Now in Toronto, more homegrown veggies without the work

More urban farming innovation! Hard on the heels of our stories this summer about The Crop Mob, Triscuit’s new initiative and German Meine Ernte comes word of a Canadian venture much along the lines of Your Backyard Farmer and My Farm. Founded last year by three young Queen’s University grads, Young Urban Farmers is a new Toronto-based venture that lets consumers enjoy home-grown vegetables without having to do the gardening themselves. Young Urban Farmers specializes in edible vegetable gardening, with a focus on organics. The company’s YUF garden service can set up either raised garden beds or direct in-ground gardens, both complete with all the materials necessary. Soil mix, transplants and seeds, garden tags and stakes are all supplied; optional extras include trellises, shiitake mushroom logs, worm composters and education kits. All customers need do, then, is specify what they hope to grow and choose between YUF’s basic service option — which includes an initial garden setup, a gardening instruction manual and a mid-summer checkup — or the full service option, which includes ongoing maintenance roughly twice a week. Pricing begins at CAD 295 per growing season for the basic service option, while the full service version starts at CAD 695, according to an article in The Globe and Mail. YUF has reportedly already granted at least one franchise in the Greater Toronto Area as well as founding the Young Urban Farmers CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) nonprofit. Another one to be inspired by! (Related: Remote-controlled farming for city dwellers — Five new business ideas for urban gardening — Matching would-be vegetable gardeners with arable land — Boosting suburban farms.) Spotted by: R.P.