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Chels Grows

@chelsgrows

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🌱year 1 of growing my dream garden in a
1/8 acre farm plot📍Sammamish valley, WA
💌[email protected]

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Welcome to Chels Grows! It’s been a year since I introduced myself🌱here’s my story➡️

June 2024 I started my 1st seeds. I’d been journaling since 2019 “I want a garden one day. I want to grow my own food & flowers.” I thought I needed the house the backyard…with the average house being $800,000+ in king county I said f*** it I’m just gonna start a garden right here in my balcony. The reason I wanted a garden so badly was bc our main expense was food. I knew if I figured out how to grow food our food bill would go down. I also hate buying produce from the grocery store it tastes terrible & it makes us sick!

& it was the best decision I ever made. I learned how to grow from gardening creators online & from books I checked out from the library. I learned how to do this for free!! I used grow bags & containers. This little 20 sq ft garden taught me so much in 2 seasons💐I started with what I had & it all worked out

I was eager to immerse myself into the horticulture / agriculture world. I wanted to learn as much as I could as quickly as possible about growing from seed. January 2025 - July 2025 I worked on a farm in the native plant nursery as a production technician. I can’t believe I was hired bc I have no formal education or experience my manager just really liked me! This is where my seed starting & horticultural skills really ramped up. I was seeding thousands of seeds/week, making hundreds of pounds of potting mix, potting up hundreds of plants a day, hand watering 70,000 plants for at least 20 hours for my 40 hour work week. I was fully in it! But then my health took a turn…

The conditions of working in a greenhouse full-time compromised my health & I was put on medical leave & my job had to let me go. It was bitter sweet but it happened for a reason. I learned what I could & still have good relationships w this farm💚now I know working as a production technician is not for me😌

August 2025 I toured lots of farms & volunteered on them. I realized my passion was food & flower crops. I spoke to farmers, asked their advice, & made connections. I knew I needed to expand my garden beyond the balcony to live out my dream of building an abundant garden💐🥬🍅🫛 by @chelsgrows

Land access is the biggest barrier for people to grow a garden BUT did you know you don’t need to own land to grow your own food & flowers?

My garden started 2 years ago on my tiny apartment balcony in container s& grow bags. I knew NOTHING about seed starting. I knew nothing about food & flower crops. But I just started with what I had.

Fast forward to today I’m growing an 1/8 of an acre garden full of mixed vegetables & flowers that’s feeding my family & community.

So many of you ask me HOW?! In the winter went out in my community & I looked for land. These are the 3 options that could provide my land access in my neighborhood

1. Community gardens. Community gardens in King County are common, which is amazing! I applied to 2, got accepted to both, but I declined bc my goal was to eventually sell what I was growing & that’s now allowed at community gardens. I think this option is great for beginners & those wanting a built in community of growers.
2. Growing in neighbors yards they aren’t using. There are so many of your neighbors that own land that they aren’t using, ask to use it! I posted on my neighborhood gardening group if anyone had space in their yard for me to grow. I toured a few yards, all great options, but I got accepted to the 3rd option so didn’t need to do this.
3. Farm incubator programs. I’m VERY lucky that the farm incubator program I applied to had space for new growers. I applied in January got accepted in April & started building my 1/8 of an acre garden in May. This program did come with an application & interview process. I needed to provide the program a business plan & proof of experience with cultivating crops. I worked as a plant nursery technician on a farm in 2025, so that helped a lot with my application.

All of this information is google-able! google “community gardens near me” “farm programs near me”

Lmk if you have any questions I’d love to answer them! I believe we need more people stewarding the land growing food & flowers & keeping the food & floral industry as local as possible. If I can do this, anyone can I promise!

#growyourownfood #growagarden #gardeninspo #foodsovereignty #growyour by @chelsgrows

Here’s what I harvested & packed for a food bank delivery this week for @byrdbarrplace 🥬🍅So many of you ask how I make money farming. I sell a lot of food at a wholesale price to food banks I have contracts with here in King County

How these deliveries work is I harvest, wash, & pack my order. The delivery driver who was hired by the farm incubator program delivers orders to the food banks. It’s been a great experience growing within a farm incubator program @blackfarmerscollective where they have resources like a wash-pack (thanks @kingcountydnrp !), land, water, staff like a delivery driver & farm manager to help us new farmers. I believe it’s been a massive help with my success as a 1st year farmer / market gardener

In this order I sent:
-40 bundles kale
-5 bundles collards
-55 pints of cherry tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes & kale have been the crops that I’ve sold the most of & have earned me the most money this season🥬🍅

These contracts have been very fulfilling bc I know the food I’m sending is going to people in my community who need it THE MOST. If you’re in the position where you can’t afford food rn please look into your local food banks. There’s farmers like me who are sending delicious organic produce every week, we want to feed you!! Food insecurity isn’t something to be ashamed of💚

#womenwhofarm #foodsecurity #foodsovereignty #growyourownfood #foodfreedom by @chelsgrows

A very magical November fall day at the farm🥬🎃🧄🥕💕 packed another food bank order for delivery: Swiss chard, kale, & cherry tomatoes

@earthworksfarmwa gifted me tons of mini pumpkins, glass gem corn, & carrots! Thank u Nal!!!🫶🏽

We planted 2 varieties of garlic in beds between our plots🙂‍↕️garlic gifted from @nurturingrootsfarm thank you @nyema8 !!

The farm was sunny & cold my favorite weather🌤️🍂ended the day w a rainbow over the sun 🌈 🌥️

Farming is full of beautiful magic & love I’m so lucky✨🤸🏽‍♀️ by @chelsgrows

Happy November! Here’s what’s growing in the garden right now in my 1/8 acre market garden🎃I grow in the Sammamish valley in Western Washington zone 8b➡️

Did this harvest to stock our kitchen for the week! Dino kale, lettuce, anise hyssop for tea, green tomatoes, green onions, onions grown by @earthworksfarmwa & a lil flower bouquet✨

There’s STILL flowers blooming rn! Calendula, snapdragons, strawflower, & asters💐the pink & yellow is so cuuute. Making a mental note to grow way more cool weather flowers next season🌼

Purple sprouting broccoli!💜🥦I’ve never grown broccoli before I got a few seeds for free this season & happy I got a few in the ground. They look healthy!! Seems like they love the cool weather

Acorn squash!!! Another crop I’ve never grown before. Planted them too late in the season didn’t get a good yield but that’s ok🎃

The season is definitely winding down. Days are shorter it’s cold & wet, but the fall garden is still producing✨

I picked these flowers today to have something beautiful to look at in my apartment I feel like it’s gonna give me good juju for the new month💐✨

There’s still a lot for me to do this month. I want to get more perennials in the ground & need to put some beds to bed💤I’m excited to take a break from farming in December but I’m not taking these fall harvest for granted. Learning how to grow food & flowers has changed my life💚have a good month everyone LOVE U🫶🏽 by @chelsgrows

Save seeds this year so you can save money in the garden next year! Fall is the perfect time to start saving seeds from your garden. Here’s how I’m saving thousands of french marigold flower seeds🌼

-I find the crusty dusty dry seeds heads. They should be brown, dry, & sound crinkly
-Open the seed heads, have them dry out in a cool space in your home for a few days
-Store seeds in airtight container, bag, seed packet whatever you have & store it somewhere cool & dark

If you aren’t sure how to save a specific type of seed GOOGLE it girl. Or look it up in a book at your local library there’s thousands of resources on the internet & at your local library that will give you the information you need

The more you save your seeds year over year the less you’ll spend in the garden. I’ve saved thousands of dill, marigold, & calendula seeds this year that I won’t need to buy those seed next year yippee!

Follow me @chelsgrows I’m a 1st year farmer / market gardener & I share my journey on what I grow & how I farm💚

#seedsaving #womenwhofarm #seeds #fallgarden by @chelsgrows

I started these vegetables from seed w my 2 little hands!! beets, tomatoes, lettuce, & stewarded the land for weeks-months until I could harvest them do u get that!? Fav way to use beets this season is by making beet root hummus😮‍💨Maybe im biased but growing crops here in the PNW is the best bc what do u mean I’m still eating delicious red tomatoes at the end of October!!🥪🫜🥬🍅

#growyourownfood #womenwhofarm #organicproduce #foodsecurity #foodsovereignty by @chelsgrows

Thank you so much @redantspants 💚the pants fit perfectly! & the trucker hat + tote so cute🐜♥️my 1st proper pair of workwear / farming pants👩🏽‍🌾if you’re interested in a pair for yourself they gave me a discount code for you use code “chelsgrows”💌

#womenwhofarm #workwear #womensworkwear by @chelsgrows

What do you gift a vegetable farmer as a fellow veg farmer? FLOWERS💐

Since I grow an abundance of veg & flowers I like to gift people what I’m growing when I meet them. I know when I’m meeting a veg farmer to gift them flowers, & if I’m meeting a flower farmer to gift them veg💐🥬🌼🍅

I visited @sunnysideorganicfarm farm last week & it was so fun. I gifted them a bouquet of the last blooms of the season: sunflowers, cosmos, lacy phacelia, crimson cover, & sweet Annie🌻🌸🪻💐

Next season I’m going to take growing flowers more seriously. I’ve even signed up for a flower farming course that starts in January! I’ll share more about that soon💐✨

All the pictures in this video are from their gorgeous farm they’ve been building for 5 years. Check them out!! The best veg I’ve ever tasted they gifted me an abundance of their produce & we ate all of it🥕🫜🍅🫶🏽

Visiting farmers who’ve been doing farming for years INSPIRES me✨I don’t see other farmers as competition. The more local farmers we have in our communities the better!!!

#womenwhofarm #farmers #smallscalefarming #flowerbouquets #growagarden by @chelsgrows

Harvest the 1st beet crops I’ve wver grown w me🫜! I’m still really new to gardening & farming. I only started growing food 2 years ago in containers in my apartment balcony & this is my 1st year farming so there’s tons of crops I’ve never grown before!

I’m not ashamed to admit I’m not confident growing root crops bc they’re crops I don’t have much experience with

This season I decided to throw some beet seeds in a bed & hoped for the best. I definitely need more practice. I need to remember to thin the seedlings & weed the bed (lol) but I’m happy w this little beet harvest🫜

The best way for me to learn is by doing! Let me know the crops you aren’t confident in growing yet🌱I wanna know

#womenwhofarm #growyourownfood #gardenharvest #beets #smallscalefarming by @chelsgrows

I learned how to direct seed this season & it’s changed the way I garden🌱

I bought bulk seed of cover crops & flower mixes to experiment with this year. I’ve never grown in ground or had the space to fill 1/8 of an acre of land. I eventually ran out of plants to plant out & opted to just direct seed the remaining beds

I broadcast sowed seeds & hoped for the best & they were my best performing flowers on the farm! Strong, tall, & super resilient🌸

I’m going to direct seed & direct sow way more next season bc it’s SO easy & takes way less work than starting hundreds of seeds in cells then transplanting them out

If you have a yard / space in your garden & don’t know what to grow just throw some seeds down (flower mix or cover crop would work best) rake them in, water them in & watch them GROW

All the seeds I used this season were from @botanical_interests use code “chelsgrows” to save $

My favorite thing about becoming a farmer is learning something new about the garden everyday!!

Follow me @chelsgrows I’m sharing my journey of being a market gardener / farmer growing vegetable & flower crops in western Washington zone 8b👩🏽‍🌾

#womenwhofarm #seeding #growyourownflowers #sowingseeds #easygardening by @chelsgrows