Photo by Mike Steely.
Charlotte Nance volunteers at Green Grow Garden Shop and explains a new product there.
By Mike Steely
Steelym@knoxfocus.com
Grow Green Garden Shop is Knoxville’s premier indoor gardening equipment retailer. Since opening in 2012, the shop has featured a wide variety of hydroponics equipment — everything from water tanks and pumps to lights and plant food.
Ty Nance owns and operates this unique business located just off Broadway in North Knoxville. Ty’s mother, Charlotte Nance (a retired bookkeeper and avid gardner), volunteers there in the mornings. The Nances never planned to delve into the organic gardening business, but the serious illness of Charlotte’s husband brought them to a healthier living realization.
Processed foods and even fresh produce can often contain dangerous pesticides and genetically modified organisms or GMOs.
“By growing your own food, you control what you eat,” Ty explained. Since Ty already had twelve years of gardening experience, he realized this would be the best way for him to help the Knoxville community. Indoor organic also happens to be an underdeveloped market in East Tennessee.
The folks at Grow Green offer expert knowledge in a somewhat unusual type of gardening: Hydroponics. They explain it is simple enough for anyone to learn. Hydroponics is growing plants without the use of soil and relying on water and nutrients only. Some say it’s more efficient. In a hydroponic garden, plants are given a nutrient formula with an inert growing medium to anchor the plants’ roots so they have easier access to the food and water. Since the food goes directly to the roots, plants grow faster and you harvest earlier as well. More plants can be grown in a smaller place. Plus, no weeding!
Grow Green Garden Shop also carries a full line of organic products and is now offering Johnny Select Seeds with heirloom and hybrid seeds that are not genetically altered. Another new product being offered is RAW=Soluble which has a wide assortment of plant nutrients.
The Grow Green Garden Shop is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Thursday from noon until 6 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The store is located at 3722 Walker Road, just off North Broadway. You can also call Ty or Charlotte at (865) 249-8259. For more information or gardening tips, go to the GrowGreen Garden Shop website at growgreengardenshop.com or their Faceboook page.
