City Gardens

Grower Code: CG

Marty and Katie save seeds from their 1/3 acre urban homestead in Garden City. They have focused on flower seeds including Towering Beauty Amaranth, Field Poppy, Purple Orach, Crackerjack Marigold, Pincushion Flower and Rocky Mountain Penstemon as well as an occasional veggie seed crop. Their front yard in Garden City was the inspiration for the Garden City Prairie seed mix, and gets lots of comments from the neighborhood's many pedestrians. In addition to many flowers, their landscape includes vegetables for family consumption, fruit trees and berries, bee hives, chickens, and occasionally Thanksgiving turkeys. In recent years, they have enjoyed the challenge of adding more native plants to the garden.

Katie and Marty have grown seeds for the coop since it started, sometimes a little, and sometimes a lot, depending on their access to land. They both have extensive farming experience and have meandered in and out of various urban farm locations over the years. Marty owned a CSA for a number of years and continues to work to bring local produce to local restaurants, he currently enjoys life as a pizzaiolo. Katie managed an incubator farm, worked on international farmer training projects and currently writes curriculum for beginning farmer training programs. They are raising two kids who do help in the garden but plan to get their food at the grocery store when they grow up.