The incredible gardens at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.
Gardening is hot!
According to the National Gardening Association, from 2008 to 2009, seven million more households in the U.S. made a commitment to grow their own organic fruits, veggies, and/or herbs. And that number is expected to increase even more in 2010.
I’ve heard more and more people say that they want to start growing their own food. Some people are doing so out of economic necessity, while others are doing so in order to have more control over the foods they eat. Whatever a person’s reason, gardening is a great thing to do.
Growing your own food is not difficult, nor is it best left to experts. EVERYONE can garden — whether you have pots of herbs in your kitchen window, containers of tomatoes on your patio, or a large plot in your backyard, gardening is generally quite easy.
Gardening in Virginia is an especially easy endeavor, as we have such temperate gardening zones, that a gardener can easily get three seasons of crops and and especially dedicated one could really stretch those seasons further.
Thinking about growing some of your own food this year? Here are a few tips to help you get started:
The first tomato of the season -- July 2009.
Plan to be organic. You DO NOT need to use toxins in your garden, nor do you need chemical fertilizers. Organic gardening is the way our ancestors raised their food for centuries and if they survived, so can you. For more information about being an organic gardener, read Organic Gardening magazine or go to their website. You’ll find lots of practical tips and suggestions for all gardeners, from novice to experienced.
Choose a good location. Vegetables, fruits, and herbs need sun — lots of it — so choose a spot that gets at least 6-8 hours of direct light every day. Make sure your garden is convenient to a water source so that you can keep your plants hydrated and also to your home so that you can dash out at dinner time for a last-minute harvest.
Choose how you’re going to garden — in containers, in a raised garden bed, or directly in the ground itself.
- If you’re gardening in containers, opt for larger ones, as they h0ld more plants. Make sure there are a some small holes in the bottom for drainage. Put gravel, small rocks, or broken bits of planters in the bottom, then fill with dirt. Do not use dirt from your backyard — buy a bagged mix.
- If you’re building a raised bed, consider your materials carefully. Railroad ties, while convenient, contain toxins that you definitely don’t want near your edibles. In fact, if you’re using lumber of any kind, research it carefully and find out what chemicals were used at the mill. In general, cedar is a good wood to use because it’s usually not treated, but double-check, just to make sure. Other options include plastic lumber, bricks, and stone.
- If you’re putting your garden right in the ground, the easiest way to do it is by lasagna gardening. Lasagna gardening eliminates the back-breaking labor of removing sod. Instead, you put down a thick layer of overlapping newspapers or corrugated cardboard on the place where you want your garden, which will kill the grass for you. On top of that, you layer last fall’s leaves, peat moss, dirt, compost, etc. Water well and you’re done! The layers of organic material break down and create the most amazing soil you can imagine. You can plant immediately, but it’s even better if you let things settle for several weeks. A terrific book on this topic is Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza.
Choose what you’re going to plant — herbs, vegetables, fruits, flowers, or a combination of everything. Some plants are easier to grow from seed than others, so if you are a complete novice, go ahead and buy plants this year. They should pay for themselves pretty quickly. Putting herbs and flowers in among your veggies will help repel pests in your garden. Consider companion planting — some plants do particularly well when planted together, such as tomatoes, basil, and marigolds.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s easy to get excited about gardening and make huge plans, but then lose momentum in the heat and humidity of July. If this is your first foray into gardening, start off small. Try a couple of herbs and one or two tomato plants. If things go well, branch out next year.
Do your research. Read about gardening. Buy magazines, check out books from the library, and surf the Web. Talk to people you know who garden and ask for their advice. If you can, visit gardens — whether it’s your neighbor’s 20′ X 20′ plot or the gardens at Monticello — and pay attention to what you see.
Enjoy! When I was a kid, I hated it when my parents made me help them outside. The idea of weeding a garden was pure torture and I was pretty sure that someone should call Child Protective Services and report my parents for their cruelty. Now, however, I can’t wait to get outside and get busy in my own garden — a 10′ X 40′ plot that I created last year after moving into my new house. And, I’ve done my best to show my daughters just how much fun growing our own food can be.
This is just a preliminary post on how to get started. In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be talking about general topics, such as compost and companion planting, as well as getting into the specifics of growing different plants.
Of course, as I write this, I still have a solid 6″ of hard-packed snow covering most of my backyard, including my kitchen garden, so it’s hard to imagine that I’ll be planting spinach in just a couple of weeks. But the long-term weather forecast is showing plenty of temps in the upper 40s and even into the 50s, so I have hope that the snows of Winter ’10 will soon be melted and gone.
Photo credits, top to bottom: Yahoo Images, the author.
