The Crabtree Farms Spring Plant Sale and Festival is April 10-12.
Crabtree Farms’ 15th Annual Spring Plant Sale and Festival will once again offer gardeners "healthiest, sustainabe-grown fruit, vegetable, flower, and herb plant starts" for their spring/summer garden April 10-12.
“We begin the sale Friday for the folks who want only our healthy plant starts,” says Sara McIntyre, executive director of Crabtree Farms. “The festival portion of the sale kicks off early Saturday morning and runs through Sunday afternoon, with local food and craft vendors, a terrific line-up of workshops, fun activities for kids, and, of course, thriving, sustainably-grown plant starts from our greenhouses. Not only do we offer a wide variety of hand-raised heirloom vegetable starts not found at your local store, you will fall in love with our unique selection of specialty herbs and edible plants.”
The free gardening workshops are led by local experts and include “Growing Edible Mushrooms” with Josh Nason of Mountain Valley Mushrooms, “Organic Gardening 101” with Joel Houser of the Land Trust for Tennessee, “Cooking with Herbs” with Stefan Austin of Root Kitchen and Wine Bar, “Backyard Fruits” with Jon Geerlings of Home Flavors, “Heirlooms ” with the TAG Heirloom Group, a guided tour of the Tennessee Valley Beekeepers Association’s beehives, and “Brown Leaves to Black Gold Composting” with Master Gardener Bud Hines. All workshops will be held in Crabtree’s new educational facility; no pre-registration is required.
Hungry shoppers can come for lunch and enjoy a slice of pizza from Lupi’s Pizza and kettle corn from the Kettle Corn Man while browsing for art, soap, woodwork, herbs, and other home and gift items from local vendors all day Saturday and Sunday of the sale.
There will be a wide variety of activities for youngsters, including face painting, crafts and story time. The Tennessee Valley Beekeepers Association is offering an “All About Bees” class for kids on Sunday at 12 p.m., and kids can help plant a raised bed garden with Crabtree farmers on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The new edition of the TasteBuds local food guide will also be released during the plant sale weekend. TasteBuds is Chattanooga’s free regional guide for finding local foods grown and crafted within 100 miles of the Scenic City. This issue features updated listings of local food partners, in-depth articles about local food news and events, and seasonal recipes.
The festival will be Friday, April 10, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturday, April 11, 9 .m.-3 p.m. and Sunday, April 12, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Crabtree Farms is at 1000 East 30th St.
A complete list of plants, a list of vendors, and the workshop schedule are available online. Visit http://crabtreefarms.org/events/spring-plant-sale
The Crabtree Farms Spring Plant Sale and Festival is April 10-12.