Get your garden beds ready because it’s planting time.
The Youth Garden Project invites you to stop by its annual spring plant sale on Saturday, May 4, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The plant sale is an opportunity to shop for organically grown seedlings, ask for gardening advice or just to say hello and see the farm in full spring bloom.
The Youth Garden Project (YGP) is located at 530 S. 400 East, beside the Mill Creek pathway and Grand County High School.
Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, brassicas, cucumbers, flowers, squashes, melons and more will be available at the sale and ready for transplanting into gardens or containers.
This year’s plant sale list includes pickling and slicing cucumbers, beefsteak and cherry tomatoes, “Sugar Baby” watermelon and bright mixes of marigolds that lure butterflies and pollinators to gardens. Eight varieties of basil, including lime, “Mrs. Burns’ Lemon” and “Sweet Thai” are on the list.
In addition to the seedlings, YGP partners with Wildland Scapes and Canyon Nursery to provide native plants, perennials, fruit trees, groundcover plants and other landscaping and gardening plants.
The YGP staff said that thousands of plants are available through the sale. YGP is a 1.5-acre organic and educational garden that offers youth and community programs including Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership shares, Weed ’N Feeds volunteer dinners, summer camps, garden classroom field trips and more.
“The Youth Garden Project plant sale is a full circle community event that supports growing food, kids and community,” said YGP Director Kaitlin Thomas. “Proceeds from sales get invested back into developing youth and community programs, while we help empower people to grow their own food and explore gardening as people take home YGP starts.”
Thomas said the educational experience of growing food from seed to table is imprinted into the internship for the people working at YGP, the youth program visitors and the community at-large.
“The YGP staff team always enjoys the plant sale, the excitement it brings and how connected it is to our mission,” Thomas said.
For people who want to attend the plant sale, but are unsure about what they want to grow, the YGP staff has posted a series of informative videos on its website. Topics include easy ways to cook eggplant, high-desert Chimayó chile peppers and “the perfect” lunchbox garden snack. Visit www.youthgardenproject.org/plantsale to see the videos.
Moab resident Annie Thomas (no relation to Kaitlin Thomas) said her favorite purchase from YGP several years ago was an artichoke plant.
She said that in addition to providing healthy, tasty food, its big purple blooms were beautiful.
“It was fun to learn from (the YGP’s staff) expertise what we were able to grow here,” she said. “It’s so wonderful to buy plants from a local source where we know the hands that planted it and that it was grown with love.”
The Youth Garden Project Plant Sale is offering a variety of heirloom artichoke called “Purple of Romagna” that grows large, tender purple artichokes. It’s a regional Italian favorite, the YGP staff said.
The artichoke seeds come from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. For information on how to prepare and eat artichokes and for a list of recipes, visit the company’s website at www.rareseeds.com/artichoke-recipes.
Pick up vegetable and fruit plants for your garden at the annual Youth Garden Project Plant Sale
“It’s so wonderful to buy plants from a local source where we know the hands that planted it and that it was grown with love.”
When: Saturday, May 4, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Where: 530 S. 400 East
Cost: Free to attend; plant sale prices vary
Info: Visit www.youthgardenproject.org or call 435-259-2326
