Are you interested in urban farming? Whether you want a cute little backyard garden or to support our local food system, here are some tips to get started before planting season arrives.
Assess Your Space
Salt Lake City has a food mapping tool that allows you to estimate how much of your available yard or box space can be used to plant food.
Don’t have the land? Try a yard share. Wasatch Community Gardens has a Utah Yard Share map that shows potential spaces near you. Often it’s a residential gardener who has room to share. Or apply for a plot at a community garden.
Plan Ahead
Vegetable plants can be grown straight from seed or transplants. If you choose to transplant, you’ll want to start the indoor germination process several weeks before planting outdoors. For many of the hardy varieties of vegetables (i.e. broccoli, asparagus, artichoke) that means starting now for a mid-March planting.
Check out this pocket gardener for handy planting dates.
Educate Yourself
- The Green Urban Lunch Box has an urban farmer training program called the Small Farm Initiative. There you’ll learn sustainable practices through either a farm apprenticeship or stewardship.
- Take an online Beginner Urban Farmer Training through the Utah State University Extension program. For $25 you’ll learn finance and marketing, site assessment and selection, pest control, and soil health.
- Speaking of soil health, there will be a Soil Health in the West Conference in St. George from Feb. 6-8. Network and learn from professionals in the field (pun intended).
