The Lazy Urban Gardener’s Safety Net

Reader Contribution by Gretchen Anderson
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I’ll admit it; the veggies I intended to start back in February are still in their packets next to the starting tray that’s never been opened. A busy schedule and procrastination got the better of me. Now, the calendar is creeping up on June and the last average frost date has passed. As an urban gardener, I’m ashamed of myself. I have nothing to transplant.

In past years, to correct this colossal case of procrastination, I’ve headed to my local garden store and purchased starts from corporate greenhouses. But, what if one could buy starts locally and help out a good cause at the same time? This is where a local high school comes in. The local high school where I live holds a robust plant sale every spring. For months leading up to the sale, the high school botany class students tend to hundreds of flowering and edible plants. 

“It’s a huge success,” says Molly Bell, instructor. “Through this sale, we raise the funds that support the class and this program — and it is self sustaining.” For the past decade, Eagle High School, in Eagle, Idaho has held an annual Botany Plant Sale right before school ends and summer break begins. The plant sale brings in nearly $5,000. That allows Bell a little wriggle room in her budget. It covers everything from potting soil to seeds — and all things in between.

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