43 43I AM NO GARDENING EXPERT, BUT I’VE LEARNED A LOT since my first effort, which consisted of one tomato plant in a container on the deck of a rental home. I’d love to inspire those of you who do have space for a garden to take the plunge. Maybe you’re interested, but just don’t know where to begin.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You are thinking that starting (and maintaining) a garden is not simple. And you’re not wrong; a garden can be a lot of work. That said, I am really passionate about organic gardening, and I honestly believe this pursuit can change your life. I also believe that once you’ve built your infrastructure, gardening can be simple!
Now I’d be thrilled if you wanted to embark on building a huge garden after reading this chapter, but my goal here is really just to encourage you to grow something—maybe some herbs. Because after you do that, after you get your feet wet, you might be inspired to expand your horizons and grow more. This is what happened to me; it’s been about fifteen years since I grew my first tomatoes. Now I have a really big fenced garden with ten raised beds, which are packed with fruits and vegetables!
An organic home garden enhances the look and feel of your home, and an organic vegetable garden feeds your family the healthiest possible produce. Organic gardens also encourage diverse ecosystems, which is great for the environment. A garden can be a small or a large commitment, or something in between. In my experience, however, setting up the garden involves the most work; once that part is done, I don’t find gardening to be particularly time-consuming (or maybe it is, but I love it so much that I don’t notice!).
I do most of my gardening work on the weekends in the spring and summer. Planting seeds and starter plants takes some time, but other than that, I spend about ten to fifteen minutes per day mostly trying to stay on top of weeds. Damn those weeds! You can’t beat them, so you may as well identify the edible ones and eat them. I mulch the areas around my raised beds very heavily, which cuts down on the weeds a lot.
I am intrigued by permaculture, an ecological design system that offers solutions for some of the modern world’s most pressing social and environmental issues, including energy conservation, water conservation, and sustainable local food production. Permaculture in the garden involves working with nature, rather than against it, by using techniques such as directly harvesting rainwater and mulching plants heavily with organic materials. Permaculture techniques can be used to create low-maintenance edible gardens that mimic natural ecosystems.
If you have never gardened before, you might want to start out by gardening in containers, like I did. Or you could start with just one or two raised beds. If you’re sure want a bigger garden, spend sometime evaluating your property to determine the best site. Planning a successful and beautiful kitchen garden takes time, so don’t rush. Look at books or magazines for inspiration, then draw a map of what you’d like your garden to look like, and ask yourself the following questions:
How much sun does your proposed garden site receive? Keep in mind that if it’s less than six to eight hours a day, it’s probably not an appropriate site for growing vegetables.
What do you want to grow—a few basic veggies or a large assortment of heirloom varieties’ I am of the opinion that it’s more fun to grow things you can’t find in the supermarket. That’s why I grow sorrel and lemongrass, for example.
What is your soil like? Getting your soil tested is always a good idea; it’s important to know what you are working with in terms of texture, acidity, and the presence of minerals. But you should add nutrients to your soil regardless of the results. In fact, if you take away just one tip from this chapter, let it be that cultivating high-quality soil is the most important thing you can do in your home garden. You don’t want to plant in plain old topsoil; you want to mix in lots and lots of compost and other organic matter, such as peat moss or manure. I compost everything I can and love being able to add my compost—and all the wonderful worms that come with it—to my garden beds. The bedding from my chicken coop (the poop mixed in with all the cedar shavings) gets added to my compost every now and then, as well; this is also excellent for the garden.
Are you going to use raised beds? How many will you need? What dimensions will they be? What material will they be made from? I believe raised-bed gardening has many advantages over planting directly in the ground. You’ll have greater control over your growing medium—you can fill your beds with high quality topsoil, plus all the organic matter I mentioned earlier. You’ll also have better drainage—excess moisture drains more easily from raised beds, which is better for most vegetables and flowers. In raised beds, the soil warms faster, giving you a longer growing season, which is especially important for heat-loving plants like tomatoes (though you may need to cool raised beds down in the heat of summer with mulch). Lastly, raised-bed gardening is easier on the body; you don’t need to stoop so much, since the plants are closer to you.
Raised beds should be rectangular. A good width is 4 ft/1.2 m, as it allows you to reach across the bed from either side (you don’t want to have to walk in your raised bed, which compacts the soil). If you plan to grow a vining vegetable on a trellis against one of the long sides of the bed, you should probably make your bed narrower. Brett L. Markham, the author of Mini Farming for Self Sufficiency (2006), suggests 31/2 ft/1 m, so you’ll be able to access the trellis.
You can make your beds as high as you like—a higher level is desirable for less mobile individuals or those with back trouble. If you are building more than one raised bed, make sure to leave a pathway wide enough for a wheelbarrow to travel in between your beds.
You can build your own raised beds; there are many materials that work well. Wood such as redwood or cedar is an attractive choice, but keep in mind that wood may rot. Pressure-treated wood lasts longer than untreated wood, but it does contain chemicals that some people find objectionable (it used to contain arsenic, but fortunately, it no longer does). You can paint or stain the wood, but make sure that whatever you use won’t contaminate your plants.
Concrete blocks are not as pretty as wood, but they are very durable (and cheap!). You can change the shape of your beds if you use concrete blocks, but they are heavy and you’ll need quite a few, which is a disadvantage. Stones make beautiful raised beds, but they, too, are heavy and they can be expensive. Bamboo is an option, and recycled plastic is a very long-lasting and relatively inexpensive option.
You can also make a raised bed without using any material to enclose it, but the shape won’t hold as well, and it will be prone to erosion. A good option, if you prefer not to enclose your bed, is to make a raised bed using the sheet-mulching method. Layers of recycled materials, such as newspaper or cardboard, are added to the garden bed to get rid of grass and weeds. The process, also known as lasagna gardening and no-till gardening, also allows you to easily add nutrients to the soil, and it attracts helpful critters such as worms. You can sheet mulch in a raised bed enclosure as well—you’ll end up with wonderfully productive soil.
Will you be bringing in soil and compost to fill the beds? How much will you need? If you come to my house on any given day in the spring, you are likely to see a big pile at the end of my driveway. This might be screened topsoil, composted manure, or a mixture of the two. I suggest staying away from buying any of this stuff in bags. It costs much more, and then you have to throw away the plastic bags. You’re better off getting it delivered in bulk from a local garden center (if you have access to a pickup truck, you’ll save on the delivery fee). You’ll be able to estimate how much of everything you need if you give the dimensions of your gardening beds to the person you’re ordering the materials from. By the way, wheelbarrowing or shoveling the materials from your piles to your raised beds is a great workout.
How will you water? Can you utilize rain barrels or an irrigation system? I recommend both! You can always use sprinklers, but I find it a bit hard to direct the water exactly where it needs to go. Keep in mind that watering a garden by hand can eat up a lot of time.
Do you have critters that you want to keep out of your garden? Are they small or large? If you need a fence, how high does it need to be, and what will you construct it with? Building a fence to surround our garden was no small task, but it was essential. I have big dogs who enjoy digging, and I did not want them getting into my garden. There is also a huge deer population in our area. Our fence is made of heavy-duty chicken wire, which we buried several inches/centimetres by digging a trench around the perimeter of the garden. We put small stones into the trench on both sides of the fence; this has been very effective in keeping any animals from crawling under it.
As far as smaller garden pests go, I haven’t really noticed many problems with “bad bugs” (except when I attempted to grow eggplants). This is possibly due to the fact that I plant marigolds all throughout my vegetable beds (these are said to repel a variety of pests). I also have a perennial flower bed in the center of my garden, and I plant many edible flowers and herbs throughout my vegetable beds: These all seem to attract beneficial insects, and they keep away pests, as well.
How will you maximize space in your new garden? Can you utilize structures that will allow your vegetables to grow vertically—such as cages for tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers; and fences or trellises for climbing beans and for peas? This is especially important if you don’t have a lot of room, but even if you do, it’s just good practice to allow veggies to grow up, instead of letting them spread out on the ground, whenever possible.
How much time are you willing to put into the maintenance of your garden? Be realistic and try not to bite off more that you can chew. (If you don’t want to spend any time maintaining your own garden, then you can think of your local farmers’ market as your garden instead!) If you find that something you need to do is out of your skill set (such as building raised beds or a fence), you can always hire help. Or, if you have like-minded friends, you could organize garden work days on which you help each other with different projects. I have participated in several garden-building days at my children’s schools, and it always amazes me how much lighter the work is and how much gets done when there are lots of people on hand to help.
Connecting with other gardeners in your community can be a great way to sort out any questions you have about getting started. I have found that seasoned gardeners love sharing their knowledge and experiences.