This annual seed sale encourages Valley gardeners to grow their own food

Master gardener Jenny Beasley is always on the hunt for resources to support her community garden. The event that allows her to get every seed she needs for the year returns this weekend.

The Great American Seed Up, happening on Oct. 27 and 28 at the North Phoenix Baptist Church, will sell seeds and connect gardeners, offering resources to plant and harvest vegetables, grains, herbs and flowers – and teach people how to save seeds for the future.

The event, now in its ninth year, attracts a range of people, from home gardeners to community and urban farmers. The Great American Seed Up was founded to create a seed bank of climate-hardy plants that would offer food security in Phoenix, says co-founder, urban farmer and educator Greg Peterson.

Concerned about the food system and about potential disruptions to it – which have been realized in recent memory with events like the pandemic and the Ukraine war – he bought a freezer and a few thousand pounds of seeds. Seed bank? Check. But, the question he and the other event founders pondered was how to share those seeds with others. After learning about an event in Montana, organizers replicated it here.

For Beasley, who is the director of Heart for the City Community Garden in Glendale which supports about 30 family and community plots and an orchard of 35 fruit trees, those seeds also germinate new relationships in the area.

“It’s so beautiful to watch what nature has done in bringing people together,” Beasley says. “It all starts with planting those seeds.”

How to attend and shop for seeds

Those who attend the two-day seed-buying event can browse through about 80 to 100 varieties of seeds for vegetables, herbs, grains and wildflowers which are labeled by item and stored in bright yellow popcorn tubs.

Buyers simply scoop the seeds they’d like into a bag, take an accompanying business card with growing information and check out, paying for the selected seeds.

There is also a cost for admission – $7.50 per day – which includes access to online resources for gardeners.

“We’re not just selling seeds, we’re giving (gardeners) the education so they can learn how to save seeds,” Peterson says, adding that the average attendee spends $30 to $50. “We are teaching people once they get their seeds, how to save them, how to process them, how to store them for future years so that they never have to buy seeds again.”

Peterson says that one scoop yields five to 10 times what’s sold in a seed packet at a nursery or garden store. The Great American Seed Up offers lower prices at the event because they purchase seeds in bulk. In addition to the in-person event, seed bundles are available for shipping.

Marian Florey began a “hobby orchard” in the backyard of her central Phoenix home when she moved there in 2009.

“I planted a few fruit trees and I was instantly hooked,” she says, noting that she now has 55 fruit-bearing trees that include pomegranates and peaches. “Once you’ve grown anything in your own yard… it’s magic.”

Florey has attended the event for the past five to six years, and this year she’s on the hunt for arugula, broccoli and radish microgreens plus any new varietals that catch her eye.

“It’s really fun to be able to scoop and save a ton of money and walk away with your own little seed bank,” she says.

The seeds available at the event are desert-hardy, non-genetically modified and open-pollinated, meaning they are what Peterson describes as “genetically stable seeds.”

“You’re going to get essentially what you planted or what you saved the seed from,” he adds.

Gardeners share their tips

Gardeners Beasley and Florey say they enjoy the community aspect of the event, where people can ask questions of master gardeners and seed bank librarians to learn more about how to grow a specific seed or get a backyard garden started.

“It’s not a guessing game,” Beasley says of shopping at the event. “You really get all of your questions answered.”

They both note that gardening can be trial and error, but encourage those starting out to stay persistent. Beasley suggests beginning with a few things that you like to eat, and grow from there.

“Don’t give up; just plant,” she says. “The benefit of planting that seed is going to definitely outweigh the time to plant it.”

Beyond the nutritional impacts of growing fresh food, Florey says she finds a mindfulness component to gardening. One item she appreciates picking up from the Great American Seed Up event is a growing calendar.

“If you’re gardening in Phoenix, timing is everything,” she says. Florey has likewise saved a number of seeds from her garden and orchard, learning with resources from the event, Peterson and others. “It’s easier than you think,” she says.

Taking part in that process continues the lineage of those who have done the same over thousands of years.

“Seeds are such a connection to all of the human generations that came before us,” she says.

Great American Seed Up

Oct. 27-28
5757 N. Central Ave.
Tickets may be purchased online for $7.50