Monday, January 12, 2015

A Wonderful Year Ahead!


I am as I know most of you are, anxious for Spring planting season to kick in gear.  I'm busy, busy planning this seasons gardens and hydroponic setups.
With the installation of many more hydroponics systems we will really be able to start growing the Growing The Seeds of Love organization!

In addition to gifting plants and produce, I have decided to combine our Gifting group (Communities Gifting Globally) and the Growing The Seeds of Love organization and start a local gifting marketplace!
We are now "Growing The Seeds of Love" a FREE Food Community and Gifting Marketplace!
My inspiration has come from so many different people and organizations but two people in particular have been extremely inspirational to me, my friends Angie and Darla.   I cannot thank them enough for all of the encouragement, love and inspiration they have offered as well as being amazing examples of this concept.
I have so many other wonderful ideas and plans for our community that I will be sharing over the coming months, I can't wait!

 I am also looking forward to having guest writers post on the blog with their techniques, tips, tricks and any other helpful or fun info related to gardening, sustainability and gifting.
I invite anyone who would love to share their stories to be a guest writer as well.  Please contact me for more info.

It was so nice to have fresh hydroponic tomatoes and red cabbage and miniature peppers through mid December despite some  -25 to -30 degree temps!   We could have kept them going but even with just a 4x8 space set up with plastic for the hydroponics and an electric heater for both the hydroponics and cold frame, it was too expensive to keep running.
I will start seeding the end of February and would love to hear from locals what plants they would like offered this year.  We will have all of the basics we had last year; several kinds of tomatoes, several kinds of  beans, snow peas and snap peas, zucchini, butternut squash, buttercup squash, acorn squash, cantaloup, two kinds of watermelon, several kinds of lettuce, kale, two kinds of chard, green peppers, red peppers and several hot peppers.
In addition to all the plants listed above, we will be planting more potatoes, onions, rhubarb and hopefully some corn to gift this year.
So, keeping fingers crossed, we will have a lot of plants and produce to offer to anyone who would like them!

We are also going to hook up with our local food pantry and some other local organizations to reach the people most in need.  It is going to be an amazing year of growing, sharing and LOVE  :)
If you would like to join us or keep up on what's happening here at Growing The Seeds of Love, you can find our Facebook group and request to join here  https://www.facebook.com/groups/673707882683168/  
and soon we will have a public page on Facebook.

Would love to hear from you in the comments about what your gardening plans are for this year!

Until next time, happy Growing and Gifting <3
~ Lisa

These are how the hydroponic tomatoes and the peppers and red cabbage in the cold frame looked in early December.  We let them go a couple more weeks before we harvested and cut the heat for the remainder of the Winter.  The carrots were in a bed in the greenhouse and just covered with straw.