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Plantapalooza! URI Master Gardener seedling incubator program attracts community growers statewide

Nearly 100 nonprofits coming to URI this week to collect their URI-raised baby plants

May 11, 2023 

WHAT: The University of Rhode Island is finishing its annual seedling donation pickup this Friday, bringing schools and nonprofits from across the state to East Farm in Kingston to collect their URI-grown young plants, ready for planting in beds and gardens statewide. The URI Master Gardener Program has raised 12,000 vegetable, herb and annual seedlings in greenhouses since March. Everything from broccoli to thyme and all kinds of varieties in between, carefully tended for nearly 100 different community gardens and school gardens across Rhode Island. (The pickup is for already-registered nonprofits, not the public.)

WHO: The URI Master Gardener program, a flagship program of URI Cooperative Extension, leads the seedling donation effort. The effort seeks to encourage people to grow their own food, thereby increasing access to fresh, nutritious produce. Nearly 100 community-based organizations and schools with gardens across Rhode Island submitted orders for seedlings earlier this year. Sites collecting plants this week include Roots2Empower, Smith Castle, Pettaquamscutt Community Garden, Slater Mill, the Narragansett Indian Tribe, Mount Hope Farm, Welcome House in Peace Dale, the Autism Project, Community Food Collaborative Garden in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and over 40 schools. The Master Gardener program also ‘takes requests’ and this year planted sesame, headed to Providence’s Gardens of Second Chances. The majority of the plants were grown with seeds donated by Ocean State Job Lot. Job Lot cannot resell last year’s seeds so they donate them annually to the Master Gardener program, letting URI Master Gardeners bring the seeds to life for community groups statewide each spring.

WHEN: Friday, May 12, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Pick-ups began starting on Tuesday of this week; Friday 5/12 will be the last day of pickup. 

WHERE: The Greenhouses at East Farm (rear of farm), Route 108, Kingston.

TO COVER THE EVENT: Please contact Kristen Curry, URI Communications and Marketing, 401-874-5602 or kristen.curry@uri.edu.