Start the Journey
Your growing journey begins with a Farmstand and a starter pack of seedlings and nutrients. As you harvest, order new seedlings to keep the delicious greens and veggies coming!
Get Into the Groove
A quick, daily check-in with your plants is all it takes. Listen to the water pump cycle the luscious nutrient water over your plants' roots, check the water level in the tank, look for any insects or disease, listen for the bees buzzing, and start tasting the leaves of your soon-to-be favorite foods.
Start your day by taking stock of what's going on in your Farmstand. Take your coffee outside and spend a few quiet moments to get a sense of how your plant friends are feeling, or check in with them at the end of the day when you're ready to unwind.
Waste Not
Imagine stepping out your back door and picking a juicy, sun-warmed tomato for dinner, the perfect sized bunch of zesty herbs, a handful of nutritious leafy greens all at the peak of flavor and nutrition, ready for dinner. What you don't need today will stay on the plant - no more half-eaten bags of greens headed to the compost! Check out how you can harvest right into the salad bowl!
No-Fear Gardening
We curate the plant varieties we send you based on your feedback about what you like to eat, start the seedlings, prepare the nutrient blends, and send you more as you need them. We're also here to walk you through everything you need to know from set-up to harvest, and we're here to answer your questions.
It's not always going to go perfectly, and that's part of the beauty of this journey. Plants are part of nature, and sometimes in nature, things don't make it (but most times they do). So don't fret - we've anticipated many of the challenges you might face and designed a system that is as close to foolproof as Mother Nature allows. Go ahead, get growing - you've got this!
How Will My Garden Grow?
Just like any garden, plants on the Farmstand have a life cycle - some (like herbs and veggies) can be harvested continually for about 8 weeks, while others (like head lettuces and radishes) are best fully harvested when they look ready to eat at about 3-4 weeks. At the end of this cycle, it's time to say goodbye and order refill seedlings.
Hydroponics Does the Hard Part
As long as your Farmstand is plugged in and your pump is running, it's all very light work. No back breaking soil to till, no manure to shovel, no weeding, no toxic chemicals to spray, just a little easy-peasy housekeeping - we're talking about 10 minutes a week.
Troubleshooting
If anything seems amiss, dig a little deeper to make sure your Farmstand's water is circulating, the power is working, and that the pump is not clogged. If all of the above is working but your plants still look a little less than healthy, it's possible they're not getting the nutrients they need. Not to worry, that's an easy fix - just check your pH and adjust if necessary. Your Growing Guide has all the info on how to do this.
Harvesting
Is it ready? Here's where your senses come in again. Start by looking - if it looks ready, it most likely is. You can always taste a leaf too and check the flavor and texture. For example, when arugula is young and tender, it's a little nutty and sweet with a note of tingly pepper - as it matures, the pepperiness gets stronger, becoming almost hot on the tongue when it's fully mature. The fun part about growing your own food is that you get to decide when something's ready for you - harvest at the perfect moment for what you're cooking and your palate.
We Are Family
When you become a Lettuce Grow farmer, you're joining a community of like-minded growers who love to help and support each other, share recipes and growing tips, and are working together to create the world's largest distributed farm.
