-
What to do if you have a damaged banknote in France
Your bank will be able to provide information and assistance
-
How France’s ‘back to school’ grant works and the amounts for 2025
Three million families are expected to receive the benefit, with payments of up to €462 per child
-
Beautiful Loire Valley château gardens celebrate their patron saint
Famous château potagers specialise in the conservation and collection of old vegetable varieties and offer walks and tasting sessions
Simple ways to save in the garden: Seed libraries
Grainothèques are popping up all over France, allowing the public to take home for free and donate to the collective library of seeds
One way of cutting gardening costs is to use the growing number of seed libraries.
Anybody can take seeds home from a Դdzٳèܱ in a public library. If they want they can also take in seeds from their garden and leave them for others.
Some libraries set out seeds according to the month they should be planted in, others according to variety.
Some set them up in partnership with gardening or environmental associations.
Seven out of 15 libraries in Lyon have a Դdzٳèܱ.
Sabrina Abramovitch, manager of the Saint- Rambert branch, says the idea has been developing over the past few years: “It is a new service libraries can offer,” she said.
“It is open to the public generally not just library members. Each participating library has a chest with drawers, or a box on a shelf with paper envelopes containing around 10 seeds each. They can be for flowers, vegetables or herbs, and should be organic and not sterile. The system depends on trust.”
We said they also run workshops on how to collect your own seeds. “One, this November, will concentrate on fennel, carrot, beetroot and salads,” she said.
In Vence, Alpes-Maritimes, the public media library launched its Դdzٳèܱ at the end of September in partnership with a local environmental association. It aims to help town-dwellers grow seeds on windowsills or in pots, to show how many varieties of plant exist, and to encourage diversity.
With both urban and rural libraries now involved there may be one near you. Some local associations also organise seed exchanging banks.