ONLINE SEEDLING SALE starting mid May 2020!

ORGANIC SEEDLING SALE AT LITTLE CITY FARM - ONLINE!  
HEIRLOOM TOMATOES, HERBS, FLOWERS & VEG SEEDLINGS!
ORDERING OPENS MID MAY.  PICK-UP TAKES PLACE END OF MAY (curbside pick-up)
 
This year all seedlings are for sale ONLINE ONLY.  You can browse our selection here.  Our greenhouse is bursting with seedlings and we want to get them to as many good homes as possible.   We are a very small homestead (1/3 acre) but all seedlings are grown with care, love and attention to detail.

All our seedlings are grown by us at Little City Farm, from certified organic seed and using organic soil.  They come to you in compostable paper cups, and are hardened off and ready for you to plant into your garden. We have unique heirloom tomato favourites in all colours of the rainbow like Black Cherry, Amazon Chocolate, Cherokee Purple, Pink Brandywine, White Oxheart, Mennonite Orange, and more.

We have medicinal, culinary and pollinator-friendly herbs like calendula, yarrow, thyme, tulsi, lemon balm, chamomile, nettle..and many more!

Also organic veggies like kale, basil, long red cayenne pepper, cucumbers, watermelon, zucchini, greens, and more...

Heirloom Tomatoes & Organic Seedlings for sale - online pre-ordering open!

HEIRLOOM TOMATOES & MEDICINAL HERB SEEDLINGS FROM LITTLE CITY FARM!  For the second year in a row, we are offering online pre-ordering for all our Heirloom Tomatoes, Medicinal Herbs, and other Organic Seedlings.

As many of you know, for many years we held a large annual Organic Seedling Sale here in May - but over time this event outgrew our 1/3 acre backyard!  And so we handed it over to our friend and farmer Angie from Fertile Ground Farm, who now runs the event on the May long weekend at her farm location.

For those who can't make the May 18 sale at Fertile Ground, OR if you want to pre-order seedlings to be sure to get what you like - please browse our selection of the favourites we have to offer.  Our greenhouse is bursting with seedlings and we want to get them to as many good homes as possible. 

We have unique heirloom tomato favourites in all colours of the rainbow like Green Zebra, Black Cherry, Amazon Chocolate, Cherokee Purple, Pink Brandywine, White Oxheart...

We have medicinal and pollinator-friendly herbs like anise hyssop, calendula, yarrow, lavender; culinary-medicinal herbs like sage, thyme; and healing tea herbs like tulsi, lemon balm, chamomile, peppermint...and more!

Also organic veggies like kale, basil, long red cayenne pepper and more...

All seedlings need to be pre-ordered online here, and will be ready for pick-up on Sat, May 25 (or you can make other arrangements with us if that date doesn't work).

Annual Seedling Sale May 20

We recently had Angie from Fertile Ground Farm here to lead the annual workshop on Starting Seedlings.  Participants learned about soil mixes, seed sourcing, seed germination, transplanting, and lots of tips for keeping seedlings healthy until they get planted out.

Angie has been leading this Seedling Starting workshop here at Little City Farm for many years.  She has also been our partner in the annual Organic Seedling Sale on the May long weekend.  This year will be the 15th year that this sale takes place. 

For the first time in 15 years, the sale will not be held at Little City Farm.  It has simply outgrown our location!  Thank you to all the customers and volunteers from all the previous years who came to take part in this sale here!  It was so much fun to host it.  However, there is so much demand for the seedlings, that our little homestead yard cannot hold all the vendors, seedlings, and customers for the day.  The sale is going to take place in a nearby location - at the parking lot of Extend-a-family off of Moore St in Kitchener - on May 20 from 11-2.  Angie is taking the lead in the sale this year - we are so happy to pass this on to her and wish her well with the seedlings!  This allows us to focus our attention onto other homestead projects, including our own gardens and classes.  Come join us for a workshop to tour this spring instead!

Find out more about the 15th Annual Organic Seedling sale - go to Fertile Ground Farm or their facebook link to read more updates.  Thousands of seedlings to be had - many heirloom tomato varieties, plus other garden veggies (everything you need!), herbs, perennials, flowers, and more!

A few snapshots from this year's 14th annual organic seedling sale

Thanks to everyone who came out to Little City Farm on Saturday and made our 14th annual seedling sale such a busy successful event.  We wish we could have moved the line a little more quickly, but are also inspired that there is such a huge interest in our community for organic gardening - yay!  We also want to note that this will be the last year we hold this sale here at our location, as it has clearly outgrown our space.

We do have some assorted seedlings (heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, kale, peppers, herbs) still available for those who missed the sale - please contact us directly through Little City Farm.

• thanks to the many cashiers who helped keep customers happy and moved the line through the payment area, keeping track of a huge volume of sales in a very short time
• thanks to the musicians who kept the crowds happy with relaxing music on the back porch stage
• thanks to Kelly for the fun and interactive kids pollinator pledging activities by the pond
• thanks for the Rempel family for firing up the oven and baking delicious pitas (and fresh warm muffins and sweet drinks for all of us first thing in the morning)
• thanks to Karin's mom and dad for the innumerable ways they helped leading up to the event, also handling the baked goods table, and scooping more than 150 dandelion icecream cones!
• thanks to Angie and interns for growing beautiful seedlings, and helping promote this event in such a huge way on facebook and beyond
• and we are also thankful for all the hopeful gardeners who came to buy our seedlings and want to grow great food this summer!  

14th Annual Organic Seedling Sale at Little City Farm Sat, May 21 from 9-12

14th Annual Organic Seedling Sale!

Saturday, May 21, 2016

9:00am to 12:00pm

Find more information about this event!

Our 14th Annual Seedling Sale at Little City Farm (co-hosted by Fertile Ground CSA) is coming up the Saturday of the Victoria Day weekend.

As usual, we'll have lots of heirloom and organic vegetable and herb varieties: tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, chard, lettuce, kale, broccoli, basil, perennial culinary & medicinal herbs, flowers (incl native pollinator attractors) and plenty more. Always a fantastic morning & almost always sells out so come early for good choice.

Specializing in Heirloom Tomatoes - over 50 varieties!*



Rain or shine, cash only, bring your own boxes or crates to carry your seedlings in!

Little City Farm is at 508 Duke St. W. Kitchener

*Tomatoes include cherry, beefsteak, saladette, plum and container varieties.

Seed Starting Guide for 2016

Every spring, right around this time (spring equinox) we get out our big box of seed packages, sort them, map out our garden plan, and start our favourite varieties.  For those of you who are local, if you need organic non-GMO seeds, please drop by Little City Farm to check out our selection of seeds from High Mowing.  Every Saturday from 10-1 pm through the spring.  And consider taking our Seedling Starting workshop on April 2, as local organic farmer Angie Koch (Fertile Ground CSA) will be here to lead the class and answer all your seed-starting questions.

Here is the handy planting guide that we use each year - it's printed and up on our fridge for easy reference. Enjoy!
Seed Planting Guide From Little City Farm
www.littlecityfarm.ca For zone 5 to 6 in southern Ontario this is based on frostfree date of May 24

FEBRUARY (greens listed here can continue to be planted throughout the growing season)
Start lettuce, chard, other greens in greenhouse or in flats indoors (to be planted out to greenhouse). Start selected medicinal and culinary herbs by middle of February. Some take 6-8 weeks to germinate!

10 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. March 15)
Start seeds of celery, eggplant, leeks, onion, pepper and flowers like impatiens, lobelia, verbena and perennials indoors.

8 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. March 29)
Start seeds of early head lettuce and flowers like begonia, coleus, nicotiana, petunia, salvia indoors.

7 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. April 5)
Start seeds of tomatoes, hot peppers, and early basil indoors.

6 WEEKS TO LAST FROST(aprox. April 12)
Start seeds of early left lettuce, early cabbages including cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and kale, and small seeded annuals indoors. DIRECT SEED broad beans, carrots, peas, spinach, leaf lettuce, turnips, dill, parsley, and hardy flowers such as alyssum, candytuft, pansies, poppies, snapdragons, stocks, sunflowers and sweet peas. Plant onion sets or transplant onion seedlings outdoors.

4 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. April 26)
Start melon seeds indoors. If desired, start seeds of late basil, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, large-seeded annuals, and flowering vines indoors in peat pots. DIRECT SEED radishes, beets, cabbages, chard, head lettuce, and flowers such as hollyhock, and mallow. Plant potato eyes and transplant seedlings of early cabbages, except cauliflower.

2 WEEKS TO LAST FROST (aprox. May 10)
DIRECT SEED corn, tender bulbs such as glads, and annual vines such as morning glory. Transplant early lettuce seedlings.

WEEK OF LAST FROST (aprox. May 17-24)
Around the last frost date you can finally direct seed beans, cauliflower, cucumber, squashes, heat-loving flowers such as zinnias, marigold, and lavatera. Transplant your tomatoes. If you've got them, transplant cauliflower, squash and cucumber seedlings.


1 to 2 WEEKS AFTER FROST (aprox. May 31-June 7)
Wait for a couple of weeks after the last frost before direct seedling lima beans, soybeans, melons and herbs such as basil, summer savory and sweet marjoram. Transplant celery, melon, peppers, eggplant seedlings when the night temperatures stay well above 10 degrees C. Plant sweet potato slips. Start second crop of kale seedlings, reseed spinach and peas for second crop.

Heirloom Tomatoes and other organic seedlings still available!

For the local folks, or those who missed the seedling sale last Saturday (or who don't like crowds), we still have numerous organic seedlings here for you!  We have 8+ varieties of heirloom tomatoes, plus various flowers, herbs, basil, kale, strawberries and other assorted seedlings. 

Please drop by during our "farm store hours" Saturdays from 10 am-1 pm.  We will have seedlings for the next few weeks, until stock is gone.  We also have organic seeds and other goodies available in our shop here when you come on a Saturday.   Hope to see you soon!

13th annual Organic Seedling Sale

What a great day!  Thanks to all who helped volunteer to make this day run smoothly, the front and back table crews, the bakers, the musicians, the community groups who dropped off info, the seedling growers, and all the folks who waited in line patiently and came out to get seedlings and enjoy the event!  Happy gardening!

We will have a smaller selection of seeds and seedlings available the next several Saturdays from 10-1 here at Little City Farm.

Seeds, Soil & Sourdough Event - April 18 from 10-12 noon

 

AT LITTLE CITY FARM, 508 dUKE sT w, kITCHENER

Sat, April 18 from 10-12 noon

an earth-day celebration!

 Drop by to find:

Seedballs: make your own clay seedballs to attract pollinators
Seeds: certified organic non-GMO seeds for sale to get your garden started!
Soil: bags of certified organic potting soil for sale for all your seedlings 
Seedling Tips: helpful advice on starting seedlings, planting charts

Sourdough: fresh sourdough bread, wood-fired baking demos
Soap: natural handmade herbal soaps & salves available
SAVOURY WOOD-FIRED CREPES: UNIQUE VEGGIE CREPES made over a wood fire!

Please try to walk or bike here

More info: www.littlecityfarm.ca

Annual Seedling Sale May 23 - Details!

Annual Seedling Sale May 23 from 9-12 noon

Drop by the annual Seedling Sale at Little City Farm, to find all your veggie starts for this year - huge selection of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basils, herbs, flowers, kale, broccoli, cukes, melons, and many others!

This exciting sale also features:

• Organic seedlings from Fertile Ground CSA and Little City Farm
• Live Music on the "back porch stage" by the Ever Lovin' Jug Band
• Nature kids activity area led by Nature Connect KW
• Information from Canadian Biotech Action Network, Seeds of Diversity, and Pollination Canada
• Locally grown snacks donated by Baileys Local Foods
• Freshly baked treats, wood-fired pitas, rhubarb sodas
• Wood-fired baking demo in our outdoor cob oven
• tours of our urban homestead
• and more!

Seedlings are starting!

The past weeks we have been working on garden plans, seed orders, cleaning the greenhouse and organizing garden trays and supplies.  Seeds have been planted and it finally feels like spring is underway!   This week we planted some of our favourite herbs & flowers with seeds saved from our own garden last fall - calendula, marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, bachelor's buttons, lavender, sage, summer savory, malva, tulsi basil...(my helper was so ready to start her sunflowers but it's not quite time yet, but she had lots of opportunity to decorate our seed packages instead).  These seedlings will be available at our May 24 Annual Seedling Sale! 

Save the date! Organic Seedling Sale at Little City Farm May 24 from 9 am-12 noon

Oh to grow! (seedlings, sprouts...)

There are days lately when February seems unending and spring still seems so far off.  It's been a cold long winter, with more snow that we've can remember in a very long time, and a conversation today with a seasoned local organic farmer confirmed for me that it looks like it's going to be a cold March and late arrival of spring.  A cure for the winter blues?  Putting your hands into warm, rich earthy-smelling soil on a chilly February morning...so that's what we have been doing. 

All winter long we grow trays of sprouts - mostly pea shoots, sunflower greens and buckwheat greens - which keeps us active in the soil every few days if we get our rhythm right.  The sprouts take about 10 days in a cool house in winter season to grow from seed to edible sprout size.  Every few days a new jar of seeds is soaked overnight, for planting the next day so that we have ongoing greens ready to harvest. 

In the coming weeks it will be time to start the seedlings for this year's garden - tomatoes, basil, eggplants, kales, and more!  Our arrivals of seed packages into the house has brought a steady sense of joy and anticipation.  Some wishes for this year's garden include trying new varieties of spicy lettuces, new (and old favourite) heirloom tomatoes, purple peas, loads of beans and more beans, and more Asian greens, and rainbow carrots...

Our favourite seed suppliers that offer heirloom and organic non-GMO seeds include Cottage Gardener; Hope Seeds; Hawthorne Seeds; High Mowing; Urban Harvest; and Greta's Organic Seeds.  And we've been buying our sprouting seeds (for eating and juicing sprouts) for many many years from Mumm's in Saskatchewan!

Check out our Planting Guide here for details on when to start your own seedlings at home.  If you don't get a chance to plant everything you need, or are looking for unique and heirloom seedlings, come on out to our Annual Seedling Sale on Saturday May 24 morning!

Seedling Sale!

We have another exciting seedling sale this past weekend!  This was our 11th annual sale, held on the Saturday of the May long weekend each year.  Thanks to everyone who helped out - without all the great volunteers, vendors and musicians this day would not have been possible.  And what a wonderful crowd who attended - everywhere we looked people were enjoying themselves, meeting old friends, talking gardening, planning other community get-togethers.  It's inspiring to us to see such enthusiasm for gardening, homesteading and community each year when we hold this event. 

Here are a few photos taken of the day (taken by friends Jenn, Angie and Brenda)...