SFC Master Gardeners preparing for annual plant sale

St. Francis County Master Gardeners are spending this week getting ready to welcome customers to their annual plant sale that kicks off Friday morning.

The sale will be held both Friday and Saturday at Vandiver’s NewCastle Farms where Master Gardeners will be on hand to help customers shop for flowers, plants and trees for their homes while also answering questions they might have.

Judy Manning, president of the local Master Gardeners group, said they will have a table set up this year for shoppers to receive educational information on the products they purchase and other beneficial information such as ways to create compost.

On Friday, the sale will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with Master Gardeners reopening Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon.

Even though the sale is held on only one weekend each year, gardeners start planning for the next year’s sale as soon as the current one ends. The non-profit group depends on its members to raise vegetable plants, flowers and trees that are sold during the annual event.

In previous years, shoppers have poured into Vandiver Farms on Friday mornings, sometimes leaving little left for the sale on Saturday.

Manning said she doesn’t expect that to be a problem this year because several members have been growing numerous plants over the past year for this specific occasion.

However, Manning encourages those who are shopping for specific items to come early. “People who are really interested in getting a certain thing should come early Friday if at all possible,” she said.

“We have so many plants this year,” she continued. “We have over 700 plants that Anita (Vandiver) has raised for us and that doesn’t include the ones the other members have raised. I have over 1,100 tomato plants in our greenhouse, and that’s not even counting all the flowers I’ve raised. Other members have also been preparing a lot of plants for this sale.”

Manning said Vandiver is no longer an active member of Master Gardeners but supports the group’s efforts by growing plants for the sale and by allowing them to use the greenhouse and property at Vandiver’s NewCastle Farms for the weekend event.

“She has also done an amazing number of flowers for us. She’s no longer an active Master Gardener but volunteers to help when she can, and she has raised so many plants for us this year,” said Manning.

Manning said she also built a greenhouse at her home this year and raised many of the plants that will be sold this weekend.

She named a few of the items