Dad, head to these greens
Dads who like to garden will fall for Fig Earth Supply, a new weekends-only nursery pop-up that offers organic edible seedlings, soil and fertilizer, pots and planters and Japanese tools.
During Father’s Day weekend, dads can shop for caraway greens and anise hyssop while biodynamic gardener Loretta Allison hosts the free workshop “Creating a Perennial Edible Garden” on June 18. On Father’s Day, owner Conor Fitzpatrick plans to host a beer tasting for dads courtesy of a local brewery. Coming up June 25, Christy Wilhelmi will host a free workshop on “biointensive techniques” — which means methods for growing a lot of food in a small space.
Staged in an empty tool yard in Mount Washington, the nursery sells seedlings that are grown from open pollinated seeds and are propagated by Allison of Spade and Seeds, a Los Angeles-based urban farm.
On a recent visit, Fitzpatrick had an interesting assortment of vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, including indigo Blue Berries tomatoes, Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers, droughttolerant Rattlesnake Beans, heatloving ong choy (a type of spinach) and purple-fleshed sweet potatoes.
Fitzpatrick opened Fig Earth Supply after years spent building custom cedar-raised beds and planters under the MinifarmBox brand name.
He decided he wanted to do something extra for the community: “I wanted to create a hub that allowed people to get more connected with the earth,” he said, “a place to learn, grow and get new ideas for living more sustainably.”
Scott Daigre, who hosted his popular Tomatomania pop-up at Fig Earth Supply in March, said Fitzpatrick has accomplished his goal.
“Connor’s energy and enthusiasm for gardening and the garden community as a whole is palpable,” he said.
“In an age when nurseries are disappearing from the city landscape, [Fig Earth Supply is] truly a bright spot in the neighborhood,” Daigre continued. “They make a real difference, proving that gardening is possible and growing food for yourself is rewarding on even a small scale.”