Garden planning season is in full swing. From seeds and starts to soil amendments, it’s time to get serious about what you’ll grow this year. To help, we’ve put together a few ideas for sourcing local for your garden including some great local plant sales!
Swap Seeds & Starts
Join the Upper Big Wood River Grange and the Wood River Seed Library for their annual seed & plant swaps. On Saturday April 19 and Saturday May 24 from 10am-noon, community members bring their plants and seeds to share with each other. Many seeds and starts are free and there will also be some local farmers there selling plant starts.
Shop Local Plant Sales Online: Squash Blossom Farm Plants
Start your home garden right with robust, thriving plants grown by Squash Blossom Farm in Bellevue. They have over 50 varieties of tomatoes, peppers, herbs, squash, greens, and more. All varieties are carefully selected for optimal production in our high mountain growing zone and started so that they are the perfect size to plant out in your home garden. They also offer Snake River Seed Co-op seed packets and 1.5 cubic ft. bags of their favorite potting soil. Two pick-up dates are available: May 17th and May 31 at their farm in Bellevue. Click here to shop their plant sale.
Shop Local Plant Sales Online: Tara’s Market & Garden
In addition to being the new home delivery distribution point for the Wood River Valley and Carey, Tara’s Market & Garden will be offering a local plant sale with a variety of vegetable plant starts this spring. All starts will be available on the Tara’s Market & Garden website and delivered right to your door. Sign up for a Tara’s Market & Garden account to get notified of the sale.
Shop Snake River Seeds
Webb Nursery in Bellevue and Ketchum now carries Snake River Seed Cooperative seed packets in their stores. You can shop their full selection online. Pick up your favorite varieties and get your starts going! The benefits of bioregionally adapted seeds include:
- Varieties selected for shorter growing seasons
- More drought tolerant plants
- Bred for native pollinators
- Supports small family farm operations
- Open-pollinated varieties for seed saving from your own garden
Boost Your Soil
Get your garden ready with nutrient dense compost, vermicast and compost tea from local companies. Mountain Valley Compost offer vermicast ( the product of the decomposition by worms of recycled fruit, vegetables, leaves, and manure), and compost tea (a mixture of nutrients and oxygen-loving bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and other microbes that live in finished compost). Winn’s offers finished compost delivered to your home, or it can be picked up at their location in Ohio Gulch. FUN FACT: Some of Winn’s compost started out as food diverted by students through our composting initiatives!
Save the Date: The Hunger Coalition Plant Sale
The Hunger Coalition is hosting a local plant sale on May 31. Drinkers of the Wind Farm will be there with a a variety of herbs and tomato starts, flowers ranging from cosmos and zinnias to nasturtiums and dahlias, in addition to High Desert Roots native plant starts. For reminders and more, sign up for The Hunger Coalition newsletter and the Drinkers of the Wind newsletter.
Local Plant Sales At the Market
Local farmers may also sell plant starts at their farmers market booths. Drinkers of the Wind will have starts available at the first few Farmer’s Markets for those who are getting a late start on their gardens (or don’t want to mess around fighting the last few frosts of the season).