COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Extension’s Jefferson Farm and Garden in Columbia has raised about 5,000 spring bedding plants so far this year and supplied them to hundreds of gardens throughout the state.

More than 750 educational and community gardens will receive vegetable bedding plants for free from Jefferson Farm and Garden this spring, summer and fall. It’s part of a Family Nutrition Program grant that includes an educational component through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the federal farm bill.

The greenhouse at Jefferson Farm serves as a training site for extension educators from across the state. Those working with school and community gardens come to trainings to learn more about engaging the community in edible gardens. The thousands of plants raised, as well as seeds donated to the program, are sent out three times during the year.

“I like being outside working with the plants and helping people,” said Larry Roberts, MU Extension state garden coordinator. Roberts leads the trainings and raises the bedding plants. A former extension nutrition program associate, he taught nutrition for 12 years and has been working for MU Extension for 26 years.

Roberts anticipates another 10,000 bedding plants will be shipped out this summer and fall.

The recipient gardens are asked to weigh the produce from the plants that they harvest and distribute in their communities, use in their food service or use in educational programs.

“Some gardens allow community members to harvest produce, so they are not always able to submit produce weights, but last year 32% of our gardens reported harvesting more than $36,000 worth of produce,” said Jo Britt-Rankin, extension professor of health sciences.

Roberts is now preparing seedlings that will soon go out for summer gardens, including peppers, watermelon, tomatoes and cucumbers. For fall, spring bedding plants will be prepared for shipping since those vegetables, including broccoli, lettuce, cabbage and okra, do well in the cooler weather of autumn.

Photos

https://extension.missouri.edu/sites/default/files/legacy_media/wysiwyg/News/photos/20250508-jfg-1.jpg
Larry Roberts trains raises bedding plants and trains educators at the MU Jefferson Farm and Garden Extension and Education Center in Columbia. Hundreds of educational and community gardens in Missouri receive free vegetable bedding plants from Jefferson Farm. Photo by Sydney Winn.

https://extension.missouri.edu/sites/default/files/legacy_media/wysiwyg/News/photos/20250508-jfg-2.jpg
MU Jefferson Farm and Garden supplies free vegetable bedding plants to hundreds of educational and community gardens throughout Missouri. Photo by Sydney Winn.