Family-owned since 1972

Founded by San Diego native Bill Tall in 1972, City Farmers Nursery is a family-owned, independently operated, garden center and nursery located in the heart of San Diego.
Today

City Farmers specializes in the hard-to-find items that big box and chain stores just aren’t interested in.
As Bill always said,

“Sometimes you’re going to come in and we’re not going to sell you a single thing… because all you need to do is change your watering!”
On Two Naturally Maintained Acres

Set on property purchased by Nathan Tall, Bill's father (namesake of Nate's Garden Grill), City Farmers maintains every plant, bush and tree as Mother Nature intended.
We carry on the tradition

of over four decades of free advice – whether you want to create healthy soil or need help identifying bugs, we've got the time and our staff has the knowledge to make sure your garden projects thrive.
A Day-Trip Destination...

Part working-farm, you'll visit with our animals, see our bonsai, roses, and California natives.
We can get you started on growing your first vegetable garden, to canning and cooking, to beekeeping. If there’s something you’ve been wanting to learn, we’re a wonderful first stop.
We’re Here to Help

Our family and staff pride themselves in quality knowledge and service over product pushing. We believe the very least we can do for folks who stop by is to give it to them straight… whether it takes twenty seconds or twenty minutes, we’re here to help.
We invite you to drop by, visit our farm animals, pond, and our wandering grounds.
You’re also welcome to give us a call, and you’ll always speak to a real person. We’ve got one phone line, so you may have to try twice on some days, but we look forward to getting you one step closer to enjoying your garden!

The Community Combine

At City Farmers Nursery, our Community Combine Collection reflects our commitment to making it easy to connect those in need with items needed.

Inspired by the combine harvester, this initiative collects, sorts, and distributes goods to those in need.

We believe in growing together, supporting local causes, and fostering a strong, compassionate community. In short, our customers are eager to connect with your cause.

Apply

Fill out the form, below, to apply to be a part of our Combine as a receiving organization. Expect an
answer in 2-3 weeks.

Prepare

When you join our Combine, we ask that you prepare to promote our collection - which will run 6 for weeks.

Organization Name

Website

What does your organization do?

Who do you support/serve?

What items do you accept?

Please list what can be in used-but-usable condition. Our collections tend to be items in good (not new) condition. If there are items required to be new, please identify.

Name of Main Contact Person

First Name

Last Name

Phone Number of Main Contact Person

(###)

###

####

Location of Donation

Where will these items be dropped off?

Address 1

Address 2

City

State/Province

Zip/Postal Code

Country

Able to Pickup?

Are you able to pick up items or do you require delivery?

We can pick up

We need delivery

Could be a mix of both - let's discuss

Organizations We’ve Partnered with…

Collect

We’ll work together on a pickup/drop-off schedule. We may need support as pickup depends on volume of donations.

A Commitment to You.

At City Farmers source our plants from healthy origins and maintained conscientiously under ecologically minded standards. For our drygoods, this means we do our best to balance a unique selection you won’t find anywhere else with local and American-made options.As a small business that strives to be a leader in our community, we do our best to make each purchase and all plant maintenance as ecologically sound as possible - while still finding a way to care for our staff and keep our doors open.

This being said, it’s important that you know that our nursery is not certified organic. The truth is, to organically certify our products and grounds is beyond our means. But we have taken steps to come as close to the principles we and you want.

You can count on us to offer vegetable seeds, pest solutions, poultry feed, soils, and fertilizers that are certified organic. We maintain our grounds and our plants with non-chemical pest treatment like fish emulsion to treat normal nursery pests.

We do our very best to source organic, local, zero-waste and American made products and with an eye to the future, are constantly working within our industry to promote change to sustainable product that creates jobs, helps heal our planet, and still provides everyone in the process with an opportunity to put food on the table for their families, and yours.

We want to introduce you to City Farmers

Sunshine Club

The Sunshine Club is a free, quarterly flower seed packet.

There’s nothing to sign up for, nothing to buy.

Come down solo, or bring a junior gardener or an elder, or someone who just needs to get out and enjoy nature.

And we'll be here. You can and ask us about planting, or just use it as an excuse to come down, to walk our grounds, and to enjoy all that nature provides.

The seeds in each envelope are hand-packed and we encourage you to share our Sunshine Club with a neighbor or loved one who is homebound, but who enjoys gardening, as well as those who might be on a fixed budget. We ask that you use the honor system and pick up one packet per household so that as many people can be part of the club as possible.

There's nothing to buy or sign up for, just a way for us to enjoy the simple joy of growing flowers. We have about 300 packets available, so while supplies last.

To make things even more fun, we'll have a special gift at the end of the year for people who have collected every club seed for the year, too, so save your envelope packets!

Visit us to learn more

Honoring the Life’s Work of our Founder…

We wish we were able to share this news personally with each of you, the way Bill would have: across the nursery's front counter - the place he was happiest - where you approach as a customer and leave as a friend.

After an extraordinary and uphill battle against cancer and liver failure, our founder, Bill Tall, passed away in January of 2021. He was at home, surrounded by loved ones, and sounds of the nursery ever-present; the background music of a life lived on his own terms.

A true individual - there was, and will only ever be, one Farmer Bill.

Establishing City Farmers Nursery at the age of 16, in 1972, Bill built a community institution at the corners of Home and Euclid.

But he didn't do it alone. And our family cannot thank you enough.

Thank you for being with Bill through the journey. And for continuing to support us in the present day.

Your prayers, words of encouragement and uplifting messages buoyed him and us. Your continued support of Bill's dream, helping our family and team making it through an unprecedented pandemic and grief truly keeps us going.

As we commemorate Bill’s legacy, we thank the exceptional medical team at Scripps / Anderson MD and LightBridge Hospice who went every extra mile. Bill never accepted the standard diagnosis, bending the health industry to treat him as an Individual. Challenging them to do better than the 'best they could offer'. And so they did.

Nearly three quarters of a million dollars of treatment was donated by drug manufacturers for Bill’s treatment, prolonging his life by years, while ensuring he maintained a wonderful quality of life. His doctors considered him a walking miracle – doctors and the medical staff the family will forever be grateful to - Drs Sigal, Frenette, Kuo, Stemple, and his health advocate, Dr. Bougie.

We struggle to find the words to thank our incredible nursery team. Daily, they maintained a steadiness during six years of ups and downs that came with the diagnosis. Their world was upended, and they, along with the support of you, our community, made it possible for our family's focus to be on Bill.

Bill’s life can, in no way, be defined by his passing. He’s forever woven into the tapestry of San Diego gardens, gardeners, and the horticulture industry.

For over fourteen thousand days, Bill opened the gates to City Farmers to welcome you in. He drove down our San Diego streets to bring you soil, or to consult on your yard. He traveled to schools across town speaking, starting school gardens, or reading on Career Day, or dressing up as Santa.

He loved patronizing fellow independent businesses in San Diego and fiercely believed in the power of variety that independent businesses bring.

But his great joy was bringing you a smile and a solution over the counter where he could share a joke, impart some wisdom, and remind you that you mattered. You getting good advice, from a local community resource, mattered.

Bill received all kinds of awards and tributes, but what made him happiest was a full day of helping people, making headway on a project he was working on,a good meal shared with loved ones, and his his head hitting the pillow knowing he’d get to do it all again the following day.

On a personal note, your outpouring of love and memories of Bill is comforting to know there are so many hearts in which this loss is shared, and where there is love for a true original. Our Dad.

Thank you for your support, and thank you for helping us carry on every good thing he’s taught us.

Read The Union Tribune's Tribute