In the spring of 2021, the Mercer County High School greenhouse was left in a bind when it came time for their plant sale. Due to covid protocols the greenhouse was only allowed open to customers for a limited time. With a greenhouse still full of plants the Mercer County Horticulture Agent came up with a program idea to help the high school and increase foot traffic at the Extension Office.

The Horticulture Agent scheduled a tomato day at the Extension Office. With the help of Master Gardener volunteers, all the remaining tomato plants were purchased from the high school by the horticulture program. Volunteers organized the tomato plants by variety and placed a 3 pack of tomato plants into brown paper bags. Each bag also contained information on how to grow tomatoes, common issues tomatoes have, how to use tomatoes after harvest and how to contact the Extension Office with other questions. Tomato day was advertised in the horticulture newsletter and on Facebook.

For our initial year tomato day was just about giving plants away to anyone in the community and supporting our local high school greenhouse. The following two years we offered a “How to grow successful tomatoes” class that coincided with the giveaway. Multiple volunteers help manage the tomato bags and share information about other Extension programs and opportunities.

Participants were asked to fill out a survey in return for getting their free plants. In 2023, 170 people visited the office on tomato day, for 38 of them it was their first time visiting the Extension Office. Out of the 43 participants who received tomatoes the year before, 42 had a successful harvest. Finally, 113 participants responded they have returned to other Extension programs/events since participating in tomato day.