These Spokane-area gardening resources can help get your green thumb on this spring

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Photo courtesy Spokane Public Library

Some of last year's bounty grown at the Shadle Park Library's Discovery Garden.

Growing your own food is uniquely fulfilling. Tiny seeds carefully sown into the soil soon unfurl to become fresh herbs, vegetables and fruits savored in daily meals. And in an era when food insecurity continues to affect many households, gardening offers more than just a way to stretch the grocery budget. It's also a powerful tool for fostering resilience, sustainability and community connection.

While cultivating your own plot is rewarding, spring is the perfect season to branch out and get involved in Spokane's vibrant gardening scene. Whether you're a novice seeking gardening advice or a seasoned grower looking to share that knowledge with others, the following local organizations and programs can provide the tools, space and camaraderie to grow something great together.

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Photo courtesy Growing Neighbors

Growing Neighbors encourages people to turn their yards into food gardens.

MEET THE EXPERTS

For over 50 years, Washington State University Extension's Master Gardener Program has connected the public with research-backed gardening knowledge. The mission began in the early 1970s when WSU horticulturalists David Gibby and Bill Scheer, overwhelmed by gardening inquiries, launched a training initiative to prepare volunteers to serve their communities.

After running ads and speaking with local journalists who wrote about their efforts looking for expert garden volunteers, around 200 applicants were accepted to WSU Extension's first master gardener class in 1973. The program is one of the oldest in the country and has now helped train more than 900 master gardeners in Spokane County.

"Our job is to give people research-based information about the soil and plants and help them determine what's wrong with the plant or what's the best solution for something," says Julie McElroy, a master gardener who completed her training in 2012.

One of the program's main requirements is that master gardeners must volunteer at least 40 hours per year. Some of that time is spent assisting community members at the program's plant clinic and resource center in East Central Spokane, at 222 N. Havana St., which is open from March 1 through Oct. 31.

If you have a pesky weed or insect, your plants aren't faring well, or maybe you just want to make some gardening community connections, the master gardeners are at hand to share their abundant knowledge.

"When you're into gardening, it's just so nice to find a place where you can continually talk about gardening and people don't walk away bored," McElroy says.

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Photo courtesy Spokane County Master Gardeners

The Spokane County Master Gardeners' Garden Fair returns April 25-26.

This year's annual Spokane County Master Gardener Foundation Garden Fair is also coming up on April 25-26, by appointment only at the Havana Street extension office. There, expect to find thousands of plant starts — many of which are vegetables and herbs — with proceeds benefiting the program.

"It is a fundraiser, but our main objective is to educate people, so we want to have time to talk to you and help you choose the right plant," McElroy says of the reservation-based event. Sign-ups open on April 22.

MORE THAN BOOKS

At Spokane Public Library's branches, gardening know-how goes beyond the bookshelves.

After the 2018 bond-funded renovations of the city library system's facilities, the Shadle Park Library became a horticultural hub for North Spokane with its Discovery Garden, as well as frequent garden and educational events, seed libraries, and community partnerships.

Juan Juan Moses, a community educator for Spokane Public Library, helps facilitate adult programs related to health and wellness and kickstarted the library's gardening programs when she came into the role in 2019.

"In planning for this new renovation [at Shadle Park Library], we decided to take my training and my mission and incorporate that and create a garden space," Moses says. "So that's how our Discovery Garden was born, to make it a showcase so we can use that as a teaching tool."

Located along the library's south-facing side, the Discovery Garden is demarcated by a simple metal fence and has about a half-dozen in-ground beds. Though it's currently mostly barren, dotted with the remnants of last year's plants, in just a few months the garden will be brimming with life.

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Photo courtesy Spokane Public Library

Spokane Public Library community educator Juan Juan Moses, left, leads a program in the Discovery Garden.

In 2021, the Shadle Park branch reopened after renovations that nearly doubled its size. Its public programs resumed in April 2022 with a class in the Discovery Garden about how to install a drip irrigation system.

"At first, the garden [existed] for us to show, to teach, right there as a physical prop. But I think the following year, I decided, 'I'm going to take a different twist,'" Moses says. "I think up a theme for the garden every fall after the harvest for the next year."

Last year's theme centered on herbal teas, with a clinical herbalist teaching a series about making tea from plants grown in the Discovery Garden. This year, Spokane Public Library is partnering with the Filipino-American Association of the Inland Empire to grow tropical Asian vegetables.

"We will be talking to the patrons about what those vegetables are and how you grow them, and then our Filipino friends will be taking care of these vegetables," Moses says.

There will also be a public vegetable planting event in the Discovery Garden on May 22 at 1 pm. This fall, the library plans to host a harvest swap, where the Filipino-American Association will also hold a cooking demonstration featuring vegetables grown in the garden.

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Photo courtesy Spokane Public Library

Shadle Park Library's Discovery Garden helps teach community members how to grow their own food.

Spokane Public Library's gardening programs extended to the Indian Trail Library in 2024, when an acre of lawn was converted into a bird garden with native berry-bearing trees and shrubs, and a pollinator meadow.

"Even in the winter months and the very early spring months, there are aspects of this garden that provide very good nutrition for the wildlife that lives in the area," says Alina Murcar, marketing and communications manager for Spokane Public Library.

There are also free seed libraries at the South Hill, Indian Trail, Hillyard and Liberty Park branches.

"You can go to these locations, and you can pick up six seed packets. And it's not a checkout situation, you just take them," Murcar says. "Then, we also ask that in the harvest season when you have more seeds — hopefully after having a really successful season — that you then package up some and bring them back."

The library's largest garden event, the Spring Plant Swap and Tree Giveaway, happens on Saturday, April 26, from 11 am-1 pm, at the Shadle Park branch. Last year, more than 400 people attended. Patrons can bring excess plant starts to swap or give away, and the City of Spokane's Urban Forestry department is also giving away hundreds of free saplings. Other library partners like Growing Neighbors, Spokane Audubon Society and the new Garden4You garden club will have information booths.

Attending Garden4You events or meetings is a great place to start if you want to get into gardening, Moses says. The new garden club meets at Shadle Park Library every first Wednesday of the month at 5:30 pm. The first meeting saw 75 attendees.

"There were a lot of people in this town that were looking for a sense of community, a sense of belonging," Moses says. "We provided that."

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Photo courtesy Growing Neighbors

Growing Neighbors helps teach kids how to grow healthy food.

'FARMYARD FAMILIES'

One morning in early April, students at Garfield Elementary School chow down on bagels, granola bars and more. What's otherwise a typical morning of fueling up before class today includes a small group of adults and student helpers lined up in the cafeteria wearing nametags labeled "Waste Reduction Hero."

Among the group is the founder and director of the local nonprofit Growing Neighbors, Johnny Edmondson, who grabs hold of a microphone to direct the students about how to separate their food waste from trash for compost.

Growing Neighbors and Spokane Zero Waste recently partnered to collect and compost food waste in local schools, and are first testing out the program at Garfield.

That food waste might eventually make its way to the school's community garden outside, one of nearly 100 such gardens in the Spokane area that Growing Neighbors helps facilitate and maintain.

Growing Neighbors started in 2016 when Edmondson discerned a need for not only localized food systems, but for food systems that also helped foster community.

"Our end vision is that people or every member of the environment is functioning more like family, not like disconnected consumers that are maybe getting their practical needs met but not like a healthy, connected lifestyle," Edmondson says.

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Photo courtesy Growing Neighbors

Growing Neighbors also shares its gardens' bounty with the community.

Two local volunteer-run nonprofits that formerly helped manage community gardens, Spokane Community Gardens and Inland Northwest Community Gardens, folded within the last few years, but Growing Neighbors is currently working to add those groups' plots to its system.

These community gardens range from a couple of small raised beds to plots that span several hundred square feet and can be found across Spokane at schools, churches, libraries, public parks and in private yards. There's a map listing some of the participating gardens at growingneighbors.org.

The traditional model for community gardens usually involves individuals or households renting a garden bed and coming and going as they please. Growing Neighbors takes a different approach, promoting community interaction as well as permacultural practices that work with nature. For instance, spreading and slowing down irrigation to prevent runoff, planting groups of plants that are mutually beneficial, maximizing use of the space, and not limiting planting to raised beds. However, each garden is co-designed to meet the needs of those involved.

"Our main focus is trying to help people connect with their local garden space. Like, be where you are more intentionally. And if there's not a great garden space where you are, we'll help you start," Edmondson says.

Ideally, though, Edmondson would love to see people start their own community gardens. If you notice gardens in your neighborhood or have land yourself, he suggests reaching out neighbors with the idea of cultivating the space together to create a "farmyard."

Once it's harvest season in summer and early fall, he says the goal is that community garden members come together to share their harvest through communal meals. In 2016, Edmondson helped kickstart year-round communal dinners at Shadle Park Presbyterian Church that continue to meet on Tuesdays at 5:30 pm, using food from gardens when available.

To combat food insecurity, Growing Neighbors also started a food bank delivery program during the pandemic for those with mobility challenges. Since the end of 2024, the Spokane Helpers Network has stepped in to manage the program.

"Anywhere that food could be grown I think is a great place to grow food instead of relying on our system of importing," Edmondson says. "You don't have to go through me. Start cooking up your own thing in your own neighborhood or connect with a garden you already see or know about." ♦

GETTING STARTED?
CONSIDER THESE MASTER GARDENER TIPS:

START SMALL
"Always start small because it can get very overwhelming," Master Gardener Julie McElroy says.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
While living in an apartment or rental makes it more difficult to get into gardening, there are still options. Start indoors with windowsill plants (like herbs) or use lamps and plant heating pads for starting seeds. Make a little patio garden using pots, participate in a nearby community garden, or see if your property is suitable for a parking strip garden (check what your local ordinances allow for these sites).

GET YOUR SOIL TESTED
There are a variety of tests and probes to check for chemicals, nutritional value, pH or, more simply, your soil type.

LEARN YOUR SUN EXPOSURE
"The right plant in the right place is really important," says McElroy, who's personally spent hours walking around her garden to figure out where to place a new plant.

START WITH EASY-TO-GROW PLANTS
Some easier edible plants, according to McElroy, are leafy greens like lettuce, sugar snap peas (which require a trellis) and tomatoes.

FIGURE OUT YOUR WATERING SYSTEM
While it depends on the scale of your garden, drip irrigation is usually recommended for consistency and accuracy.

PAY ATTENTION TO SOIL TEMPERATURE
While the warmer spring weather may have you itching to get your hands in the soil and start planting, the soil is usually too cold until May. Most seed packets have information about what the soil temperature should be before planting.

BEWARE OF COLD SNAPS
Even if you plant at the right soil temperature, cold snaps and frost can damage plants. Be preemptive and cover your plants ahead of time if temperatures are forecast to dip close to or below freezing.

BE PRESENT!
"You need to be in your garden every day. You need to see what's going on," McElroy says. "If you see a pest or something that's happening, you need to be able to fix it right away."

Visit mastergardener.wsu.edu to learn more about public workshops, events and more, or email garden-related questions to [email protected].