Healthy soil, sanitary tools, and cooperation with other life forms are the keys to our most effective approach to pest management in your vegetable garden: prevention! In this online workshop, Backyard Growers will walk you through how to minimize human, microbiological, and plant risk by using the ecosystem as the starting point to diagnose pest issues threatening your harvest.

Backyard Growers is a Gloucester-based 501(C)3 nonprofit organization committed to cultivating healthy, connected, resilient communities by empowering people to grow their own food.

Keep your tomatoes healthy so they can produce the most delicious fruit this season!

In this workshop, Backyard Growers Program Coordinator Xavier will share the most important things to take care of to ensure good tomato health, including tomato ailments and challenges to watch for. We’ll also give examples of different trellising styles and their uses to give you a range of methods to keep your tomato plants growing upright.

Join us to keep your tomato skills sharp!

📆 June 8, 4:30-5:30pm

📍 Burnham’s Field Community Garden (Courtside – by the basketball courts)

 FREE for Backyard Growers program participants (eg 2023 Backyard Garden, Community Garden, GrowBag Garden Programs)

 $15 general admission – proceeds support Backyard Growers’ work to build healthy, connected, resilient communities by empowering people to grow their own food

Learn more & purchase your tickets.

Backyard Growers’ May Seedling Sale is open for online ordering through Wednesday, May 17, for curbside pickup and in-person shopping on Saturday, May 20. Purchase veggie seedlings including a variety of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and basil started by our pals at Cedar Rock Gardens. We sell individual plants rather than four-packs.

This sale also features other growing supplies including Neptune’s Harvest fish & seaweed fertilizer, High Mowing Organic Seeds, GrowBags, and more. All orders will be available for pickup at Backyard Growers HQ on Saturday, May 20, 11am-2pm. Plus, we’ll have extra seedlings and other goodies for in-person purchase.

Proceeds support our work building healthy, connected, resilient communities by empowering people to grow their own food. Stop by to say hello and get your veggie garden up and running for the 2023 growing season!

Join community gardener & yoga teacher Jasmine Epstein for this hybrid yin yoga class designed specifically for gardeners — including deep stretches and release for the neck, shoulders, and back.

📆 Friday, April 28, 4pm

📍 You can attend this class in-person at Backyard Growers HQ or online.

FREE for Backyard Growers program participants / $15 general admission. Proceeds support our work building healthy, connected, resilient communities by empowering people to grow their own food. Thanks to Jasmine for donating her time and talent by leading this class!

Thanks to Cape Ann Lanes for hosting a family-friendly night of bowling, with proceeds supporting Backyard Growers‘ work empowering people to grow their own food.

Tickets to bowl are $25 per person. Your ticket will include three strings of bowling and shoe rentals. There will be a lot of great raffle prizes, and Cape Ann Lanes offers a fun arcade and in-house brew pub. It’s going to be an awesome night!

As our veggie gardeners know well, team work makes the dream work! Please consider recruiting a team to play at this fundraiser — just make sure all team members select the same lane at checkout.

COME CELEBRATE WITH US! Join Backyard Growers for a special ribbon-cutting to kick off the veggie-growing season in newly-expanded Burnham’s Field Community Garden!

📍 Burnham’s Field Community Garden

📆 Sunday, April 2, 11am

This spring, we are welcoming 55 households to the garden, where they will grow their own fresh food in raised garden beds – a nearly 50 percent increase in capacity

Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce is generously hosting this ribbon-cutting on the same morning as our first Burnham’s Gardener Work Day and our annual Free Seed Swap & Giveaway which is open to the public. It’s going to be a great, vibrant morning down at Burnham’s Field in Gloucester! Join us!

 Sweet little wine bottle summer squash illustration by our talented Garden Educator Hailey Small

 Join Backyard Growers at Helen’s Bottle Shop for a specialty fundraiser, featuring a curated natural wine-tasting and delicious bites. Proceeds support Backyard Growers’ work building healthy, connected, resilient communities by empowering people to grow their own food.

📍 Helen’s Bottle Shop @ 2 School Street, Manchester, MA

📆 Thursday, April 13, 5:30-8pm

 Tickets: $60 donation to Backyard Growers. Please note: This event is split into two sessions to allow the maximum number of people to join us for this special experience – session A, 5:30 – 6:30pm, and session B, 7 – 8pm. Please select your session at check-out.

  Thanks to Alexis Harwood, owner of Helen’s Bottle Shop & member of our Board of Directors, for hosting this delicious evening.

See you there!

Interesting in growing your own food with us this year? Learn more about our community programs here and explore our spring workshops here.

Backyard Growers is accepting applications for the Backyard Garden Program and the GrowBag Garden Program, which connect low- to moderate-income Cape Ann residents with the resources to grow their own food. Our Community Garden Program is now full for the 2023 season.

🍅 Backyard Garden Program – Backyard Growers builds raised garden beds in low- to moderate-income households’ backyards every spring. Apply for a garden bed built for easy access at your own home.

🥗 GrowBag Garden Program – The GrowBag Garden Program offers modular container gardening. Great for Cape Ann residents who are renters or who don’t have access to traditional outdoor growing space. Apply for a container garden and full veggie-growing resources.

Backyard Growers program participants receive access to growing space, veggie seeds and seedlings started by our friends at Cedar Rock Gardens, admission to gardening and cooking workshops, and an optional garden mentor.

Apply today to take full advantage of all our spring programs and get your garden started asap!

Backyard Growers is a Gloucester-based 501(C)3 nonprofit committed to cultivating healthy, connected, resilient communities by empowering people to grow their own food.

🌱 Pattypan squash! 🍉 Watermelon! 🍅 Kumato and Sungold tomatoes! 🧽 Smooth luffa gourd! 🐝 Wild bergamot! 🦋 Coreopsis! These are just a few of the veggies and flowers that the Backyard Growers team is looking forward to starting from seed indoors this spring.

You too can get a jumpstart on the 2023 growing season by starting your own seeds indoors RIGHT NOW! In this week’s online workshop How to Start Seeds Indoors, we’ll take you through the process of starting your own seeds, including a materials list, dos and don’ts, and a live Q&A.

Here are the details:
📍 On Zoom
📆 This Wednesday, March 8, 6:30pm
🎟 $15 general admission / FREE for Backyard Growers program participants (e.g. 2022 & 2023 Community Garden, Backyard Garden, GrowBag Garden Programs)

Plus, swing by our office at 103R Maplewood Ave, Gloucester, the next day on March 9, 2-5:30pm, to pick up free seeds you can start indoors now.