A Crowdfunding Success Story: Growing Vegetables Will Never Be the Same

You love freshly picked veggies from the garden.  Everyone does! They taste amazing and are so good for you. 

The thing is - gardens generally require a lot of time, space and know-how. But... what if they didn’t?

There’s now a nifty little tool that is changing the way people are growing their veggies. It’s a color-coded seed spacer that makes planting a garden so fun and simple, your kids might just take over on planting day.

After a less than ideal first gardening experience, a husband and wife team from Vancouver, Canada made themselves a seed-spacing-template to simplify the planting process and were blown away with the results.  Based on the popular planting method - Square Foot Gardening, their tool organizes gardens and helps maximize growth. Which is great for gardening in a limited space! One doesn’t have to know that lettuce needs six inches of space, or that peas need three. The spacing requirements of each seed and seedling are pre-calculated and color-coded to the template, making planting a snap! 

See how YouTube influencers Sarah and Kevin of Living Traditions Homestead use Seeding Square to plant seeds and seedlings in their raised garden bed. 

Optimized space means good things for gardeners! First off, 2-5 times the harvest of traditional row-gardening can be anticipated. Second - it's a timesaver when it comes to weeding.  The exact placement of each plant makes unwanted weeds stick out like a sore thumb. Not that many show up - there simply isn’t room for them.  Finally - Save money! With more plants per square foot, there is less exposed soil.  This leads to reduced evaporation and a decreased water bill for your garden. 

So how exactly does it work? Sowing seeds is done in three simple steps:

1.) Press the Seeding Square (template) into the soil

2.) Poke the color-coded holes according to the chart, and

3.) Plant your seeds or seedlings.

For even MORE space efficiency - after seeding a square foot section, the impressions left in the soil show gardeners where to line up the template for the next square foot.  Gardeners are finding with spacing optimized, a small garden (or a couple of garden boxes) is all you need.

The verdict is in, Seeding Square is a win! Carson Arthur – a popular TV gardening celebrity says (he) “Loves this gardening innovation” and Shirley Bovshow of Hallmark Channel's, Home and Family show chose it as one of her top picks for a gardening gift.  Our dynamic duo even pitched their tool on Dragons’ Den (Canada’s version of Shark Tank) and had not one, but two dragons chomping for a deal!

Want to ensure you and your family have fresh home-grown veggies all season long? Get your Seeding Square while quantities last! Click here for the Amazon link.  A commission for each sale comes our way, but at no cost to you!  If you like Seeding Square, be sure to follow the usual platforms - as our savvy couple is in the process of creating a second product for easy gardening.

Bucket Tomatoes

When it comes to vegetable gardening, tomatoes are a staple! As you likely know, I’m an advocate of Square Foot Gardening. For maximizing your garden space (and harvest) SFG spacing is incredible – especially, when using the square-foot, seed spacing tool, Seeding Square!  However, as we all know - gardens are like snowflakes…each one is unique unto itself.  There are so many ways to grow vegetables, and not all of them work in conjunction with Seeding Square – you can’t put a square-foot spacing tool in a round container for example.

This past season an avid gardener, and Seeding Square fan reached out to me with his approach to planting tomatoes. It’s genius! If you’re a DIYer and want to add a few extra (portable) tomato plants to your garden, this is something you’re going to love - we're transforming 5-gallon buckets into the most epic tomato growing setup ever!

What you'll need:

- food grade 5-gallon plastic bucket (with lid)
- plactic tube or pipe
- planting pot or 2L pop bottle
- cotton string
- a drill and drill bit
- tomato cage
- paracord
- old blue jeans/denim

Start with the 5-gallon plastic bucket. Trim the lid to fit inside the bucket. It is going to become the false bottom. The bucket is probably tapered - you want the cut lid to fit about 6 inches from the bottom.

Here is the lid cut to size. The large hole in the center is where the wicking chamber will be attached. The other large hole is where the filler pipe will go. All the other small holes are for aeration. Don't worry about the potting soil falling through, it has rough edges so it doesn't slide easily. Use whatever you have for the filler tube.

 

Here is the wicking chamber. It will sit on the bottom of the pail. Use whatever you have for this. (ie. planting pots, peanut butter jars, 2 L pop bottles, etc.) Just make the hole size to match. You use a cotton string or paracord to hold it in place. Note: if you use a 2L pop bottle, cut the top off and it can be used as a funnel for the top of your filler tube!

Drill a hole just below where the false bottom sits. When watering, fill the bucket until water comes out the overflow hole. That way you can't overfill the bucket. 

Tomato cages are very useful for both the stability of your unit and of course to support your tomato plant as it grows. Put the cage legs in some of the aeration holes. Drill 4 holes around the rim of the bucket and then use paracord to hold the cage in place. (The growing medium does not pack tight enough to hold the cage, therefore the legs going all the way to the bottom combined with the support ties is needed.) Using paracord, make a bowline knot to fasten the cord to the bucket and then a taut-line hitch tied to the tomato cage. Paracord is used because it doesn't rot, and this knot lets you adjust the tension to keep the cage upright. You'll also want to attach the piller tube to the side of the bucket as well.

Now it's time for the soil and to plant your seeds or seedlings! 

Heads up, don't use garden soil. It's too heavy. Use a mixture of potting soil, vermiculite and ground-up eggshells for calcium for the tomatoes.

Sometimes tomato plants put out branches that have a hard time supporting the tomatoes. So tie them up! Daune says, do NOT use string. A breeze can cause the branch to be sawn by the string. His solution? Make your own support 'strings'. An old pair of bluejeans cut into strips about an inch wide is great to tie up the branches. If you do not pull the knot too tight, they come apart just fine. Even better, they can be washed and reused.

Here is a picture of Duane's tomato garden. Pretty spif huh?

Thank you Duane for sharing! Also, for those intrigued with Seeding Square spacing, here's a pic recently submitted of a budding green thumb using Seeding Square to plant his Square Foot Garden – please see the following (paid) link for more details on Seeding Square. (Seeding Square Product Details)  Pssst - it makes a great gift for gardeners young and old.

Seeding Square Media Kit 2016

Seeding Square Story Ideas

Hello writers and bloggers!

Thank you for visiting the Seeding Square Blog. In this post you will find 3 separate story angles that you are welcome to use for your article about Seeding Square. Feel free to use them as-it, rewrite them to make them your own, or write an article on a topic of your choosing. You are welcome to use any of the pictures from our:
*website (www.seedingsquare.com)
*email me (jennifer@seedingsquare.com) if you have something specific in mind.
*amazon account (http://ow.ly/WCZDl )

If you have any comments or questions please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you for helping us get the name 'Seeding Square' out to the world. Here are the 3 articles for you to peruse...


Pitch #1:
Story Idea: Seeding Square Revolutionizes Home Gardening

With the brand new invention of the Seeding Square, gardening just became that much
easier and efficient. The Seeding Square gives you the ability to plant a perfectly organized
garden and it fits the optimal amount of plants in your garden. Gaining the highest yield
possible is the goal of every gardener, and now it’s a foolproof method with Seeding
Square. With very little space needed for the garden itself, all seeds are planted in
perfectly straight grid formation and it’s all done in a fraction of the time. You can easily
double, if not triple your overall yield in your home garden.

Not only is the Seeding Square easy to use, it is also proven that gardening alone can help
relieve stress but it will also give you healthy, organic produce that you and your entire
family can enjoy on a consistent basis. The effortless attention of gardening will not only
give you organic produce in the middle of a city in your own backyard, but it will also reduce the bills you would have to pay on the produce that you are now growing. Gardening alone can do this but with the Seeding Square it can be accomplished in half the time.

Media Contact: Jennifer Pratt
Email: seedingsquare@gmail.com


Pitch #2:
Story Idea: Must Have For Urban Gardeners

If you live in the city, then the Seeding Square is a perfect fit for your home gardening. We
all understand that living in the city means that growing a garden can be very difficult, time consuming, as well as ineffective, but with the new Seeding Square you won’t have to worry about that at all! Running out of space or less of a yield for your garden won’t be an issue either. As a matter of fact with this new invention by Jennifer Pratt, you can actually gain double if not triple your normal, urban garden yield. This is very exciting news for the consistent urban¬ gardener, and now even exciting news for the less consistent
urban ¬gardeners.

Even in an urban backyard, gardens grow in lush and thick, giving a yield up to three times
the regular amount, due to the exact spacing of the Seeding Square and its minimization in
weeds popping up. Not only will the Seeding Square benefit your overall health, but it will
help reduce your produce bills. The food you grow yourself is not only the freshest food you
can eat, but it is the healthiest. You don't need a big backyard or a green thumb to benefit
from gardening now.

Media Contact: Jennifer Pratt
Email: seedingsquare@gmail.com


Pitch #3:
Story Idea: Get Your Kids To Eat Veggies

With obesity now seen as an epidemic in developed nations, gardening is a fantastic
source of physical activity, and with the new Seeding Square, it is extremely kid friendly.
With your kids now involved in gardening it gives them much more appreciation for
vegetables and makes them actually enjoy the benefits of gardening right in the safety of
your own backyard. Spending time with your kids while getting the benefits of eating
organic food grown by you and your family could dramatically improve your life. With less
stress and better health, you and your family will be much happier together.

Healthy eating habits are proven to improve the overall health of an individual, and starting your kids early with these habits will carry out through their whole life, and hopefully they will continue the healthy habits with future generations. It is proven that a healthy individual will be much more positive in virtually all aspects of life. Not only is the Seeding Square beneficial for your health, it will reduce the your overall produce bill, and spending less money on food will give you the opportunity to invest elsewhere.

Media Contact: Jennifer Pratt
Email: jennifer@seedingsquare.com

Surrey Couple Doing Their Part to Improve BC Classrooms

As is the case with most parents in BC, Jennifer and Karl Pratt are looking forward to the return of packing their kids’ lunch bags and helping out with homework come the end of the teacher strike. With a tentative agreement between the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, it’s looking like that may be happening as early as next week. However, for this local couple, there is an extra element of enthusiasm for the return to the classrooms.

The two are in the midst of an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign where they are able to expose their simple yet innovative product for gardening, and while doing so, are also donating units to local elementary schools in hopes of helping educate children to all the benefits of gardening. Their garden tool, the Seeding Square, completely simplifies for kids the process of planting a garden by using a “plant by colour and number” approach. Besides making gardening fun, in getting kids involved in gardening it gives them more appreciation for their vegetables! It is proven that a healthy individual will be much more positive in virtually all aspects of life, and with Seeding Square promoting ongoing healthy eating habits and gardening being a great source of physical activity, Jennifer and Karl are very excited to bring their tool to our schools.

Their campaign has been running since Aug.31, but with the teacher strike they didn’t feel the timing was right to announce their goal of donating a Seeding Square to every elementary school in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland. In donating one square for every 5 Squares sold, they have already successfully raised enough to donate 29 units, but with well over 100 more schools to go they are hoping local support will get them to their goal. To visit their Indiegogo campaign and learn more about Seeding Square go to www.indiegogo.com/projects/seeding-square--2

Seeding Square - The Final Product

Hi folks!

I know I haven't written a blog post in a few months, but it turns out that trying to make an invention into a retail product is an all-consuming process!  But good news; as of yesterday, we have finally submitted and paid for our tooling to be done!  This means that within the next 8 weeks we will receive our very first small run of product.  I thought I'd share some pictures of what the final product will look like. 

You'll notice we've reconfigured the handles to the interior of the square to make Seeding Square compatible with established Square Foot Gardening practices.  We've also removed the seed/seedling dibber and are including instead a Seeding Wand with a spoon as well as a Seeding Funnel.  Both of these tools make getting the seeds into the holes much easier by way of depositing the seeds while the Seeding Square is still in the soil. In doing it this way a step is removed from the process, making the seeding of your garden even faster! Now, if you had your heart set on the seed/seedling dibber, don't despair!  Once Seeding Square is up, running and profitable, we'll be bringing the dibber in as a second product, so stay tuned!

This is a frontal view of the seeding Square with the Seeding Wand tucked into its tray, and the Seeding Funnel is tucked into the middle hole on the back side.

 

Another frontal view with the Seeding Wand and Seeding Funnel in position for use.

A view from the back where you can see the Seeding Funnel clicked into the center hole for storage.

We'll be launching an Indiegogo campaign soon...the first 100 will be offered at an early bird discount!

Happy Gardening,

Jennifer

 

The Last Day Before Launch

Hello,

Things have really been getting intense at our place the past few days!  Since Kickstarter approved our Seeding Square project we've kicked things into high gear.  I've managed to complete our website (www.seedingsquare.com) and it's live to view now with lots of pictures.  It has an FAQ page, so if anyone has anything they'd like clarified, I'm all ears.  I've also finished and published our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/TheSeedingSquare , and I've renamed the twitter account https://twiter.com/jenngirl1979 over to https://twitter.com/JenniferPratt79 ...thought it sounded a bit more professional.  Other than that today I'm just entering pictures into Instagram http://instagram.com/seedingsquare ,  getting this new blog site figured out, and am getting our Logo tweaked by a professional.  Without a budget, I had put together a logo with construction paper and glue...which looked fine enough for a Grade 8 science project, but not quite what we're aiming for with the Seeding Square launch.  I'm hoping the finished logo is done in time for the launch.  Which, by the way is tonight at12:01am Pacific time!

Stay tuned...as soon as I have a live link...I'll be sharing it :-)

Thanks for your support!

Cheers,

Jen