With a little bit of know-how and adventurous spirit, home gardening can be a very economical way to grow nutritious food for yourself, get you outside for some fresh air, and solidify your connection to the nature in your own backyard.
Starting your own plants from seed is the most economical way to fill out your summer vegetable garden!
If you plan to purchase seeds, consider supporting a locally-owned shop, such as Ganim’s Garden Center, which has an extensive collection of seeds for sale. There are also many reputable online seed sellers, such as Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Hudson Valley Seed Company, and Native Seeds.
Even better for the pocket, Fairfield is lucky enough to have two well-stocked and accessible seed libraries available to all!
The Seed to Seed Library at Fairfield Woods Branch Library was started by Fairfield’s community garden manager Eric Frisk. Plant seeds that are well-suited to our climate can be “borrowed” at no cost, with the request that you harvest the seeds of your resulting plants and return some to the library. Go ahead and borrow a gardening book or two while you’re there!
The Pequot Library also has an extensive seed library, which was created with the help of Sefra Alexander, The Seed Huntress. Join Sefra’s Southport Globe Onion Initiative and check out some free seeds of this once-famous Southport export! Many of the seeds in Pequot’s library are All she asks in return is that we let some of our plants go back to seed and return some to the library.
The start of spring is the time for garden planning! Some hearty seeds (peas!) can go in the ground already. Others you’ll want to start indoors and transplant later. Start small and you don’t have to invest a lot- milk cartons make great seed starters!
Grow a row for HOPE. When planning your garden, consider dedicating a row as a food pantry donation. Fairfield’s own Operation Hope will gladly take donations of home-grown produce that will be distributed at their food pantry.
Check back this summer for a post about harvesting and saving your seeds.
