Gardening and Sustainability Events
Homemade for the Holidays: Sustainable Crafting from the Heart
Bring joy and sustainable action to your holidays. Join us to whip up some homemade gifts for friends and family on your list. We will be making gift packets of hot chocolate mix and ecofriendly lip balm.
Learn about preserving the environment and conserving our natural resources.
Color Nature pictures!
Share your food memories!
Help us tell the story of Yonkers through gardening, feasting, cooking and celebrating. We’ll add them to YPL’s digital archives!
- Use this form to upload pictures or share scans of your treasured recipes.
- If you’d prefer to share on paper, grab a paper form at a library branch.
- We can also help you digitally scan images or recipes; just visit us at any reference desk.
- You can also email your memories, photos, and recipes to history@ypl.org.
We’re Live! The YPL Seed Library is back for 2025!
Great News: We’re Live!
The YPL Seed Library Summer Edition is Here!
As the summer solstice nears, the SEEDs Garden shifts from planting to maintaining. June is all about good habits: watering regularly, weeding mindfully, watching for pests, and supporting growing plants like tomatoes and cucumbers.
We’re also harvesting early crops and planting new ones in their place. By practicing succession sowing—planting every few weeks—we keep our garden lush and productive all season.
Now’s the time to sow fast-growing veggies, heat-loving herbs, and colorful flowers. There’s still plenty to plant!
Our Summer Batch is available, featuring a variety of seeds to get your garden growing now:
Cucumber Early Spring Burpless | Small Sugar Pumpkin | Black Beauty Zucchini | Beet Bull’s Blood | Blue Lake Bush Bean | Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean | Small Sunflower Mix | Collards Greens Georgia | Swiss Chard Rainbow Mix | Morning Glory ‘Grandpa Ott’| Nasturtium Jewel Mix | Japanese Giant Red Mustard | Swiss Chard Lucullus | Birdhouse Gourd | Okra Clemson Spineless | Italian Basil | Cilantro | Dill Bouquet Herb
Let’s make planting even more fun! Use our Seeds Across America Map to tell us where you’re from, what are you planting and share your gardening story!
Acknowledgments
The YPL Seed Library is made possible through generous support from Con Edison.
About the YPL Seed Library
During growing season you can find seed catalogs on the main floor at Crestwood, the Fine Arts section at the Will Library, and the third floor at Riverfront!
- Borrow: Collect up to four (4) seed packets of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
- Grow: Take photos of your sprouting seeds and tag us with #yplseedlibrary.
- Share: SHARE photos of your sprouting seeds and/or recipe of your harvested crops on social media. Tag us in any photos you upload and use the hashtag #yplseedlibrary or email to seedlibrary@ypl.org.
Supported with generous donations from Con Edison. Additional seed packets were provided by The Chas C. Hart Seed Company.
Seeds We've "Loaned" Throughout Yonkers
Our Winter Batch is still available, featuring a variety of seeds to get your garden growing now:
California Poppy | True Lavender | Purple Coneflower | Chamomile | Catnip | St. John’s Wort | Evergreen Bunching Onion | Spinach | Lacinato Kale | Blue Curled Kale | Oregano | Thyme
History of YPL Seed Library
2021: YPL begins a campaign to improve its grounds with assistance from the Westchester County Board of Legislators. YPL replaces invasive plants and poison ivy at the Will Library with a native pollinator garden.
2022: Will Library and Crestwood Library debuts new accessible, raised bed gardens.
2022: Seed Library established with assistance from Foundation for the Yonkers Public Library (FYPL).
2023-2024: Con Edison generously sponsored Seed Library for the first time.
2024: Con Edison expands its giving to YPL, allowing the Seed Library to grow even further. We distributed over 10,000 packets of organic.
