Welcome to Grow Spaces!
Hey, thanks for visiting the Grow Spaces website!
My name is Caitlyn, and I started Grow Spaces to teach people how to grow their own produce regardless of where they live, their space, or their level of expertise. I am here to tell you that no matter what your space looks like anyone can grow at least part of the produce they consume.
If you had told 30-year-old me that I would be able to grow full meals of produce for my family from my tiny, subdivision, urban-soil backyard- I would have thrown my head back and given a hearty belly laugh in disbelief.
My path to gardening started when I had an irresistible urge to grow fruits and vegetables in my yard that my (very) young children would be able to snack from as we played in the backyard together; partly because I wanted them to eat beneficial, whole foods, and partly because I was tired of being in the kitchen making snacks every couple of hours. Suddenly, growing their snacks wasn’t enough anymore! I wanted the sides of our dinners to be made exclusively of produce from our garden, I wanted the stock we put in our soups to be made from our vegetable scraps, I wanted our freezer to be stocked with goods we baked with the food we grew. But how is that even possible? We live in a subdivision, we have two very active kids that need room to run around, we need outdoor space to entertain extended family dinners! But what if I could find a way to do it all?
So, what did I do? I joined the local horticultural society, and I read every single gardening/botany/how-to book I could get my hands on. I couldn’t believe how much I didn’t know! But as Neil Gaiman once said, “Sometimes the best way to learn something is by doing it wrong and looking at what you did.” And wow, did I ever.
Now, seven years later, I have made the mistakes, taken the courses, and experimented with different square-foot garden methods. Through vertical gardening, careful planning, and learning to succession plant I have continued to provide my family with nutritious produce that we place on our table more often than not.
And now I want to teach you. It is so important for us to learn how to be more self-reliant and sustainable, particularly at this time. What is the produce you consume the most? What is the fruit or vegetable that is always on your shopping list? Now, what if you could subsidize that item or more from your list each week? Imagine the pride of placing this product on your table. If you have even just one foot of free space, I can teach you how to grow your very own fresh produce.