The joy of growing fresh veggies year-round at home: one customer’s journey into the world of hydroponic gardening
Meet Sue Taylor from Calgary, Alberta. Sue is a devoted mother of five, grandmother to three and an active member of her local community. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years and a volunteer in her spare time. Now with her children all grown and out of the house, she dedicates much of her time to volunteering and community work.
Sue lived for several years in Ontario and Saskatchewan, where she enjoyed growing lots of produce. Growing things outdoors in her current Alberta home has been difficult with the weather conditions (and the deer!), so she decided to try her hand at indoor hydroponic gardening with a Les Verts Terrace™ Pro system, designed and built in Canada.
“My Les Verts Terrace Pro system has honestly filled the need I have to watch things grow and experiment. Especially this year, as Calgary has been on water restrictions and so we couldn’t hope for much to happen outside.”
Despite having no prior experience with indoor hydroponic growing, Sue has been amazed at how easy it was to get started and be successful with every harvest.
“The machine runs very well. It doesn’t take much maintenance. Keeping the nutrients and pH where it should be is really not hard to do, nor are the plants too fussy. I like that it is big, and I can always keep it full up and growing things.”
Sue’s community work includes teaching Sunday school, organizing community events, and volunteering with various local charities, such as a second-hand store, a children’s house, a school lunch program, and a bread distribution program for low-income seniors. Additionally, she and her husband, Jim, have helped to house 18 Ukrainian families over the past three years, including four families who have lived with them.
“We stay in contact and are always busy with a few of the families. Most of the people I work and serve with have tried my lettuce and have seen the fun hydroponics can be. I have so many people who love to see this machine and are amazed by it. I think if they truly understood how easy it was maybe they would do it too.”
The Les Verts Terrace™ Pro system comes with 2 or 3 large, open layout grow shelves and is ideal for large families, schools, community groups, businesses and more. A smaller Les Verts Terrace™ indoor garden is also available, designed for homes with a smaller footprint but still delivering a significant amount of produce.
“I like the Terrace Pro system because it is large, and I have been able to try so many different things. I also like that I can plant something every two weeks and keep a cycle going so I never run out. I have a few neighbour kids who come asking often for a head of lettuce. They just sit and eat the leaves while they talk to me. My children take it home as well. I give it to people from church or people who I volunteer with. None has gone to waste!”
With all of Les Verts’ indoor garden systems, year-round fresh quality produce is always within arms’ reach. Always having fresh produce in the home provides ample opportunity to add a nutritional boost to meals, as well as explore new recipes and flavour profiles.
“Jim and I have run many marathons and continue to, and so we drink a lot of smoothies for breakfast. Almost daily we put microgreens or lettuce or kale into our smoothies. I like eating the lettuce with baby mozza balls and cherry tomatoes with a dressing of balsamic vinegar, pesto and oil. One of our Ukrainian ladies who lived with us made this and now I do it so often. We eat tacos and hamburgers a lot when the family is all over and it is so great to always have the lettuce.
I am super excited to see the tomato plants grow. The microgreens grow so fast and can fill in when I don’t have heads of lettuce ready, but the lettuce is the best for me. I think the lettuce is so pretty and had no idea of all the varieties possible. I like trying them all.”
Join our growing community of grassroots gardeners and growers and find the right Les Verts indoor garden for you.