Happy holidays , friends . I get it on all these weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year . I bid we could roll them all into one whopping holiday filled with beamish lights , cheery music , fresh true pine scent , gluttonous dinner parties and cozy gatherings with love single .
I remember as a baby , I feverishly look forward to Christmas not because of its spiritual significance or even Santa himself ( I was that cynic in school who enjoin all my friends he was n’t real — I know , I was so beggarly ) , but because I bonk seeing all those endowment under the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . It was the one time of year that my family actually pick out toys and clothes and cognac and enclose them up in pretty newspaper publisher , a delightful change from the red envelope stuffed with money that was more coarse in our culture .
Ah , those gifts . Through the years , I ’ve found that I love being the natural endowment giver more than I care being the giving recipient . Being a child , it was promiscuous — everyone savour a handmade card or craft that I ’d painstakingly created in my bedroom . But as an grownup , finding the right gift for the correct person becomes trickier because it seems like all the multitude in your animation already have everything they need . food for thought is usually my standby gift , often homemade . And gifts from the garden have had an progressively frequent visual aspect over the yr .
But I ’m always looking for something special away from the framed photo , kettle of fish and hole , potted succulent , and homegrown harvest I often reach for seminal fluid holiday ( or natal day or other extra juncture ) time . WhenGrowJourneyintroduced me to their Seeds of the Month Club ( all heirloom , all certified constituent ) and offer a sample membership to review , I thought it sounded like a honeyed musical theme . A endowment of seeds is like a talent of life , and suit anyone from the aspiring nurseryman to the longtime green thumb .
I ’ve gifted ( and been a giftee of ) other monthly rank in the past ( wine , beloved , high mallow ) but what I specially like about GrowJourney ’s political platform is how committed they are to help you be a good nurseryman .
With every shipment , you get your semen packets and your introductory letter and that ’s all fine and dandy . If you be intimate your way around cum starting , you ’re expert to go . But the value lies in their online splashboard , which every member has access to .
Each month , GrowJourney posts the seed they ’ve sent out along with all the information you need to successfully begin them . You ’re give a one - page QuickGuide that you’re able to download as a PDF , basically a more detailed edition of the sort of instructions you ’d find on the back of a germ parcel .
You ’re also given a more all-encompassing GrowGuide , which cover a full story of the plant life and other varieties in the same coinage , as well as loads of selective information on seminal fluid sprouting , transplant , harvesting , seed saving , plague and disease control , and recommendations for sun , land , and H2O . They even link to a imagination on hugelkultur as a try - and - true proficiency ( on their own farm ) for improving territory fertility for chicory , one of the seeds I received . And they do this for every unmarried seed diverseness they send out .
I ’ll be honest here . I ’m sometimes wary of these monthly club because you may not always care what you get . And with the five varieties that were send in GrowJourney ’s November shipment , realistically I will only grow three of them this time of year — just the vegetables , which were endive ( chicory ) , leeks , and pea . ( But I ’m still save the other two , a poppy and a thyme , for next year if I have more way in my garden . Or maybe I ’ll just give them away . )
I ’m o.k. with that , because I really , really like the ability to get at their full archive of QuickGuides and GrowGuides for all the fruit , vegetable , herb , and bloom they ’ve shipped in the past . I may never get around to growing that thyme , but I like amaranth and sorrel and even if I get those seeds from somewhere else , I can still consult their GrowGuides for tips and magic trick .
Other things of note : GrowJourney includes a twosome of “ buddy seed ” with each shipment — smaller sample distribution packs that you may share with a friend . They also recite me they have a twosome of raw features in the works : hyper - customization of semen excerption ( better tailor for your clime and also any private seed preferences ) and television tutorial ( to help oneself you on your path of originate organically ) . But keep in mind that this is a small and relatively new caller , start out bya hubby - and - wife team , so implementation of these features is probably a year or more down the line .
And even though I think the Seeds of the Month Club makes a great talent , it goes both slipway — why not treat yourself this Christmas ! GrowJourney’spersonalandgiftsubscriptions are available for little spaces ( 3 regular packets plus 1 share packet for gardens less than 100 straight substructure ) and great spaces ( 5 veritable mailboat plus 2 share mailboat for gardens over 100 solid feet ) .
In the spirit of giving and gardening this season , GrowJourneyis offer a free six - month seed subscription to one lucky Garden Betty reader ! ( An $ 80 value for yourself or a booster . )
The giveaway is open to US occupant only , and all you have to do is enter via the form below . Entries will be accepted until 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Friday , December 11 , 2015 .
This post is play to you byGrowJourney . give thanks you for supporting the patron that plump for Garden Betty .
Update : A prominent thanks to everyone who entered!This game show is now unsympathetic . The winner is Terri W.
