In only two weeks, more than 25,000 people have signed up for free seeds from West Virginia University Extension’s Grow This: West Virginia Garden Challenge. The sign-up survey is now closed.
“The response is overwhelming,” said Kristin McCartney, WVU Extension assistant professor and public health specialist. “We already planned to send out more seeds than ever before in 2023. We didn’t plan to hit that mark after just a few weeks.”
Grow This is a program of the WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program, which is supported by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
Interested gardeners can still participate in Grow This, even if they didn’t sign up for free seeds. The program will host challenges and contests on social media throughout the growing season. The Facebook and Instagram pages will also feature gardening instruction from WVU Extension experts.
“You can find this year’s crops — Cosmic Purple Carrots, Red Ursa Kale and Mixed Color Miniature Bell Peppers — in your favorite seed catalog or local seed store, and grow right along with us,” McCartney said. “And even if you can’t find these specific varieties, any carrot, kale or bell pepper seeds will work.”
Growers also can sign up for a weekly email newsletter to get the latest Grow This news. The newsletter features a to-do list from the WVU Extension Garden Calendar, Grow This news, recipes and more. Visit https://growthiswv.org/newsletter to sign up.
-WVU-
zrh/01/04/23
CONTACT:
Zack Harold
Multimedia Specialist
WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program
304.550.2186; zackary.harold@mail.wvu.edu
Call 1.855.WVU.NEWS for the latest West Virginia University news and information from WVUToday. Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.