Garden shovel

Our History

Louisville Grows was founded in 2009 by a group of “guerrilla gardeners” gathering to make seed bombs in their living rooms. Their goal was to spread the importance of greening our community. This marked the beginning of Louisville Grows' assistance to community groups and individuals on their journey towards sustainability.

Louisville Grows information booth
  1. 2009-2011
    • Officially designated as a 501(c)(3) organization
    • Works with Metro Council District 5 to develop a vision for a 5-acre mixed-use agricultural site, The People’s Garden, located at 536 North 44th Street in the Shawnee neighborhood.
    • Starts with community members, the Shippingport Memorial Garden in Portland, the Community Green School in Parkland, and the Hope Community Garden in Beechmont.
    • Assists in creating 13 community gardens focusing on food-insecure neighborhoods. Community members to start the Shippingport Memorial Garden in Portland, the Community Green School in Parkland, and the Hope Community Garden in Beechmont.
  2. 2013
    • Conducts our first neighborhood tree planting in an all-out effort to restore the urban tree canopy and remediate the urban heat island effect in the community’s most impacted neighborhoods.
  3. 2015
    • Begins our annual Seeds & Starts Sale to provide low-cost plants, fruit trees, and berry bushes to community gardeners. Plants are started in the greenhouse by our volunteers from seed. Proceeds from the sale of the plants support the Community Garden Grant program.
    • Partners with Gate of Hope Ministries create Hope Community Farm, a 45-member community garden, farm, and CSA located at 1400 Bicknell Avenue for refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda.
  4. 2016
    • Completion of our Healthy House educational headquarters in the Portland neighborhood
    • Our Citizen Foresters planted 332 trees, bringing our total to over 1,500 trees
  5. 2017
    • Opens their new office and community space, Healthy House, located at 1641 Portland Avenue. The Healthy House is an engaging, energy-efficient, sustainable community space providing programming focused on healthy eating and living, environmental education, and equity.
    • Releases the Louisville Grows Community Garden Toolkit and Garden Grant program to sponsor community gardens throughout Jefferson County.
    • Established as a Sponsor and project site with the Corporation for Community and National Service AmeriCorps VISTA program.
  6. 2018
    • Assists the Shelby Park Neighborhood Association in achieving its goal of planting 500 trees within 5 years.
    • Develops consistent programming for Healthy Health, expanding our outreach within the community
  7. 2019
    • Louisville Grows plants its 3,000th tree in neighborhoods.
    • Becomes a partner of the Green Heart Louisville project.
    • Fall 2019: Largest Tree Planting in LG History- 250 volunteers planted 266 trees in the Meriwether & Schnitzelburg neighborhoods.
  8. 2019-2020
    • 1,131 trees planted, 535 Households served
    • Our resilience was on full display during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; when the economy and business shuttered, Louisville Grows nimbly adapted and continued to provide much needed services and community assets during the turbulent time.
  9. 2021
    • 45,150 pounds of carbon sequestered by planting 2,100 trees this year
    • We build our own greenhouse on our Portland Ave campus
  10. 2022
    • 5,000+ total trees now planted as an organization
    • 8 Neighborhoods planted this year
  11. 2023
    • Experienced record-breaking attendance and sales at our annual Seeds & Starts Sales.
    • Distributed over 2,500 vegetable plants to 18 community gardens at no cost.
    • Worked alongside over 600 volunteers contributing over 2,200 hours to our programs.
    • Expanded our campus in the Portland neighborhood by acquiring the remaining properties on each side of Healthy House.
  12. 2024
    • 6 community gardens were granted technical support and materials in 2024
    • 24k net raised in the Spring 2024 Seeds & Starts helped fund the LG Community Garden Support Grants
    • Celebrated our 15th Anniversary
  13. 2025
    • Planted our 8,000th tree!
    • The Planting of the West End’s first Microforest at Alberta O. Jones Park in partnership with Parks Alliance of Louisville, and Humana
    • The Restoration of the Shelby Park Community Garden with LoveTitos. Volunteers came together to revamp and reimagine an existing garden space.
    • Kentucky State University and Louisville Grows launch initiative for environmental pathways in west Louisville. A new partnership between Kentucky State University’s College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources and Louisville Grows will expand access to workforce training in conservation, urban forestry, horticulture, and community agriculture while investing directly in the people who live and work in the community.