The Greenery has been garnering most of its publicity for their intention to sell marijuana, but the upcoming legalization and provincial regulation of marijuana is only part of the conversation about the newly open downtown storefront . With some (but not all) details of the provincial plan for the plant recently released, the Greenery’s owners have cleared a major hurdle.

The NLC will control licensing and regulation of private stores that have been greenlit to sell marijuana. A legal age of 19 has been set and, generally speaking, the same restrictions that apply to tobacco will apply to marijauna. Its use will be restricted to private residences, but rest assured that this includes your shed. Stocking pot with alcohol is discouraged, and edibles have not been addressed yet.

The thing is, you don’t need marijuana to be legal quite yet to start getting excited about the Greenery. Yes, it is for sure a grow shop, oriented towards cultivating the hallowed, maligned, and medicinal herb in question, but there’s quite a bit more you can do with the technology. As they are running a legal outfit, until they have the go-ahead papers in hand, they won’t be selling you any weed anyway.

However, they are happy to teach you the skills and sell you the equipment you need to grow plants indoors. What kind of plants is up to you. Wink wink nudge nudge, you may chuckle in response,but the argument could be made that St. John’s has been waiting for advances in LED growing technology and other breakthroughs for too long.

Advances that simplify and greatly reduce the expense of producing vegetables year round in our short growing season, barren landscape, and inclement clime. Advances that could make us healthier and more food secure. Advances that should probably be used for more than just growing pot. Or perhaps advances to be embraced while waiting for legalization, so you’re ready to grow next summer when the change happens, or when ever it finally does.

The author of this articles uses LED lights like those sold at the Greenery to grow tomatoes in her house

The owners of the outfit have pulled together a group of knowledgeable indoor growers to teach seminars on weekend daytime hours, in what will be the cafe section during the rest of the week, and on weekend night.

They have a decent selection of grow equipment to start with, and stocking is far from done. They’re very interested in the medicinal aspects of marijauna, and hope to stock many healing salves, drops, and beyond. Of course they will have a full line of glass smoking gear, rolling papers, and other accoutrements, as well as branded merch printed in their own shop.

The lights are still the big deal, though. While several gardening shops have dabbled in very small scale LED grow units, The Greenery is the first to make a serious investment in providing accessible, affordable technology for growing in earnest, be the project weed or tomatoes, ‘herb’ or actual culinary herbs.

The owners are knowledgeable and the selection is comprehensive and cohesive for a small storefront. Subtext; they have all the stuff and they know how to use it.

Clean and bright, the store is pleasantly non -sketchy. You could bring your nan in there for a bong. Or a new grow system to feed her cilantro habit. The Greenery will no doubt bring additional benefits if you smoke marijuana, but the technology they’re selling is a fine thing for anyone who wants more control over their food sources.