Philosophy
At Seattle Urban Farm Company (SUFCo), we thrive on pioneering new ideas and empowering you to grow a garden you love. We believe that sustainable urban agriculture can promote healthy living, environmental stewardship, and stronger communities.
History
Seattle Urban Farm Company (Sufco) was founded in 2007 by a few friends who shared a background in farming and a passion for propagation. Does that make us sound like nerds? Well, we are.
We wanted to start a business based on our belief that organic gardening can promote healthy living, environmental stewardship, and stronger communities. So we bought a truck and a few shovels. Then we started telling people we could help them build a vegetable garden. Of course, people have been growing food at home for thousands of years. We just wanted to make it easier for new gardeners to get started. After all, it can be a bit intimidating at first.
We began working with homeowners, businesses, and communities to create and manage their own edible gardens. Over the years, the Sufco team grew. We wrote a few books, made a podcast, hired dozens of aspiring urban farmers, hired at least one guy who insisted on working in a bee costume, and built hundreds of gardens.
15 years of designing, building, and caring for gardens, gave us the experience and inspiration we needed to start developing our own unique garden tools and supplies.
Our line of products started with the Freyr trellis, and the idea came directly from all those years building and managing gardens.
We needed a trellis every time we created a new garden. Growing vertically on trellises saves space, keeps plants healthy, and makes gardens more attractive. We couldn’t find a trellis we liked, so we started building our own. After years of custom-building trellises, we realized that we should make a trellis that was beautiful, functional, and available to everyone.
We love the Freyr trellis (and hope you do too), and we plan to keep introducing new garden products that we think you'll love.
At Sufco, we believe gardens should be beautiful and gardening should be fun. We want you to grow the most remarkable and productive garden you’ve ever had, and enjoy every minute of it. And we’re excited to grow alongside you.
garden services update
We’re excited to announce that as of March 2025, our amazing Operations Manager Morgan Gerstenberger took over management and ownership of our garden services programs.
Why the change? In 2022, we launched a new line of garden products. As this new endeavor has grown, we started to worry that we might simply have too much to do! We realized that each part of the business deserved someone’s full attention and dedication. Going forward, Colin and Hilary will focus on garden products, and Morgan will run the garden maintenance program.
Our garden services now operates under the name Seattle Kitchen Gardens, and Seattle Urban Farm Company will be focused solely on garden products and tools. If you’ve worked with us in the past, you’ll recognize our lead gardeners, Liz and Shiloh, who will continue to work with Morgan. You should expect to see the same faces in your garden and expect the same level of service. If you haven’t worked with us in the past, you’re in for a treat! Morgan and the team at Seattle Kitchen Gardens are skilled and passionate about providing you with the best services possible. We’re really excited to watch them grow!
Products
We wanted better, more sustainable garden tools, so we started making our own. We believe that gardens should be beautiful and gardening should be fun, and we want to help you grow a garden you love.
Garden Coaching
Our vegetable garden coaching service is now run by Seattle Kitchen Gardens (SKG)! Choose from their Plan + Prep Package where one of SKG’s lead farmers will meet with you in your garden to perform a comprehensive overview of your vegetable garden, and create custom a plan to help you make the most of your growing space; and their Q+A service for those who may just need an hour to chat about improving the performance of an existing vegetable garden. Think of both services as your own, in-garden, 1-hour Q+A session with one of the skilled Seattle Urban Farm Co. farmers! Click here for more details.
Maintenance
All of our edible garden maintenance services for residential, commercial and multi-family spaces are now run by Seattle Kitchen Gardens.
Their experienced farm crew can stop by your garden on a weekly or bi-weekly basis throughout the season. SKG will bring all of the vegetable transplants, seeds, trellises, organic fertilizers, organic pest control materials, and tools necessary to keep your garden healthy and attractive.
Your Farmers
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
SUFCo owners Colin McCrate, Brad Halm, and Hilary Dahl are available for educational seminars, book signings and speaking engagements.
Their work has been featured in The Seattle Times, Seattle Magazine, Bon Appetit, GQ, Sunset Magazine, Grist, and numerous other publications and online news sites. Their first book, Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard, has received national press coverage and helped thousands of beginning backyard farmers set up and care for their own home garden. SUFCo received a Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and Pacific Magazine Horticulture Award for their display gardens at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.
The SUFCo team has led educational seminars for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, King County Master Gardeners Foundation, National Restaurant Association, and myriad garden related events.
As the founders of the Seattle Urban Farm Company, Colin McCrate and Brad Halm have heard it all: My backyard is too small; how can I make space for a garden? Do I really need to buy fertilizer? What on earth is that creature crawling on the tomatoes? My crops took off and the zucchini are in the sidewalk who has time to harvest this all?! FOOD GROWN RIGHT, IN YOUR BACKYARD is a primer for these questions and more.
Mountaineers Books, April 2, 2012
You won't believe your eyes when you see the size of your harvest! In Grow More Food, authors Colin McCrate and Brad Halm show you how you can make your food garden much more productive, no matter how big or small it is. Packed with the charts, tables, schedules, and worksheets you need -- as well as record-keeping pages so you can repeat your successes next year -- this book is an essential tool for the serious gardener.
Storey Publishing, February 2, 2021