If Lehigh Acres VegHeads had visions of lettuce, spinach, squash, carrot and pepper seeds dancing in their heads this summer, it’s understandable.
The 4-H students and their families sorted through over 40,000 packets of vegetable seeds the last weekend so part of their community service project. They put the packets in plastic bags. Based on 20 packets to a bag, that’s 2,000 bags.
The VegHeads seed library is the first seed library in Lee County and serves anyone willing to make the drive to Lehigh Acres.
For those interested in starting a vegetable garden, the seeds are free. They can be found at Veterans Park Recreation Center, 55 Homestead Road S., Lehigh Acres. Fill out your name and address and the seeds are yours.
That’s a good reason why the students sorted the packets over three hours each on a Saturday and Sunday. Other members of the class include Oliva Slattery, Braden and Brawyn Richardson, Bryce Colyer, Jonathan and Henry Hill and Nathan Bailey.
The seeds were donated by Rural King of Bonita Springs.
Many of the students took the seeds home and started their own gardens.
Teacher Karen Harty, a master gardener who moved to Lehigh Acres eight years ago, eliminates the mystery of plants by exposing the youths to as many different kinds as she can. She has given a bit of world tour by showing them Egyptian, Brazilian and New Zealand spinach.