Taking Root Plant Sale 2021:

Consider Preparing Plants for Donation

While fall, then winter may be upon us, thoughts of the 2021 Taking Root Plant Sale remain quite alive! It remains the largest fundraiser for the Tom Settlemire Community Garden.

The Plant Sale Committee has been very busy planning for the 2021 TRPS, tentatively scheduled for Saturday June 5, 2021 at the Topsham Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall. While Covid-19 has made it challenging to anticipate how next year’s plant sale may look, we still need your support for the Tom Settlemire Community Garden.

That means not only saving the date, and considering volunteering, but hopefully preparing to donate your healthy perennials.

Now is a perfect time to thin and heel-in extra plants and/or note where there are plants in your garden that could be thinned in the spring (so you know where they are even if they are not up yet). Email plantsale@btlt.org with questions.

The funds generated from this sale support the work of the Tom Settlemire Community Garden, where there are over 80 plots for community members, we host free gardening workshops for the community, and produce thousands of pounds of food each year for the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program. And you can be part of the great work.

Plant Donation Criteria

WHAT TO DONATE

  • Hardy perennials and biennials for sun and shade including: variegated hostas, ferns, foxglove, grasses, unusual irises, echinacea, liatris and other sunny border bloomers.
  • Shrubs, small trees & vines
  • The more unusual the plant, the better!
  • 3-4 of each variety if possible
  • Minimum 4” pots or plugs of 4 or 6 per container
  • ‘Heel’ plants potted for donation into space in your own garden, or note plants for division in the spring. They can winter over and be healthy plants for next year’s sale.
  • We cannot accept plants listed as invasive or potentially invasive by the State of Maine. Click HERE for more information and a list of plant

HOW TO PREP PLANTS FOR DONATION NEXT SPRING

  • Dug plants should go into clean pots with bagged potting soil or screened compost. Try not to use any extra garden soil to prevent the spread of invasive species.
  • Choose an open space in your garden to plant the potted plans for the winter.
  • In the spring remove the plants from the garden 3-4 weeks from the sale. Keep them watered and in dappled sun.

Label each pot with name of plant, height, color, and sun or shade so that we can easily add them to the inventory system.