Learn how to prepare your seed potatoes, how to plant them in the ground, and how to hill them once your plants have sprouted. This quick how-to video will set you up for your most bountiful potato harvest yet!

"Involving young children in their food from start to finish—planting seeds; seeing, touching and smelling plants; harvesting the bounty; and preparing and eating foods together—gives kids more ownership over what they put in their bodies and can lead to lifelong healthy eating."

Check out this article about our Youth & School Garden Program and the benefits of introducing children to gardening from Early Learning Nation.

After nine incredible years at the helm of Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG), Executive Director Ashley Patterson is resigning in September to pursue her next adventure. We are grateful to Ashley for all that she has accomplished at WCG, not the least of which is building a permanent home at the Wasatch Community Gardens’ Campus for us to better serve a larger, more diverse community as we work to empower people to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food. At the completion of this project later this year, Ashley will be moving on to new challenges. Ashley is a community leader, an authority on sustainable agriculture, a visionary, and a friend. We will miss her! We will be celebrating Ashley’s legacy throughout the summer.  Stay tuned for further information.

We are actively seeking an experienced, passionate Executive Director to lead WCG’s efforts to create a community where everyone values and has access to growing and eating healthy, delicious food. We’re looking for leadership experience, preferably as a nonprofit executive director, and ability to fundraise, influence the community, and set and drive strategic direction to further organizational mission. The description for this full-time position may be viewed here. Please consider joining our team or sharing this opportunity with a stellar candidate!

This Planting Calendar for the Wasatch Front guides you through a full season of garden planning, whether you are direct seeding or transplanting your crops. This is a general guideline to help you plan your garden, and please consult seed packets for specific variety information. Click here for a downloadable version.

As an anti-racist organization that serves all members of our community, including many in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, we at Wasatch Community Gardens would like to share this recent statement from local leaders and express our solidarity:

“We are devastated by the news of [this week’s] shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, and we express our sincerest condolences to all the victims and their families who are affected by this tragedy. While the motives connected to these horrifying killings are yet to be settled, it is deeply disturbing that many of the fatalities are among the most vulnerable in our communities: women of Asian descent. It is clear that anti-Asian hate incidents have exploded over the past year across our country. The increase of anti-Asian hate speech is absolutely unacceptable and must stop. Divisive rhetoric, such as describing the Coronavirus as the 'Chinese Virus,' has increased acts of hate against members of the AA&PI community broadly. Unfortunately, too often acts of hate go unreported. We urge all Utahns to come together, to call out hateful rhetoric, and to support one another as we get through this challenging time. Hate does not have a place in our community, but your safety and security does. You are not alone.”

~Elected leaders and organizations from Utah’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

The Salt Lake Tribune posted this statement, available in context here. 

Click here to read Wasatch Community Gardens' Anti-Racism Statement.

Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG) is an organization devoted to building community through healthy, local food. While we certainly engage in the technical work of managing gardens and growing food, we cannot emphasize enough that community – people – is at the heart of everything we do. We believe in the power of shared gardens and shared meals to create connection and to cultivate a humanity in how a community cares for its members.

This week’s unlawful and anti-democratic events at the United States Capitol have shocked our organization and the community we love and serve. Witnessing the violence, symbols of white supremacy and hateful intimidation tactics used to threaten our democracy has been emotional and a sobering reminder that – on the very ground in which we garden – a belief pervades that democratic freedoms and equality are for some, but not all. It has been a traumatic week for so many in our community, particularly people of color and children, and we acknowledge this. We grieve with you.

While recent events have highlighted racism and double-standards in our government and law enforcement practices, white supremacy and racism have historically been and continue to be intrinsic to our food system. Because of this, access to local, healthy food is a privilege available to far too few.

As we look for ways to grow beyond this week’s violence, we hope you’ll join us in thinking critically about how we can expand access to local, healthy food and ensure that our local food system is an equitable and welcoming place for all. We’ve listed some of our favorite resources in the food justice space below, and we thank these organizations for leading the conversation. Indeed, this is the type of work that can unite us all.

National Organizations

Black Urban Growers
First Nations Development Institute
FoodCorps
Food Systems Leadership Network
HEAL Food Alliance
National Black Food & Justice Alliance
National Farm to School Network
National Young Farmers Coalition
Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance
Native Seeds/SEARCH
Soul Fire Farm

Local Organizations

Black Lives Matter Utah
New Roots
Utah Diné Bikéyah

We look forward to engaging in this work with you.

Anti-Racism Statement

Since our inception, Wasatch Community Gardens has cultivated respectful, authentic connections among diverse people—both within our organization and across our community. We have broken ground together, broken bread together, laughed with each other, and learned from each other. As an organization, we embrace the value of inclusion because it is the human equivalent of a resilient, thriving ecosystem or vegetable garden.  

In a society that was designed and continues to marginalize and silence people of color, inclusion is a value that requires committed and persistent action. This is especially important in our work with local food systems, gardening and farming, environmentalism, education, and health and wellness. Racism has historically been intrinsic to these systems, and we must therefore be clear and intentional in our anti-racist work. That is why we have chosen to become an actively anti-racist organization. A committee of staff and board members will meet regularly to build anti-racist values and practices into our daily actions and our programs. This committee will also be tasked with establishing accountability measures and evaluating progress on those measures.  

We recognize that we have plenty of learning to do and progress to make, particularly given our current position as a majority-white organization. We acknowledge and thank community members and organizations who have been leading anti-racist conversations and efforts long before we instituted our own organizational efforts. 

We also recognize that accountability is essential to putting meaningful action behind our words, and we will share these concrete measures here as soon as they are established.  

Members of our organization are currently taking numerous steps to further integrate anti-racism efforts into our community service. These include:

• Measurement of aggregate racial and ethnic diversity within our programs and how it relates to Salt Lake County demographics
• Efforts to increase accessibility and relevance of our programs to Hispanic and Latinx community members
• Partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to engage and support community gardeners of refugee background. IRC acts as coordinator, advocate and service provider for refugee gardeners, while WCG provides land access and site coordination. 
• Work with community garden members and a University of Utah class to identify best practices in similar community garden programs across the country that increase inclusivity and accessibility of gardens
• Trainings through YWCA Utah's 21 Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge
• Trainings with the Inclusion Experience Project
• Trainings through the Utah Nonprofit Association on organizational culture, with a focus on race, equity, diversity and inclusion
• Regular program team reflections on how to incorporate anti-racism into our ongoing work 

We recognize these efforts and related education and understanding are a journey, and becoming an anti-racist organization is about more than completing a checklist. Engagement with our community and stakeholders is the core of our work, and we commit to ongoing learning, conversation and action in continuing on this path together.

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Discrimination based upon race, religion, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy-related conditions, breastfeeding, or medical conditions related to breastfeeding), age, national origin, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, color, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law is prohibited throughout all phases of employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, benefits, hours of work, issuance of discipline, transfer, work assignments, and termination.

WCG provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees as required by law.

Applicants with disabilities may request a reasonable accommodation at any point in the employment process.