In advance of Earth Day, approximately 2,000 tomato starts are being grown in a large greenhouse at Ferndale’s Hovander Homestead Park.
If I’m quick on the draw when the Master Gardener Foundation of Whatcom County opens its Online Plant Sale beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 29, as many as 20 of those burgeoning plants will be mine. I’ll be able to pick them up and bring them home with me during the foundation’s Hovander Plant Sale taking place Saturday, May 13 without having to elbow other tomato-seekers out of the way.
Barbara King, the plant sale chair and a master gardener since 2005, said those who don’t order their tomato starts in advance — as well as a limited number of herbs, vegetable starts and daylilies — will want to arrive within the first hour or two of the May 13 fundraising event to secure them at the in-person sale.
From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day, people can peruse a wide array of affordable gardening goods, including perennials, native plants, trees, shrubs, potted bonsai, a Mother’s Day table with “instant garden” gift baskets, and a garden shed housing previously owned garden-related items.
Additionally, King said attendees can listen in on mini-lectures about growing dahlias, tomatoes and composting, and receive tech assistance on how to use cell phones to get answers to gardening questions.
Vic Knox supervises as Ferndale students place sod at the Hovander Demonstration Garden. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
“This year we’re really upping the education at the sale,” King said. “It’s not good to plant a tomato if you don’t know how to grow it. (We’re) also much more educational on our sale tags that go in each and every pot, and on our buying site at whatcommgf.org.”
King said she loves working with other master gardeners toward a shared goal and teaching people how to garden — including elementary and preschool groups that visit the Children’s Story Garden at Hovander.
“Start ’em young is the trick,” she said.
With a number of other plant sales on the horizon in the near future, King said it’s good to keep in mind that purchasing plants that have been grown locally means they’re much more likely to be acclimated to our particular climate.
That will certainly be the case at a Sunnyland Earth Day Plant & Seed Swap taking place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 22 at Bellingham’s Sunnyland Park, 2338 Humboldt St. Attendees are welcome to bring garden and house plants to trade, as well as seeds. If you don’t have anything to barter with, just make a small donation to the Sunnyland Neighborhood Association and proceed with your Earth Day plans.
The following weekend will be a big one for those who want to beautify their own plot of the planet or grow their own produce. Friends of the Deming Library will host its annual self-serve Spring Plant Sale during library hours from April 28–May 4 at the book hub at 5044 Mt. Baker Highway.
Hanging baskets, bedding plants and vegetable starts can be perused and purchased from 3–6 p.m. Friday, April 28, and 9 a.m to noon Saturday, April 29, at the Meridian FFA Plant Sale at the high school’s greenhouse, 194 W. Laurel Road. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, the Everson Garden Club’s Plant Sale will feature “the best plants and the best prices” — including perennials, shrubs, trees, veggies, native plants, fruit and flowers — at Everson Elementary School, 216 Everson-Goshen Road.
Additionally, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 29–30, 3Cs Farms will host a Plant & Craft Sale at its Deming acreage at 6222 WA-542. More than 30 local vendors will be on hand, including many selling flowers and other plants. Attendees can also explore the farm at their leisure and get lunch at an on-site food truck.
A May Day Plant and Seed Swap will round out the weekend from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 29, at the Alger Sunday Market, 18735 Parkview Lane. The free event will celebrate the season beginning with the swap, followed by live music, a dance around the Maypole and a community potluck. All ages are welcome.
It’s always a busy scene at the Birchwood Garden Club’s Plant Sale, which this year will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 6, in the lower-level conference room at the Bellingham Public Library, 210 Central Avenue. Available at the 30th annual event will be perennials, annuals, veggie starts, indoor plants, pots, books, choice selections from members’ gardens, and more. Come early for the best selection, and be prepared to pay with cash or check. (May 6 is also World Naked Gardening Day, so keep that in mind if it’s a warm afternoon.)
Master Gardeners Peg Nathon, left, and Kay Clark, right, show Ferndale High School students how to pot various plants in preparation for the Master Gardener Plant Sale. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
On the educational side of things, sign up for a free Planning and Prepping Your Spring and Summer Garden workshop with Whatcom County Master Gardener Chantell Bertollini at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 6, at the Blaine Library (wcls.org); attend a Getting Started Gardening Basics workshop at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at the Chuckanut Center (chuckanutcenter.org); or peruse the educational offerings taking place on a regular basis at Everson’s Cloud Mountain Farm Center and Nursery (cloudmountainfarmcenter.org).
By the time the Master Gardener Foundation of Whatcom County hosts its last hurrah of the season — a Master Gardener Self-Service Plant Sale taking place June 10–18 back at Hovander Homestead Park — local gardeners should be well on their way to being stocked up not only on plant materials, but also on knowledge.
