Lake View Gardens moving to year-round gardening with greenhouses and hydroponics

PAVILLION, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) -

Lake View Gardens in Fremont county started small about six years ago, but lately the need and desire for locally grown produce has increased. With Wyoming’s climate, the outdoor growing season has always been quite short, but this farm is developing solutions on how to grow all winter long.

Dirk Gosnell, owner of Lake View Gardens in Pavillion, Wyoming stated, “I designed this greenhouse and we’re trying to make it work so that we can grow vegetables in here year round for us, and for some of our clients. It’s a very unique house, insulated on three walls, it has an inflatable ceiling in it. It has an earth battery, those are just some of the many things we’re trying to do to hold the temperature between 65 and 85 in this greenhouse.”

They’ve been growing everything from lettuce and peppers to tomatoes and herbs in raised beds and through hydroponics. They are moving toward a fully hydroponic market garden in the future.

“I was in education for 40 years, I was a high school science teacher. My last 15 years were at Wind River public schools in Pavillion, Wyoming. Being a science teacher I love to experiment and love to test new things. That was probably the initiation of our year round green house, was the fact that I needed a science project. I had done some of this in school with my high school students,” noted Gosnell.

They’ve been selling their produce at farmer’s markets and directly to local restaurants in Dubois and Riverton. “Our end goal is to provide quality greens and quality garden products to as many people as we can in Fremont County. Also, it’s important for us to take the time to teach people about what we are doing, and how they can become better gardeners, and more self sufficient for themselves,” added Gosnell.

Lake View Gardens wants to teach people they can grow their own food no matter the size of space they have to work with. Owner Sue Gosnell describes how people can grow microgreens in their home or apartment.

“One of the things that we have found that grows nicely in our year round greenhouse is microgreens. I like microgreens because they’re fun to grow, they are delicious, and they are nutrient packed. Today I want to show you basically how we make that happen,” stated Sue Gosnell.

She said you can grow micro greens in a tray in your house, small or big depending on the space you have available. To start out you need two trays, a solid tray for the bottom, and an inner tray with slots in it. The first step is to pack the tray down with soil, then measure the seeds. Next, sprinkle the seeds onto the soil to get an even planting of the seeds. Next, she says to spray down the soil until moist. To help them germinate, cover with another tray, and weigh them down so that the plants will root deep into the dirt. In the winter, the microgreens are ready in about two weeks, in the summer, they’re usually ready in eight days.

For more information, or to contact Lake View Gardens, visit their Facebook Page: Lake View Gardens

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