Build It Up
Grow With Us
Build It Up provides organic gardening education from seed to harvest. Learn how to grow, prepare, and preserve food from your own backyard!
Applications for the 2025 program are now closed.
Our Programs
Since 2012, Build It Up has offered gardening education and installed over 200 new gardens in East Tennessee. We offer support to backyard gardeners, market gardeners, and school and community gardens.
Learn more about each service by clicking the links below.
Backyard Gardeners Program
We guide 30-40 families through a year of organic gardening education and support. Families receive plants, seeds, tools, fertilizer, and more to help grow healthy, fresh food right in their own backyards.
Market Gardeners Program
We foster entrepreneurship through agriculture and support market gardeners up to a half-acre in size.
Stay Connected through our YouTube Channel!
We post our workshops, informational videos and more to our YouTube channel. Check it out to learn more about some of the ways we choose to garden, equipment we prefer, and tips and tricks along the way!
Over 200 Families Served
Wish your kids knew where their food comes from? Gardening provides so many opportunities for kids (and adults!) to learn about food, nature, and the joy of dirt under your fingernails. Learn more about our Backyard Gardening Program:
Grow Organically
We teach how to grow organically and in harmony with our ecosystem. Our workshops focus on gardening in ways that prevent and disease issues naturally without relying on chemical fertilizers or sprays.
Pounds of Food Grown
%
Organic
Families
Latest from the blog:
We feature stories from our Build It Up participants as well as guides for when to be doing what in your garden like succession planting recommendations, seed starting, and more.
Sue Brown: A Gardener’s Story
It taught me better methods than what I was using to control pests and disease organically, and boy they made all the difference in the world – I can barely keep up with my cucumber harvest! It helped me develop habits in the garden by starting a journal, which keeps me on track for managing what I need to do and when to do it.
Sarah Mast Ragland: A Gardener’s Story
One of the biggest things we’ve realized is that you don’t need a big backyard to grow a lot of food. Our yard is under 1/6 of an acre, but last year we managed to grow almost 200 pounds of food! With the help of the seeds, plants, tools, and workshops provided through the program, we’ve been able to get creative with our space and make every square foot count.
Maddison West: A Gardener’s Story
What once felt intimidating now feels exciting and playful. Instead of worrying about doing things “wrong,” we’ve gained the knowledge and confidence to simply enjoy the process — and that’s been such a beautiful message to share with our three young boys.
Special Thanks
Build It Up is one of many Grow Appalachia partner sites. Click below to learn more about Grow Appalachia and our sister programs.