Urban Gardening, Hydroponics, and the Grow Green Garden Center

Grow Green Garden Center burst onto the Knoxville scene in 2012, as the only hydroponics shop in the entire city. With the home-grown knowledge of growing up in a Knoxville farming family, owners Charlotte and Ty Nance embarked on the lofty ambition of bringing the benefits of rural farming into the city. This goal, in order to be successful, would also need to include teaching residents how to create and cultivate their own urban gardens.

Creating a self-sustaining lifestyle has become very popular in certain parts of the country. While some people have moved completely out of the cities and turned toward living off the grid, this is not an option for everyone. Grow Green Garden Center is providing the opportunity to create a “self-reliant” lifestyle while living in the city. Why would city slickers want to create a self-reliant lifestyle?

• It is more affordable in the long-term long term and can result in “a large stockpile of emergency cash or long-term savings.” (1)
• Many people report feelings of long-term satisfaction from being able to do things themselves, and children emerging from such households tend to have happier, more successful lives. (1)
• A self-reliant household is less dependant on the government during times of crisis, essentially creating a safe-haven for family members during times of war, famine, or natural disaster. (1)
• The type of food consumed in a self-reliant lifestyle is typically less toxic and much more nutritious than that of the typical urban lifestyle. Members of self-reliant households are much less dependent on the processed food of grocery stores.

The lack of access to soil has created a major stumbling block for many people wanting to create a more self-reliant urban home. For example, many people living in condominiums, apartments, or homes with little to no yard, may feel they have no other option but to eat at a restaurant or buy their food in a grocery store. However, growing food hydroponically provides an excellent solution to the urban gardening quandary. Benefits from growing your own food, in addition to increased self-reliance, also include little to no physical exposure to harmful pesticides. (2) It is a fact that adverse health effects from pesticides include cancer, effects on reproduction, immune or nervous systems.” (3) An urban self-reliant lifestyle provides city slickers with the opportunity to eliminate or at least alleviate this harmful exposure to deadly toxins.

Growing food hydroponically means growing fruits, vegetables, or plants without soil. In opening their store, Ty and Charlotte Nance have successfully created a community of self-reliant individuals running successful urban gardens within their homes. Their mission has grown to include “help(ing) others reach their goals and provide the highest quality supplies and information with regards to urban gardening, hydroponics, horticultural and sustainable living.” (4)

Their newest location, at 4644 NE Walker Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37918., has emerged as a community center “where people go to get information as well as supplies. The urban gardening community trusts that we are providing the best information possible and that level of trust has grown over the years.” (4) In addition to the health benefits of growing food hydroponically, “hydroponics allows for much more rapid growth rate than that of soil, increasing yield and production,” further reducing the dependence of urban gardeners on the grocery store. (4)

For further information about the benefits of urban gardening and creating a more self-reliant urban home, please reach out to Ty or Charlotte Nance at 865-249-8259, or go to their website at www.growgreengardencenter.com

1. https://offgridsurvival.com/selfsufficient-urbanliving/
2. https://growgreengardenshop.com/about-us/
3. https://www.who.int/features/qa/87/en/
4. Interview. April 11th, 2019