Wasatch Community Gardens' Spring Plant Sale
- Date
- May 11, 2024 8:00 am - 1:00 pm
Description
Get your calendars cleared, your garden dreams a-flowin’....and join us for Wasatch Community Gardens’ annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, May 11! The sale will take place from 8:00 am - 1:00 pm at Rowland Hall (720 Guardsman Way, SLC).
Why Shop WCG's Spring Plant Sale?
We know there are plenty of local plant sales this time of year. Why shop at WCG's sale? Our sale features more than 45,000 food-growing plants raised from seed by participants of our farm-based Job Training Program serving women facing homelessness. These seedlings are grown with the utmost care at our certified organic Green Phoenix Farm.
In other words, when you shop our Spring Plant Sale, you'll gift your garden with healthy plant starts while also helping us work toward our vision of a community where everyone has access to healthy, local food. The sale will also feature...
- 200+ annual vegetable varieties
- 70+ tomato varieties
- 45+ pepper varieties (ranging from sweet to hot to death peppers)
- 40 edible perennial varieties (grapes, berries, asparagus and more!)
- Snake River Seed Cooperative seeds (many stewarded at WCG's Green Phoenix Farm and regionally adapted to Utah's unique climate)
- A diverse selection of seed potatoes
- Beautiful onion, leek and shallot starts
- Herbs galore
- Flowers, grasses and native plants
- Bagged compost
- SNAP EBT accepted for all food growing plants
Browse Our Varieties
Start planning your garden by browsing the lists of annuals and select edible perennials and flowers grown at our Green Phoenix Farm that will be available at the sale. Note that we will also be selling non-WCG grown flowers, grasses and native plants that are not reflected in these resources.
- 2024 Annual Varieties Catalog: view in-depth profiles of each annual vegetable, fruit, berry and flower variety grown at our Green Phoenix Farm, complete with photos, plant care tips and history, etc. (Note: best reviewed when "View" is set to 50% - 75%).
- 2024 Annual Varieties Quick Reference List: use this list as a quick reference tool for planning your annual varieties purchases. This resource lists the same varieties as the catalog, but in a condensed format!
- 2024 Edible Perennials List: view our incredible assortment edible perennials, from berries to asparagus, and currants to figs!
- 2024 Tomatoes by Characteristic: looking for that perfect pink, cherry, or heat-tolerant tomato? Make sense of our 75 tomato varieties with this handy list!
View Our FREE Recorded Webinar - Sneak Peek of New Veggie Varieties
Get the inside scoop on the new varieties of tomatoes and other awesome veggies that we'll be offering at this year’s Spring Plant Sale. Many of our new additions and staff pick varieties are unlikely to be found anywhere else in the Salt Lake Valley! View the recording of our FREE sneak peek live webinar, which also covers some of the basics of tomato classification, the Scoville hot pepper heat scale, and some interesting background on the heritage and breeders of these varieties.
Volunteer at the Spring Plant Sale
If you have attended our Spring Plant Sale in the past, then you’ve likely interacted with some of the fantastic volunteers who make it all possible. We have many different volunteer roles that need support including veggie seller, cashier, compost courier, and more. Sign up for a shift on Friday, May 10th or Saturday, May 11th.
Volunteer at the Spring Plant Sale
Event Information
Saturday, May 11 from 8 am – 1 pm
Rowland Hall Middle School
720 Guardsman Way SLC 84108
PARKING:
Public parking is available in Rowland Hall's north parking lot, as well as at Carmen B. Pingree Autism Center of Learning (corner of Guardsman Way and 800 South). Event map coming soon.
PAYMENT:
Accepted methods of payment: cash, credit, debit, check and SNAP/EBT (for food-growing plants only)
Food and beverage information will be posted as soon as it's available.
Free water will be available at indoor drinking fountains within Rowland Hall. Bring an empty water bottle to refill to stay hydrated during the sale!
This is an outdoor event held in early May—so please come prepared for the cold, rain, AND sun! The sale will go on rain or shine, so please check the weather and plan accordingly!
PETS:
Please leave your pets at home. Service animals are welcome.
ADA ACCESSIBILITY:
Wasatch Community Gardens carefully considers the needs of all market attendees and makes a sincere effort to accommodate everyone. All public spaces are wheelchair accessible. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions or for ADA Reasonable Accommodations.
Tips for Happy Shopping
Browse our 200+ annual varieties in the full catalog and quick-reference lists below, and peruse our 75+ tomato varieties with ease in our handy guide as well. All annual vegetables have been grown at our certified organic Green Phoenix Farm. Volunteers will be available to help you find your selections.
Herbs, annual flowers, sun and shade perennials, native plants, grasses, and berries and other edible perennials will also be available at the sale. Make our event your one-stop shop for your garden ambitions, and plan your shopping route with our event map.
The entry line in the early hours of the sale can appear long. Don't pass us by! Once the sale opens, the line moves quickly. Consider attending the sale during the later hours to avoid the crowd all together. We'll be serving up plants until 1 pm.
Experienced gardeners - volunteers and staff alike - will be onsite to answer your questions during your shopping experience. These garden enthusiasts are excited to answer your questions about companion planting, pests and diseases, perennials, annuals, and more!
Are your plant dreams bigger than your carrying capacity? Take advantage of our free Veggie Valet service. Our Veggie Valet volunteers will shuttle your large plant orders to a vehicle pick-up area, allowing you to bring your plant babies home with ease.
And by wagon, we mean any means of carrying your plant selections. We will provide free boxes to help shoppers carry their plants. That said, we welcome wagons, baskets, carts, strollers - whatever gets the job done!
An expanded selection of seeds and potatoes can be found at the Plant Sale! Browse multiple varieties of Snake River Seed Cooperative seeds - including WCG-stewarded varieties that were grown at our very own Green Phoenix Farm. All of these seeds are regionally adapted to the Intermountain West. We'll also have local Idaho potatoes on hand.
Seeds are located at the Merch Tent!
It’s easy to be (delightfully) overwhelmed by the many, many tomato varieties available at our sale. Our tomato section will be organized by category - cherries and grapes; paste, sauce and salsa; saladettes and small slicers; and medium and large slicers. Volunteers will be available at the tomato tables to help you select the tomatoes that best fit your tastes!
As you walk the sale, you'll notice that many of our plant variety signs display "tags" that speak to unique aspects of the plants. Watch for staff picks, WCG-stewarded varieties, new varieties, kids picks, container varieties and Slow Food Ark of Taste!
1.5 cubic feet bagged compost from Wild Valley Farms will be available at the sale! Snag a compost ticket at the Merch Tent to purchase your compost along with the rest of your plants, and our team will load them into your vehicle for you!
Make sure to visit the merch tent to upgrade your garden style with our 2024 WCG t-shirts! We'll also have totes, hats, bandanas, hoodies and more available for you to show your WCG pride. These purchases play an important role in supporting WCG programming.
When You Bring Your Plants Home
Hardening off is a process of getting seedlings used to living outdoors in sun and wind. This process is very important for seedlings grown under grow lights in order to "toughen them up." Our Green Phoenix Farm Director James Loomis recommends modifying this process for our WCG seedlings, because they have been grown in a bright greenhouse using the sun's light rather than artificial grow lights. They are stout and strong and closer to being ready to plant than plants grown under artificial lights. Here is the process we recommend for acclimating your seedlings to your garden.
Learn how to care for your plant babies once you bring them home! Visit our Resources page on our website for video tutorials featuring Spring Plant Sale-relevant topics such as onion planting, potato planting, tomato trenching and seedling care.
We're offering workshops all season long to help you grow your healthiest, most productive plants yet. From tomato caging to composting to pest management, our workshops run the gamut of veggie gardening interests and abilities. Register for an upcoming workshop today.
Become a Pal of the Plant Sale (PoPS)
Our Spring Plant Sale is one of our longest standing signature events that brings our community together for access to locally grown plants and to support our mission to empower people to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food. The 2024 Spring Plant Sale is on Saturday, May 11, and we offer early access to shopping the sale the night before. Our most enthusiastic shoppers at WCG's Spring Plant Sale - those who spent $150 or more at the previous year's Spring Plant Sale - and donors who make a one-time gift of $150 or more or a "perennial" monthly gift of $10 or more, are our Pals of the Plant Sale, or PoPS! If you do not already fall into this category we invite you to join PoPS by making a donation today.
Become a Pal of the Plant Sale
Thank You To Our Sponsors
Lunch Sponsors
