Green thumbs up at the garden fair
Green thumbs rejoice: The gigantic Garden Fair of the Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners is back for the first time since 2019.
The Garden Fair chair, Avra Leodas, and the many volunteers involved cannot hide their excitement either. “I’ve been here for 40 years, and I remember garden fairs from years past, from way before the pandemic,” says Leodas, a Master Gardener since 2021. “So I was hoping that the [Santa Fe
Extension Master Gardeners] board would be interested in revitalizing the fair again.
And they were. And I would like to stress the fantastic team it took to put this together.”
The fair will take place Saturday, May 11, andwillincludetheplantsaleboothand
Garden Shed, and vendors will sell a variety of indoor and outdoor plants as well as gardening tools and accessories, eco-friendlygreenhousekits,lavenderproducts,compost,soil,birdfeeders, and books. You will even be able to sharpen your tools at a booth run by Cutting Edge.
The Plant Sale, run by the Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners, will sell seeds, shoots, and plants that are suitable for our climate and region. The Garden Shed, also organized by SFEMG, will sell gently used gardening equipment, tools, and books for all garden-related interests and needs — from pruning to digging to planting to reading about planting and reading about saving the planet. All proceeds from the Plant Sale and the Garden Shed will go to the SFEMG educational programs (more on those in Pasatiempo in the fall).
If you get peckish or have little ones who need entertaining, several food trucks will be on site, and the Kids Corner, with its array of educational activities, will keep everyone busy too, as will the two bands playing live music morning and afternoon, the knowledgeable master gardeners at the Ask a Master Gardener table, and the plethora of exhibits and demonstrations, including a honeybee display.
Four speakers will help you set up your garden for success in our climate. Reese Baker of The Rain Catcher will discuss using urban rainwater for sustainability. Jannine Cabossel, aka the Tomato Lady, will chat about growing vegetables in our region. Morika Hensley with the Santa Fe Watershed Association will talk about our local water supply and the actions we can take to safeguard it. And Juliana Ciano from Reunity Resources will share ideas about growing community-scale climate resiliency.
Just as the SFEMG program is about more than growing (and learning how not to kill too many) plants in our wonderful, if not harsh, desert environment, so is the Garden Fair about more than just buying baby tomato plants. Both are about community — and both are about making new friends, gaining new skills, learning why strawberries are not meant for our climate (unless you grow them in the late fall, it turns out), and giving back.
“Being able to make communities is the reason humans have persisted,” says Catherine Wygant, Master Gardener and one of the Garden Fair committee chairs. “We’ve very vulnerable on the planet, and being a contributing part of a community is good for your mental health and crucial to our survival.”
— Ania Hull/for The New Mexican
Gardenfair—santafeextensionmastergardeners 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 11
Santa Fe County Fairgrounds
3229 Rodeo Road
Free entry and free parking sfemg.org