Our story
When we moved into our home,
our backyard was a sad, ugly dirt patch.
Any portion that wasn’t totally bare was covered in weeds. We talked to some lawn rehab folks, and we were told if they treated for weeds, we would basically have nothing but bare dirt left. The little bit of actual grass that was there just needed to be ripped out.
That was fine with us, though. We decided long before moving in that after some years of renting, we wanted to have a thriving garden. So we put the work in to turn that sad, ugly dirt patch into a beautiful (at times), thriving (most of the time) garden where we can grow food to eat and flowers to enjoy.
As we worked to get our garden started, we quickly found that Florida is a really unique growing environment with its own quirks and demands. We learned that lot of the information on the Internet and even on seed packets is usually not super useful for growing here. It could be that they don’t take into account our heat or humidity or that they recommend very specific planting times that don’t apply here. It was hard to figure out what worked and what didn’t from the information, so we went about learning the hard way through experimentation and experience.
Now we’re starting Dirtpatch to try to share what we’ve learned in our garden lab through education and products that we know work in our growing climate (and those that are similar). We really hope you can use the resources and products here to make your own garden a therapeutic place where you can produce delicious and beautiful things.
Oh, this is supposed to be a little bit of information about us as well, right? We’re Jeremy and Jacki. We live in Winter Garden, FL in a midcentury bungalow that we renovated (while keeping the midcentury charm, don’t worry!) with our two dogs.
Our seed curation philosophy
We don’t just stock any seed that we can get our hands on. All of our seeds are always non-GMO, but beyond that, a lot of thought goes into the varieties we seek out and offer.
Locally proven. If we ain’t growing it, we ain’t selling it. Our garden is a lab where we are constantly testing varieties to find the ones that thrive in Florida’s unique growing environment. If we test a variety and it fails or doesn’t produce well, we simply don’t offer it.
Ultimately pragmatic. We love the movement towards fully organic gardening and permaculture, but for us, we’re most interested in getting people to grow their own food and not losing their sanity in the process. You will always see us suggest the most native and organic processes and seeds possible, but if it comes at the expense of accessibility, then we will always err towards what works. That means if we’re selling a seed or start or soil, you can trust we’ve done the work to balance the choice between the environmental impact and actually having productive crops.
Diverse but focused. We try to evaluate several options for the various crops, but we always try to make sure there’s a “why” when adding a variety to our collection other than “well, it’s just another version of the same thing.” For example, there are probably 50 or more varieties of tomato that would thrive in our growing environment, but you won’t see us stocking all of those. Instead, if we have more than one option for a crop, we try to pick varieties that have special properties like higher yield or disease resistance or offer a different enough end product that it warrants adding to our collection.
FAQs
Why don’t you offer a certain crop?
It could be one of two cases. First, it might just not grow well here. Florida is a really unique growing environment, and so some things simply don’t work here. We may have tried it, and it didn’t go well.
But it could also be that we just haven’t tried it yet. Again, our primary philosophy when it comes to product offerings is if we ain’t grown it, we ain’t selling it. If we don’t offer something, it might just be in our queue of things to try out in our garden before we offer it.
Have a crop or variety suggestion that we should try out in the lab? Drop us a line at howdy@dirtpatch.co.
What’s the best version of a certain crop for Florida?
We offer what we’ve found to be the best varieties of crops, so if it’s in our shop, we’re putting that up as the best version we’ve located. Of course, we’re always on the hunt for better versions, so that could easily change. If you have a question about a specific crop or variety, please send us an email! We’ll do our best to answer any questions that we’re able to.
Where else can I buy your stuff?
We sell in person at markets and are actively looking for stockists. Check out our socials to know when we’ll be set up at your local farmer’s or maker’s market. If you’d like to have us out to a market or stock any of our offerings in a brick and mortar shop, please get in touch.
Do you have stockists or offer wholesale?
We will soon offer a wholesale program for our packets through Faire, but we do not offer wholesale/bulk seed sales otherwise currently. If you’re interested in our wholesale program, email us and we will get in touch when our Faire page is operational.
Where do you get your seeds?
Some of our seeds are propagated from our lab garden. Some things require more space than we can muster for enough yield or we otherwise can’t produce enough yield, so we have partnerships with farms and purveyors to give you the highest quality seeds that we can find for a certain variety that fits with our curation philosophy.
Can you help me with a gardening issue?
We’re happy to attempt to help you out! Keep in mind, though, that we’re not garden consultants, so while we’re happy to answer quick questions or offer tips where we can, we’re not really equipped to help you plan a whole garden or offer extensive guidance on things. We would be more than happy to point you to some trusted folks who are, though, so if you’re having an issue, please contact us!
What if something isn’t answered here?
Please get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.