Kansas City Community Gardens to host annual “Tomato Days” in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
For more information contact:
Kelly Cannon
Kelly.Cannon@BlueKC.com
O: (816) 395-3711
KANSAS CITY, MO. (April 24, 2024)—Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG) will kick off the summer gardening season with its annual “Tomato Days” plant sale on April 25-27th. From the start of the plant sale through the first weeks of May, more than 3,000 KCCG member gardeners will visit KCCG’s headquarters at 6917 Kensington, KCMO to select low-priced warm season seeds, vegetable and herb plants.
Tomato Days 2024 is presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, underwriting the cost of planting, propagating, and nurturing over 180,000 greenhouse-grown vegetable and herb seedlings on site at KCCG headquarters. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City has been a long-time supporter of KCCG’s efforts of increasing access to nutritious foods in underserved neighborhoods through their Well Stocked initiative.
“Access to fresh and healthy produce is imperative to a better diet and where better to access those foods than one’s own backyard! We are excited to partner with Kansas City Community Gardens to provide members of our community with plants to start and grow their own backyard gardens. Tomato Days is a great opportunity to bring friends and neighbors together to learn and grow!” – Macaela Stephenson, Director of Community Relations and Investment, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
The first day of the sale, April 25, is reserved for low-income members, with plants available for all members starting Friday, April 26. The sale is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
KCCG is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help Kansas City’s low-income residents to grow their own healthy foods in home and community gardens. Its membership program for home gardeners offers seeds, transplants and gardening supplies at prices significantly lower than most retail stores. Memberships range from $2-$25 annually based on household income and can be purchased at the plant sale. As a guideline, a family of four earning $43,000 or less qualifies for the organization’s low-income membership.
Plants for sale include 18 varieties of tomatoes, 14 varieties of peppers, eggplant and herbs including basil, parsley, sorrel, rosemary, and summer savory, all grown in KCCG’s onsite greenhouses. Annually, KCCG provides nearly 60,000 seed packets (from arugula to watermelon) and 180,000 greenhouse-grown seedlings to its members.
KCCG offers four options for gardeners to purchase warm season plants:
- Join us for the excitement of the Tomato Day Parking Lot sale at KCCG’s Swope Park headquarters (6917 Kensington Avenue, KCMO, 64132) on April 25 – 27. Sale hours are 9-4 on Thursday and Friday and 9-noon on Saturday.
- Plants will continue to be available for purchase at the KCCG office after the sale for several weeks until supplies run out. Office hours are 9-5 Monday through Friday, with extended hours on Tuesday evening until 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 to noon.
- KCCG will host the Jersey Creek Satellite Sale for gardeners in Kansas City, Kansas on Monday, May 29th, 5-6 p.m. at the Jersey Creek Community Garden at 11th & Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas. Gardeners may purchase plants, seeds and memberships.
To ensure all members who want to garden this year can buy plants, customers will be limited to a maximum purchase of 10 3-packs of vegetable plants and 30 packs of seeds during the sale.
Gardeners can visit KCCG.org for guide sheets, how-to videos and recordings of all full-length workshops helping gardeners grow the best 2024 gardens.
About KCCG: Kansas City Community Gardens empowers households, community groups and schools to establish and sustain food-producing gardens, increasing access to healthy food for low-income neighbors across the Kansas City metropolitan area. KCCG began in 1979 as the Metropolitan Lutheran Ministry’s “Community Garden Project,” an initiative started to help low-income families save money on grocery bills. In 1985, the organization became incorporated as an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Today, KCCG supports a city-wide network of 3,4000 backyard gardens and 820 school and community garden and orchard sites.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri and the only not-for-profit commercial health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City provides health coverage services to more than one million residents in the greater Kansas City area, including Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and 30 counties in Northwest Missouri. Our mission: to provide affordable access to healthcare and to improve the health of our members. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information on the company, visit its website at BlueKC.com.
