We would like to recount some of the stories from October and November. Our students have worked hard planting their gardens, and we are proud to share their experiences.

November marks a defining moment in our school Gardens of Hope. This is the time when the little seeds and seedlings the students worked so hard to cultivate, start producing "food"!

What better way to teach sharing and community, then to explain the Legend of the Three Sisters. Better yet, harvesting some of our homegrown ingredients and mixing them into a Corn Salsa for a celebration, is even grander.

Below are links, so you may enjoy this with your family and friends. We would love to hear more about your holiday and how you may have incorporated any or all of these suggestions into your gatherings.

It's not too late - Seedlings!

“Starts” or seedlings are baby plants that have been planted from seeds and "grown out" by someone else. Also, they’ve often been acclimated to the outdoors and are ready to finish out their lives in your garden.

Plant starts can be found at your local nursery, grower, or garden center. Depending on your source, they many not seem cheap when compared to seed packets, but they can be well worth it! Here’s why:

1. It’s your first garden. It’s true that purchasing starts is limiting, because there aren’t as many varieties to choose from if you started from seed. But that’s not always such a big deal.

As a new gardener, plant starts can give you the confidence to plant a vegetable garden in the first place because you’re beginning with plants that are already well on their way.

2. It’s not your first garden. You read that right. Savvy gardeners know all too well about the advantages of plant starts. They are more than willing to grab some to fill in here and there, even when they usually grow veggies from seed.

3. You want a leg up on the growing season. Maybe you didn’t order your seeds fast enough or perhaps you just didn’t get your seeds planted in time. You may have moved to a new home during the seed starting months and want to be sure that you have a garden this year. Whatever the reason — starts are the answer.

4. Instant gratification. You have precious little time to spare at the moment and you need to get that garden in! Or maybe you hate planting seeds. One thing is for sure, you can hit a nursery at 9:00 AM Saturday morning and have a visible vegetable garden planted by 7:00 PM that evening using starts.

5. Skip nail-biting steps. Germination, pests, soil temps, light, over-watering, under-watering are all situations that discourage gardeners or easily set you back to square one. Skip that stuff.

6. Zone guarantee (almost). It’s not a 100% guarantee, but as close as you can get. Your local nursery will offer vegetable plants that grow and thrive in your area. It also takes away most of the timing guess-work of each vegetable that plagues you when ordering through seed catalogs. 

7. Less plant loss. For all of the reasons above, you will keep more plants alive than not, when you begin with small vegetable plants as opposed to seeds.

8. Less tools. When you let someone else do the baby-raising, you don’t have to purchase all that is needed in excess. Assuming that your garden bed is ready — you purchase only the plants. Ta-dah!

Suggestions... Local, or not so far away growers, offer gardeners the option of choosing from a large variety of non-GMO organic seedlings, shipped to your door within two days. One of our volunteers is doing that as we speak, and we will track her progress.

Brad's Bedding has a nice selection you can pick up and drive away with, but caution... call first or visit their website to see if they are available.

WD Farms in NC can ship you some very healthy looking seedlings, but caution... you must be ready to put these fragile babies in the ground within a day or so.