Growing Your Own
Posted by Wyoh | Filed under How-To
Recession gardens? I don’t think so. I will stick with the original name, if you don’t mind (and even if you do):
Victory Garden
The original victory gardens were planted during WWI and WWII, to provide fresh fruit/vegetables to families feeling the crunch on the wartime food supply. Well, we’re under attack from internal enemies this time, so I think the name should stay exactly the same.
What you can grow pretty much depends on how much room you have. (But remember that you can grow absolutely anything in a container.) So, determine your space, decide where your containers/boxes/beds can go, then start planning.
We’re in Florida, which pretty much means poor soil, so we elected to fill our backyard with raised beds.
You can see we do not have a very large backyard (1/4 acre total lot size, .004 of an acre under cultivation), but we this is the list of what we have growing right now:
- 10 varieties of carrots
- 3 varieties of strawberries
- 2 varieties soybeans
- a multitude of greens (in fall/winter)
- 4 varieties of bush beans
- 2 varieties of pole beans
- 8 varieties of tomatoes
- 6 varieties of onions
- leeks
- shallots
- scallions
- 5 varieties of peppers
- 6 varieties of melons
- 4 varieties of cucumbers
- pumpkins
- figs
- meyer lemons
- key limes
- corn
- a 2′x8′ box containing a variety of medicinal herbs (horehound, feverfew, self-heal, motherwort, et al.)
- a 2×8′ box containing a variety of culinary herbs (rosemary, sorrel, sage, dill, thyme, fennel, et al.)
We also have a composter (built from scratch by Prof), and a worm bin that also composts kitchen scraps. One of the most beneficial side effects of the latter (called vermicomposting) can be viewed here. (There are a good many more pictures of our various boxes and containers in that post, as well.)
We start seeds indoors (excellent do-it-yourself seedling stand plans here) about a month before the last frost (almanac here), and don’t even think about transplanting them into beds/containers until they have at least two pairs of leaves. Seedlings also have to be hardened off, which means gradually introduced to full sun until they can take it for the requisite 6+ hours per day without crisping. Later, when the soil temperatures are above 70 to 80 degrees, you can start seeds directly in your prepared beds/containers.
There’s no shame in buying plants from a nursery, even Lowe’s has good quality vegetable and fruit seedlings. Growing them from seed is simply cheaper, and lets you get a huge head-start when starting them indoors… It is the first of March and we already have blooms/fruit on all of our tomato plants.
In our boxes (which are made from untreated yellow pine, screwed together with stainless steel wood screws…and NO, you don’t have to level the sodding things) is a mixture of top soil (cheap), composted cow manure (enrichens the top soil), and peat (for good drainage).
The nicest thing about raised beds with brand new rich soil is – with the exception of the underground growers like onions and carrots, which need room to develop – you can plant things much closer than you think you can. It is important to water from beneath the foliage in this situation though, since fungal diseases like nothing better than wet leaves.
And that’s where microirrigation really comes into play, particularly in light of the water restrictions your community is likely to put into place any time reservoirs get low. I have written up a comprehensive starter guide on microirrigation on my garden blog, and will be glad to answer any questions.
We try to stay as organic as possible in our gardening, not because we’re patchouli-wearing hippies, but because the synthetic chemicals are pretty much indiscriminate…they kill off the bad things sure, but they also kill off the bees, wasps, butterflies, etc., needed for pollination. Organic fertilizer is also a better route, and believe me, you get MUCH better results with worm-juice and kelp extract than you do with that blue crap Miracle Grow sells.
The internet is a huge resource, and Google can find anything if you get the keywords in there. It can tell you that tomatoes like lots of calcium but too much nitrogen is bad for them, and will reduce your harvest. It can tell you cucumbers cannot stand anything resembling cold and will literally melt on you when fall comes. It can tell you that you should never plant strawberries in the same spot as tomatoes are or have been, but you should plant heavy feeding plants with beans, as the latter returns a ton of nitrogen to the soil. This is known as Companion Planting, and our farming ancestors have used it for centuries. (I have a fairly comprehensive guide, of course, here on my garden blog.)
So you see, it is truly easy, easier than you’re thinking anyway, and I am absolutely willing to help walk any of you through the getting started process, just shoot me a line with your questions any time.
Our favorite seed sources:
Other useful bits:
Tags: Self-Sufficiency
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April 2nd, 2009
*sigh* I cannot wait until I can start planting my own raised-beds again… Those make gardening an absolute breeze, though the initial investment is sometimes a bear.
As it is now, Better Half and I are struggling to keep our pot-confined herb garden (growing non-munchie-inducing herbs) growing on a north-facing apartment patio…
April 2nd, 2009
Considering my husband and I have been talking about this a lot lately (I, with my black thumb, am just chock-full of insight on this subject), I have forwarded him this post because I found it incredibly helpful.
Thank you!
April 3rd, 2009
Great stuff and your garden blog gets the bookmark.
April 3rd, 2009
I DOUBLED the size of my garden this year, which means I’m going to need double the shelf space for what we “put up”. I will DOUBLE my shelf space as well.
Have a good day!
April 19th, 2009
Home Depot today has buy-one-get-one on 4″ and 5″ veggies and herbs in peat pots. Good selection of tomatoes and peppers, a few herbs, and strawberries. Our local store had very healthy plants. We also picked up some french marigolds to help with a nematode problem.