Community Supported Plant Starts

The Community Supported Plant Starts (CSPS) program, based on the Community Supported Agriculture concept, is designed to support Seattle-area residents with flats of regionally- and seasonally-appropriate plant starts. In addition to plants, members receive Garden Gnome News to help take the guesswork out of gardening and make their efforts easier and more successful.

order online

Here’s How It Works:

You purchase a membership (and specify preferences) in advance, and pick up 1, 1.5, or 2 flats of edible plant starts and/or seed packets in your own neighborhood on the distribution date.

To purchase a CSPS membership and specify preferences for this session, order online or download/print/send a paper order form. There is a $3 administrative paperwork fee for handling paper order forms, so save money by ordering online.

Distribution Options:

Single-session Memberships:

• Spring : $30 (small), $45 (medium) or $60 (large).
• Summer : $45 (small), $67 (medium) or $90 (large).
• Fall : $35 (small), $50 (medium) or $60 (large).
• Winter : $35 (small), $50 (medium) or $60 (large).

Full-year memberships:

Those who purchase full-year memberships by 2/12/2012 save $15 ; all full-year members get a $10 gift certificate redeemable at the CEL booth at any of the farmer’s markets in which we participate.

• Small: $145 ,
• Medium: $205
• Large: $265

Size Options:

• Small  (1 Growers Flat) : Summer-15 packs of plant starts or seed packets. Spring/Fall/Winter-10 packs of  plant starts or seed packets.
• Medium  (1.5 flats): Summer- 22  packs of plant starts or seed packets. Spring/Fall/Winter-15 packs of plant starts or seed packets.
• Large  (2 Flats) : Summer-30 packs of plant starts or seed packets. Spring/Fall/Winter- 20 packs of plant starts or seed packets in
• *Plant-Starts Come in various sized containers: 4 pack, 6 pack, 2-4″ Pots, and 1 Gallon (tomatoes)

What do I get for my CSPS membership?

Which crops you get depends on your specified preferences and available yield at harvest time (or in this case on the distribution date, since we’re dealing with plant starts). Each plant start (“PS”) you specify under “My Crops” represents one specimen or multi-pack of specimens. Each “Seed” you specify represents a packet of seeds. The # of plants in a container in dependent on a plants.  Target yields are:

As is always the case with the community-supported agriculture paradigm, the consumer (you, the gardener, in this case) helps the farmer/provider (CEL, in this case) bear the uncertainties of weather and crop yields. This means you specify crop preferences, and we do our best to deliver what you prefer.

Please Note: late comers are entering the program after many of the seeds have been sown.
The earlier you specify your crop preferences, the higher seniority you’ll have, and the more likely you’ll get exactly what you wanted, so order your membership and specify your preferences early! Please specify more than your target yield, with most favored crops first, so that there are some back-ups in your preference list.

Space Required:

1 Small, Full-Year, membership will fill up about 100-150 square feet of garden, at its peak, though that will shrink as spring/summer crops are harvested.  You will be able cover more area by selecting to receive a lot of plants with large spacial requirements (squash, tomatoes, etc) and/or seeds

1 Large, Full-Year membership will thus fill up about 200-300 square feet of garden, depending on your selection and growers strategy.

When & Where Do I Pick Up My Plant Starts?

We have pick-up locations throughout the Seattle/Eastside area.  Since the pick-up locations are often the homes of member volunteers, we do not publish their exact addresses on our web pages.

Watch for an email about 1 week before the distribution date with the exact pick-up address in the neighborhood you selected.   Be sure to mark the distribution date on your calendar and expect to pick up your plant starts after 5:00 pm on that date. (See dates below.)   If you would like to be a pick up site, please contact us.

Refunds

We will honor all refunds made before the current session’s planting date (minus 7%). If you request a refund after the current session’s planting date  we will give you credit towards the next CSPS session.

Upcoming Sessions

April 2012

Spring Crops will be delivered to neighborhood drop offs on 3/31/2012.
Single-session memberships for this session are:
Small: $30
Medium: $45
Large: $60

The available crops members can choose from for this session are shown below. After purchasing your membership, visit the “My Crops” area for easy research links to get more information about these specific crops and specify your preferences. Watch your email inbox for announcements about when to purchase memberships and when to specify preferences.

June 2012

Summer crops will be delivered we anticipate, on 6/1/2012 to wait out the late cold Spring.

Single-session memberships for this session are
Small:$45
Medium: $67
Large: $90

The available crops members can choose from for this session are shown below. (This is a tentative list, and will be confirmed about 3/8/2012.) After purchasing your membership, visit the “My Crops” area for easy research links to get more information about these specific crops and specify your preferences.

August 2012

The Fall 2011 CSPS session will be delivered to neighborhood drop offs, on 8/5/2012.

Single-session memberships for this session are:
Small: $35
Medium: $50
Large: $60

The available crops members can choose from for this session are shown below. (This is a tentative list, and will be confirmed about 5/13/2012.) After purchasing your membership, visit the “My Crops” area for easy research links to get more information about these specific crops and specify your preferences. Watch your email inbox for announcements about when to purchase memberships and when to specify preferences.

September 2012

The Winter 2011 CSPS session will distribute, we anticipate, on 9/16/2012.

Single-session memberships for this session are:
Small: $35
Medium: $50
Large: $60

The available crops members can choose from for this session are shown below. (This is a tentative list, and will be confirmed about 6/24/2012.) After purchasing your membership, visit the “My Crops” area for easy research links to get more information about these specific crops and specify your preferences. Watch your email inbox for announcements about when to purchase memberships and when to specify preferences.