

More than 250 people have signed up to use the library since it opened. This week an opening event saw 23 new people sign on.

The library has books supporting agriculture, topographical maps, aerial photographs and other Yukon government resources.

Betty Sutton is one of the people registered to use the free service.

'"It's a challenge to garden in the Yukon because we have so much cold weather," she says.  "Here I can get seeds for free, and they're Yukon-produced so you know they're hardy."

Collection is growing

In three years, the collection has grown from five to more than 30 varieties of seeds, including arugula, beans, peas, at least three varieties of tomatoes.

Some of the plants have been grown outside and others in backyard greenhouses or indoors.

Pearson says there have also been some surprises.

One unusual specimen is the rat-tail radish. The plants produce edible seed pods which she says have a "spicy radish-like flavour."

Many gardeners have said they grow well in a Yukon.

"They're pretty prolific. They produce dozens of seed pods from one plant," Pearson says