A previous expert panel from the Los Alamos Community Seed Library. Courtesy/LAC
COUNTY News:
The Los Alamos Public Library is hosting the Seed Library’s annual expert gardening panel 1:30-3 p.m. Sunday, May 31 at Mesa Public Library.
This year’s focus is Defensive Gardening and the experts chosen as panelists have extensive history with gardening in Los Alamos County and northern New Mexico.
The Los Alamos Community Seed Library is a volunteer-driven project hosted at Los Alamos Public Library’s two branches and at the Pajarito Environmental Education Center. The volunteers, many of whom are local master gardeners, collect and prepare seed packets that can be checked out of the Seed Library like one would check out books from the library. Although the Seed Library does not require a return of seeds, local gardeners are invited to share the seeds they collect back to the Seed Library at the end of the season. This has promoted locally-adapted seeds to be a part of the collection available to gardeners in the region.
The experts on this gardening panel include master gardeners and professional gardeners who have a collective century of experience in northern New Mexico, and in Los Alamos specifically. The special invited expert this year is Dr. Stephanie Walker of New Mexico State University, whose expertise and experience include research into pigmentation of chilis, is a long-time teacher and communicator about horticultural matters in the region. Together, these experts can offer ideas, tips and tricks about pest management, environmental conditions and plant choices for the best outcomes in Los Alamos County and surrounding areas.
This program, as all programs at the library, is free and open to the public. To learn more, visit LosAlamosLibrary.org or come to the library and ask staff about all of the events and programs at the library. With the summer season about to begin, there are additional programs for all ages, including the Summer Reading Challenges created by the staff of the Los Alamos Public Library.