One of the most rewarding benefits of the Kitsap County Master Gardener Foundation Program is to support the local food banks by providing organically grown fruits and vegetables in four demonstration gardens throughout Kitsap County.
Our demonstration gardens are located at Anna Smith Childrens' Garden, Blueberry Park, Heritage Garden at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds, and Raab Park Learning Garden. Master Gardener Foundation of Kitsap County provides necessary funding to maintain and improve these gardens.
You can select what your donation will support from two options via the "Designation" line during the Donation process:
1). General Fund: to provide seeds, soil, and garden bed maintenance items for our four demonstration gardens; prepare for summer childrens' education programs; and to support local food banks with organically grown fruits and vegetables.
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2). Replacement of Garden Shed at Raab Park Learning Garden. Over the years, our gardens have repaired, added new, or otherwise performed maintenance on these critical garden structures. Raab Park has sheds that are approaching the end of their useful life and your donation will provide funds to build new sheds.
In case you missed it throughout 2025, Kitsap County Master Gardeners (MGs) were able to:
ORGANIZE AN ANNUAL PLANT SALE. Each May the Master Gardener Foundation sponsors a fundraiser event to sell over 3000 plants grown by Master Gardeners and plants and seeds donated by local sponsors of Valley Nursery, WILCO, Territorial Seed, Johnny' Seed, and the Master Gardener Salvage Team. We also offered over 3400 vegetable starts ready for planting.
This is a huge fundraiser for the program and is also a fun event for the community to purchase healthy, reasonably priced plants and to learn how to plant and care for them. For 2026 mark your calendars for May 9, 9:00 to 2:00pm at the Kitsap Fairgrounds. We offer at the plant sale:
a. DAHLIAS . Excited to add gorgeous DAHLIAS to your garden this year but worried about deer eating them? The good news is that dahlias are low on the deer's edible list of favorite foods. Papa Paul’s Dahlias will be available at The Annual Plant Sale, as will many other deer-resistant plants! The Master Gardeners will be happy to help you find the right plant for the right space.
b. NATIVE PLANTS Grow a wildlife garden! Our Annual Plant Sale features a fantastic selection of native plants.
c. ANNUALS and PERENNIALS for Every Gardener. Bring your space to life with variety! We have plants for sun, shade, and everything in between! Add structure and color to your perennial gardens, or fill in annuals for that pop of color.
PROVIDE 17,619 hours of volunteer time: Equating to $612,965 labor savings for Kitsap County for informed public outreach on sustainable gardening and environmental protection. (National volunteer hourly rate $34.79). This represents the efforts of 233 certified MGs, with 36 newly certified MGs in 2025.
INDIVIDUALIZE ASSISTANCE: MGs answered community questions at weekly Farmers Market clinics across the county, over 20 events with the travel clinic, as well as 17 MG “Chats” via Zoom! 1594 specific garden related questions were answered by MG volunteers.
CONDUCT ADULT WORKSHOPS: MGs taught 28 advanced training sessions in the fall, educating 82 MGs and community members on various gardening topics.
TAUGHT YOUTH PROGRAMS: MGs taught youth summer programs at Blueberry Park, Raab Park Learning Garden , and Anna Smith Childrens' demonstration gardens!
HELD ORGANIC GARDENING CLASSES: 44 people completed the series of 12 day Organic Vegetable Gardening Classes taught by 5 Master Gardener volunteer educators.
DONATED ORGANIC PRODUCE: 5321 pounds of produce grown under organic gardening methods donated to four local food banks from four designated MG demonstration gardens throughout the County. MG Gardeners manage the demonstration gardens that oversee the planting, management and harvest of the produce from the gardens.
GREW VEGGIES STARTS. Donated 3409 veggie starts to the annual sale and to local food banks, along with applicable fact sheets to educate clients on how to plant and care for their starts.
We hope that you will be a partner in our important work!