If you’re like us, come March, growing, eating, and celebrating fresh, local ingredients are top of mind! In this post, we’ll give you a few tips for planning and planting your Wood River Valley garden. There’s also some ways to put fresh veggies on the table all summer even if you’re not a gardener.

While there is still plenty of snow on the ground, spring planting season is just around the corner for your Wood River Valley Garden. This webinar from our Executive Director, Amy Mattias, and Manon Gaudreau is a great place to start. They provide tips and advice on starting plants from seed and preparing your garden for the growing season.

For the time crunched gardener, two local farms are currently offering plant starts. Both Itty Bitty Farms and Squash Blossom Farm will do the work of planting and tending seedlings over the next couple months. Come May, you’ll receive healthy, established plants, ready to be transplanted into your garden. There is big advantage of buying from these local farms instead of a bigger garden store. From experience, the farmers at Itty Bitty Farms and Squash Blossom Farm know what vegetable varieties grow best in our arid, high desert climate. Plant starts from either farm are hand-selected to thrive in Wood River Valley gardens.

You can also skip the garden all together and get directly to the veggies. There are two fantastic CSAs (Community Support Agriculture) available this month from Itty Bitty Farms and Peters Family Farms. These are hot items in the Wood River Valley, so jump on it now for fresh vegetables all season. Each week, or every other week depending on the CSA you choose, you’ll receive a selection of in-season produce. CSAs are a great way to keep fresh local food on your table all summer and support local farmers at this capital-intensive time of year. Think of a CSA as an investment with a phenomenal veggie return!

No matter how you choose to get your fresh vegetable this summer, we encourage you to purchase as much as you can from local farms and ranches!