About - Growmuse: Beginner Gardening Tips for Busy People

WELCOME TO GROWMUSE!

Hi there! I am so happy you stumbled upon my site.

Before I share how I can help you on your gardening journey, let’s make sure you’re in the right place.

This isn’t a site aimed at being 100% self-sustaining. Rather, it’s for beginners who want to grow their very first herbs, salad greens, or vegetables.

Are you someone who juggles a million different things all day for yourself or for your family and yet wants to find simple, easy ways to grow some, not all food at home?

If your answer was YES, then you’re headed in the right direction.

My aim isn’t to help every type of gardener out there. I help people who want to learn the basics of gardening but don’t have the time or energy to research on their own.

Keep reading if you fall into one of these buckets:

Working professional without kids
Stay-at-home mom or dad
Working professional with kids
Working grandparent

Or do you frequently say these things?

“I wish I could plant some herbs on my windowsill so I stop buying a whole bunch at the store and then throw what I don’t use away.”
“If I only had more time, I’d learn to start a garden.”
“When work calms down, I’ll research growing my own vegetables.”
“I’ll definitely learn to garden next year when I don’t have so much on my plate.”
“I wish I knew what to buy to start a garden.”

If the thoughts above sound familiar, keep reading.

WHAT WILL GROWMUSE DO FOR YOU?

I am a gardener that creates content for busy health-conscious people in order to help them grow their own food and feed their bellies with the most nutrient-dense produce possible.

Doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment, a townhouse, a house with or without a yard. I cover the basics through articles, tutorials, and videos.

I’ll offer approachable methods for growing food to help kickstart your gardening journey. From there you might pick up the gardening love bug and want to grow a ton more or you may want to keep it small and manageable.

If you do a Google search, there are already tons of other gardening sites that offer so much great information.

I personally don’t have decades of experience growing food.

So why should you stay with me? I’m just another gardening site.

From my experience, those other sites have SO MUCH INFORMATION! While they’re great resources, they don’t always breakdown the information for newbies who know absolutely nothing about growing.

When I first started learning about vegetable gardening in the fall of 2019 (yeah, wasn’t so long ago), I was overwhelmed with resources. Even though I was volunteering on a farm and got a glimpse into vegetable gardening, I spent hours, days, and weeks, learning as much about gardening as possible.

Then I started to wonder…

How in the world do busy people find the time or energy to garden? If you don’t know anything about gardening, there is a lot to learn. So much so, that you’ll find yourself reading and reading and never doing anything about it. You eventually give up and move on.

There are plenty of DIY projects that will save you a buck or two. I’ll cover some of those, but I know you’re busy and may not have the time for this.

I discovered a lot of kits, tools, and pre-packaged gardening supplies that’ll speed up the gardening set up. This is probably where you’ll find most value.

FIND YOUR MOTIVATION TO GROW FOOD

Don’t think I’m outrageous but I eventually quit my full-time job and for a few months, I researched everything out there about starting your own garden.

I even joined an online gardening course to surround myself with like-minded people and helped make this vegetable garden dream a reality.

As you can see, I was intensely motivated to grow my own food! I learned so much within such a short amount of time, I want to share it with you.

Now, before you pick up a seed pack or shovel, you need to think about your motivation. Why do YOU want to have fresh food at your fingertips? Why is this so important to you?

Do you want:

To eat healthier?
To live more sustainably?
To cut your grocery bill down?
To grow your own food to help the environment?
Your kids or grandkids to eat more vegetables?
To pick up a new hobby and make new friends?
To use gardening as therapy?

The only way to see a new project through is to have a clear understanding for what motivates you. If you don’t, you’ll start and never finish.

WHAT DOES GROWMUSE MEAN AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO MY MOTIVATION TO GROW FOOD?

My motivation can be summed up in the name of this site – Growmuse.

Growmuse → Grow + Gemüse.

Growmuse is a combination of the words grow and gemüse. Gemüse is German for vegetables. In English, the definition of the word muse is a source of inspiration.

What is my source of inspiration? My daughter!

She inspires me every day to be better and do better. In being better, I want to know that all the food going into our bodies provides us with the most nutrients possible. If you’re like me and cook a lot, you know how much time it takes to prepare healthy, quality meals. Why not start with the freshest and best ingredients to make it all worth your time?

WHERE DO YOU GET THE MOST NUTRIENT-DENSE FOOD?

Did you know the most nutrient-dense food comes from the home garden? After that, it’s from the local farmer’s market. Lastly, it’s from the grocery store.

Why is this the case?

From the moment you cut an herb or vegetable, it starts to lose its health properties! That’s why it’s so important we eat locally and seasonally.

Another bonus of fresh food at home is the convenience of walking to your window garden or stepping outside. Within minutes you have fresh herbs to throw in a dish or have a nice salad with greens you can’t find at the store to balance out a meal.

CAN I GROW ANYTHING?

As a relatively new gardener, can I even grow anything? YES! In just a few months after starting my gardening education, I grew greens indoors under grow lights all winter. Then, after building some gardening confidence (you’ll need some small wins), I expanded to the outdoors and in the spring, built three raised garden beds.

In my first season, I successfully grew tomatoes, herbs, mixed greens, lettuce, green beans, and so much more! For the majority of my plants (all but 3), I started them from seed.

They say it’s hard to do this as a first-time gardener, but I did it! Big accomplishment. Claps, claps, claps!

Growmuse About Me Tomato & Nasturtiums — Growing above: Basil, Tomatoes, Parsley, Nasturtiums, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Pole Beans, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Chives, Mizuna, Tatsoi Greens, Spinach

Growmuse About Me Herb Bed — Growing above: Basil, Tomatoes, Parsley, Nasturtiums, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Pole Beans, Swiss Chard, Arugula, Chives, Mizuna, Tatsoi Greens, Spinach

I’m happy with the size of our garden. I don’t feel the need to go all out and have a million different vegetables growing. We were having trouble eating all of what we grew and gave a lot away to neighbors and friends.

WHY GARDENING IS WORTH MY TIME

It has been so incredibly rewarding to grow some of the food we eat right at home. Especially if you have kids. You know they’re more likely to eat their vegetables if they grow them and are part of the process.

My daughter frequently goes to the garden to pick ripe tomatoes and eats them off the vine. She’ll then head over and grab mizuna, tatsoi, or mint and enjoy a salad right there outside. She’s a toddler and she loves eating her greens. Who knew that was possible?

As a mother, it’s important to introduce kids to healthy eating habits at a very early age. There is no better way than to have it right at home ready for the taking.

Gardening is also very therapeutic. There’s something about watering your plants, nurturing them and seeing them grow. It’s like caring for a newborn baby.

IS GARDENING POSSIBLE IF YOU DO A MILLION THINGS A DAY?

Now you’re probably wondering it’s easy to get things up and running when you don’t have a job. You’re 100% correct. I had the time and the means to get the initial garden setup all done.

When I first started out my daughter was in daycare full-time. Lucky me and I could focus on the garden for a little bit.

Then I picked up some contract work on the side, so worked on that while learning about gardening.

Once the pandemic hit, my daughter was home with me full time for four months. That was a doozy! I was doing everything at that point. I’m sure you felt the pain too!

Now, she’s in preschool part-time. Hope it stays that way and her school doesn’t close (writing this as of December 2020).

I have had to learn to juggle caring for a toddler, taking care of the housework, doing contract work, and gardening.

On top of my own immediate family’s needs, I help my mom with her business. I’m a pseudo-book-keeper and tech supporter. She raised me, so yeah, anything she asks, I do! You would too.

Oh and before I forget, we have another baby on the way, so come February 2021, my hands will really be full!

I understand the complexities of life, work, family. That’s why Growmuse is for people who want to grow their own food but have trouble knowing how to fit gardening into their lifestyle.

Just know you aren’t alone in this.

I will help you start with small, achievable gardening goals.

ARE YOU READY TO START YOUR GROWING JOURNEY AND FINALLY START PLANTING?

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