Starting your home garden
If there has ever been a year to take the leap to have a home garden this would be the year.
Food security is a real thing. Incredibly unsettling those couple weeks were where the shelves and produce bins laid barren in the store. Having to stand in line to get into the store to be able to purchase groceries: having a fresh produce in your backyard is sounding easier and easier in comparison! Aside from that, there is no better immune booster than fresh from the garden produce. Also, in history, families survived economic depressions thanks to their home gardens.
At a time when we are being told to stay home and as summer approaches but the idea of travel becomes uncertain, having a garden will be entertaining and educational for the whole family!
I will say: growing can get complicated. Us commercial growers, whether on a small or large scale, have invested many years and a lot of money to learning the craft of growing but we are looking to sell a high quality end product, it is a much different game. Growing can entail a lot of problem solving and well, time. You will be taking care of your garden. Everyone should know how to grow on some level and it is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Even though it can get complicated, it does not have to. Grow on your level and have fun with it, don’t get overwhelmed. The plants want to grow, we have that in our favor! Trust me when I say, if I can do it: you can do it!
There is nothing like snagging a vine ripened tomato off the plant mid afternoon to munch on in the garden. A home garden, even for an inexperienced grower will provide you a bounty of delicious, nutritious goodies.
I am going to try to give you the basics, that with a little work, will reward you with some delicious, nourishing homegrown food! Bare with me, it’s been quite a few years since I have thought more on a fun/hobbyist level versus commercial growing but I think my unique combination of knowledge can get you growing, not just a couple tomatoes but enough food to truly feed your family.
There are plenty of very beginner level blog posts on gardening out there, this is going to go a little more advanced but it will get your garden growing successfully.
Seed/Plant Sources
At this moment in time, I think it will truly be about whatever seeds and plant starts you can get!
A few weeks ago, while the world was going mad over toilet paper, I knew seeds were going to be next. We had been lazy about ordering our vegetable seeds for this year but once I saw the chaos in the world we snagged the minimum plus extras to be able to offer a vegetable CSA this season. I was right. Less than two days after we had our orders placed, seed companies such as Baker Creek completely shut down their website because they couldn’t keep up with the flood of orders! Even my beloved Johnny Seeds began turning down retail orders and only taking orders from commercial growers. I had told my friend who wanted to buy seeds, get you order in ASAP because panic buying of seeds will happen. It happened. Fortunately, my friends listened and were able to also get their seeds without a hitch.
For the home gardener, I do encourage you to buy open-pollinated, non GMO seeds where you can. By purchasing open-pollinated this will allow you the option to seed save. Many hybrids will not breed true, the saved seeds are unstable and also are most likely patent protected. Basically: seed saving hybrids is risky not only from a legal stand point but that you may not get a viable seed that will produce. Heirloom, open pollinated varieties are meant for seed saving. The great part about seed saving is you can be just like Grandma back in the day and begin saving a stash of seeds that, with each generation, will be better able to handle your unique growing conditions. If buying heirloom is not happening, snag what seeds you can because that is better than nothing. At the end of this post, I will provide links to some seed companies we like to support along with some that we’ve heard great things about. Hopefully, by the time you’re getting ready to order, they will be up and running again to take seed orders.
Also, support your local nurseries, universities, community gardens, food co-ops and feed stores. Many local non profits and such will be launching their plant and seed sales, follow them on social media to find out dates for that. Just the other day, we went to a local feed store and snagged some awesome seed potatoes for seventy-five cents a pound plus not having to pay shipping, saved us a good chunk of change! Have some organic potatoes sprouting inside the cupbaord? Plant them! Use what you have! These are the types of historical moments where you think a little more lean and a little less wasteful.
Deciding what to grow
Oh man, this is a rabbit hole of rabbit holes. If you have some gardening experience, you have some idea of what you would like to grow. If you haven’t, let me give you a little perspective before you go crazy buying all kinds of seeds.
That watermelon might sound delicious but do you have the space and resources to support growing a watermelon when in that same place you could grow tons of radishes or summer squash?
This is where you need to think like a farmer, if you are looking to grow to feed your family. If you are simply looking to have fun, then plant a way, that’s okay too. I’m going to go under the assumption that you are looking for more than fun and want to actually provide food on the table through your garden. As a farmer, we do not waste space. We grow what will make us money and prefer to have the highest output from it. This is why you see a lot of market growers growing lots of mixed greens and things that are high producing and are a quick turnover. They are also items that are for everyday eating. If you are truly looking to grow food to feed your family, you will need to take space and timing into account. Especially if you are growing in raised beds and containers, your space is even more limited.
When I first began flower farming, we built our business on less than 1500 square feet of growing space. We learned quick how to pack flowers in and which ones were worth packing in. Dedicating a ton a space to something like Lisianthus back then, wasn’t a wise choice for our limited space since it was slow growing, you only got two cuttings from them and they would take up space all season long. On the other hand, cosmos would churn out buckets and buckets of blooms in the fraction of time.
Growing vegetables to feed your family will require similar thinking. Watermelon is delicious but it takes up a lot of space to get a couple fruits from, if you are lucky. I really don’t mean to hate on the watermelon, it’s just one example of a lower yielding crop that loves its elbow room. Whereas, you could grow day neutral strawberries, squash or kale and get multiple harvests from over weeks.
One of my absolute favorite books is from John Jeavons’ How to Grow More Vegetables (I will provide the link to the e-book at the end of this post). In his book, Jeavons gives the estimation that you need about 200 sq feet per person of growing space, if you are looking at living completely off what you grow, you’re looking more at 4,000 square feet for the entire year per person. That’s a lot of needed space! This is coming from a guy who is very good at packing in the plants into small spaces, this is a densely planted square footage he’s talking about. So be space conscious. Also, it is actually quite amazing how much closer you can get away spacing plants, especially here is our super arid high desert climate, than what the seed packets suggest. If you are low on space, you are going to want to plant vegetables that are high yielding with some quick turn overs.
When growing to feed your family, you also want to think of crops that are versatile. Can they be eaten fresh? Can they be canned? Fermented? Frozen? Stored long term? When you begin looking at gardening to be able to actually feed your family more than just to have it look pretty, how you are going to preserve crops for the winter months is something to consider as well.
Seasonality of crops is important to consider. Not every crop is to be planted out at the same time as your tomatoes. Believe it or not, even in colder climates there are crops that are perfect for the volatile weather patterns of spring and fall! With our modern food systems we have become used to having tomatoes and basil year round. For the majority of us in the United States, other than southern states, we will not be having tomatoes year round but this does not mean you can only have vegetables during the summer months! There are plenty of vegetables from leafy greens to root vegetables that will get you through those cold months. It may not be the foods we are accustomed to eating on a regular basis but they are full of vital vitamins and minerals that we need even more during those cold seasons.
Grow crops that will do well in your growing climate and soil conditions. If you have clay soil that is super low in nitrogen, growing a crop that wants fertile, well draining soil will not be the best crop to go with this season. In time, your soil will get there but there are some crops that are challenging for first year soils but there are other crops that will thrive!
A little look inside my mind to crop planning:
For spring, I like to focus on fast growing crops that don’t sit and take a ton of space. I also limit how many brassicas I grow, since they are aphid magnets. Growing baby kale instead of head cabbage, saving certain types of kale and cabbage for fall harvest, that take longer to grow and more space. We focus on a lot of leafy greens, root vegetables, snow peas, herbs, etc. Crops that will be finished by the time warm weather hits and it’s time to plant out tomatoes and other warm loving crops. Come July, we start seed sowing our crops for fall harvest. This is when we are sowing cold hardy crops that may take a little more room, such as head cabbage. In fall, we are also bringing back a lot of the same crops that we grow for spring harvest. Crops that are not best grown in the summer heat and would also be decimated by bugs. At the bottom of this post, there are tables I created to help you out to begin to plan what you will be growing/harvesting for each season!
Seed Starting
Seed starting can get complex and most home growers have limited indoor space for plant starts. To keep things simple and fun, I recommend direct sowing as many crops as possible, just be sure to label where you planted! There are quite a few crops that prefer to be direct seeded, such as radishes and squashes. There are plants that don’t mind being direct sown but due to limited frost free days, you will benefit from starting plants indoors, these are crops such as peppers and tomatoes. If you have a sunny room and a warm spot in the house, with using a germination dome that will be enough to get the plants started. If you want to get fancy, building a seed germination chamber or having heat mats with grow lights will make it even better.
I have quite a few blog posts about seed starting and troubleshooting seed germination if you really want to dive into it. These posts are geared towards the flower farmer but the information is also good for starting vegetables. For the most part, your seed packet should tell you all the information you need to start your seeds. If the seeds you purchased have cryptic instructions, Johnny Select Seeds has great resources in their library along with extensive growing information on many seed varieties. If you can, buy quality soil-less mix. Give the seedlings good air circulation once they germinate to avoid damping off and mold growing, don’t over water or underwater, keep them from getting leggy and harden the plants off properly before planting out are all key.
My first year gardening, we didn’t have funds to buy a lot of trays or any soil blockers. We gathered old newspaper and made pots using an old wine bottle and some tape with cookie trays to hold them. It is a great activity to involve the kids and a great way to upcycle. Use what you have on hand! Empty toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, old yogurt containers with holes drilled out in the bottom. Sure, propagation trays are convenient but if they are sold out or if that’s not in your budget, there are plenty of other creative options!
Succession Sowing
To have a continuous crop throughout spring, summer and fall there is one task that many hobbyist gardeners over look: succession sowing.
What the heck does that mean?
It means sowing the same variety of seeds in intervals. For example, don’t dump your entire radish seed packet in one planting! Different crops have different intervals. For the most part if one seed equals one crop you will be sowing those every seven to fourteen days. This is common in root crops such as radishes and beets. If you get a repeat harvest from a crop, you will have intervals of about three to four weeks, this is common for crops such as kale and greens. The idea is to not only have a continuous crop but to also have the optimal crop before our bug friends or disease find them!
Some crops you plant once and are done for the season, usually nightshades fall in this category. Most of the frost sensitive crops you will only have enough for one succession but rest assured, they will produce! Examples are summer squash and winter squashes. For tomatoes, planting a mix variety of determinate and indeterminate will give you a bigger window of harvest. Determinate tomatoes are ones that come on all at once, this is common for paste varieties. Indeterminate tomatoes are ones that produce all season long, such as snack-sized and slicing tomatoes.
Don’t worry, I threw together a little cheat sheet of the more common crops with their planting intervals for your convenience at the end of this post.
When to plant out
This will heavily depend on your climate and unique growing abilities/infrastructure. If you are in growing zones 8 and below, I highly recommend having frost cloth on hand or if you can’t afford frost cloth then some old bed sheets. Something that will allow you to quickly cover your crops due to an unexpected frost. I promise, come fall when you still have tomatoes not quite ready, you’ll want to be able to protect them.
To learn more about how to determine when to start seeds and when to plant out transplants check out our video here. It is geared towards flower farmers but really, the information is just as relevant to the vegetable grower. You will want to know your growing zone. You can click on the link here to enter your zip code to snag that information. You will also want to know you area’s average frost dates which you can find here. Simply input your zip code.
In general, hardy crops can be planted out four to six weeks before your average last frost date. Examples are: peas, radish, beets, kale and arugula.. You will want to plant out tender crops after your average last frost date. Examples are nightshades, corn, basil, beans and squash.
Preparing the soil, soil amendments and plant nutirtion
I must admit, the actual preparation of the soil I have gladly allowed Graham to take over!
For us, to maximize our growing space, we grow directly in the soil. This is a lot of work. We are breaking ground and are doing initial tilling but will be actively switching over to no-till methods. We have clay, sand, rocks- it’s tough work.
Under the current circumstances, I am not sure if you will be able to get a professional soil sample though I do believe any one looking to grow, especially food, should know what’s going on with their soil. The soil is everything, and I mean everything. It will tell you what will thrive and what will die. It will tell you what you need to do- it is essentially your road map to having a successful crop.
If you can not snag a a professional soil test then at a minimum you should do the mason jar test. You can find out how to do that here. Basically, you take a gardening knife or shovels and take the soil about six inches worth, throw it in a jar with some water and a dash of dish soap. Shake it up and let is sit for twenty four hours. The layers will separate and you can use some images from online to show you the layers. Sand sinks to the bottom, silt settles in the middle, clay is the top layer. Whichever layer has the most will help you identify your soil structure. Here is an image to give you a better visual in assessing your results. It will tell you your soil structure, which is insightful.
Different types of soil have different types of characteristics. For example, clay is hard, commonly has rocks, hard to hydrate, not well draining but holds onto nutrients really well. You will be having to carefully monitor watering to not over water and watch out for over-fertilizing while making sure to balance not letting it dry out too much. If you want to get extra fancy, periodically conducting soil flushes with yucca saponin has helped our clay soil immensely!
Sandy soil is fast draining, it’s hard to keep plants hydrated and doesn’t hold onto nutrients. You will be having to water more often and fertilize regularly with sandy soil.
Also, if you can snag a simple soil test to at least tell you the pH of your soil. Most plants thrive in slightly acidic soil or slightly alkaline, for the most part they like it kind of neutral (now, this is a blanket statement, different plants thrive under different soil pH). There are a ton of factors that impact your soil’s pH such as water and all kinds of stuff, so the simple pH test may not be incredibly accurate but it most likely will be accurate enough to get you started. I will provide a link at the bottom of one of the kits we used last year from Amazon (hopefully they’ll be shipping them!). Pro-tip, if you use the kit we are recommending, take a screen shot of your results. They only save them for about six months! You can also reach out to you local extension office, once they are considered essential again, to have your soil tested. I mean, we don’t have one that’ll do it locally in our area but hopefully your hometown does!
There are some basic things all plants need: macronutrients and micronutrients. The macros are the big guns we all talk about: nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium (NPK, which on a label looks something like this: 5-3-2, in their respective order). Then there are all these little micronutrients that are overlooked but are basically the drivers of all nutrients, if they aren’t there then the macronutrients are locked up making the plants unable to uptake the nutrients. To make the nutrients bio available, they put them in salt forms. The plants take the nutrients, leave the salts behind. To have in your gardening arsenal, again, I recommend keeping some yucca saponin on hand, especially if you have alkaline soil which goes hand in hand with salty soil. If you are using livestock composted manure be cautious and try to stay away from manure from feed lots. It will make your soil salty and could do a lot worse stuff than that.
Adding a ton of compost to make your soil fluffy is going to be tempting. Don’t do it! Go slow, it will take time to build up your soil. I recommend working with your local compost supplier on your ratios. Also, with manure, make sure it is properly composted, it should smell like dirt not poop or ammonia. It can damage your plants or kill them all together. If you don’t have a clue on where to start with preparing your garden beds, reach out to a professional for help! The great part about soil tests is for a little extra money they will provide you will a whole game plan of recommendations. Overall, the best way to begin to build healthy soil is to continuously grow a diversity of crops in them!
If you are looking to grow in raised beds, use a reputable company for your raised bed soil needs. Not all soil is created equal, research! Also, be aware that a raised bed is essentially a giant container garden. This means, your raised bed soil temperatures can get warmer or colder than if you were growing in the actual ground. You will also need to feed your plants more regularly and watch you watering to not underwater or overwater. Raised gardens, in some ways, are less forgiving than the ground (but are much easier to get going!).
If you are more interested in growing your crops directly in the ground, you are our people! I would recommend making the width of your row narrow enough so that you can harvest comfortably in the middle of the growing bed. You are not going to want to step and risk compacting the soil you’ve been working so hard to make fluffy! I would say go no wider than four feet in width. It can be tempting to make the rows wider to save space on walking paths but you want to make sure you can easily harvest your veggies, the space saved won’t be worth the reach unless you’re super tall. If you really want to maximize space, we have always stuck with eighteen inch walkways, it’s a little snug but completely doable.
Unfortunately, due to everyone’s incredibly unique soil needs, I cannot give a blanket recommendation of how to amend your soil. I can say, we are not fans of feedlot composted manure (learned that the hard way). We have patches with clay soil and have found powdered gypsum invaluable. We feed our soil immediate nutrients, such as blood meal, along with slow releasing pellets and a good drench of homemade compost tea that either promotes bacteria growth or fungi growth, depending on the crop’s needs. We do weekly foliar sprays and will be putting in a fertigation system to also have nutrients pump directly through our irrigation system. As you can see, it’s complex! This is why I highly recommend sending in a soil sample so you can make the appropriate game plan for your soil needs.
Along with how you decide to prep your soil, be sure to have a weekly fertilizing program as well. I will recommend out the gate Fox Farm’s growing trio: Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom (I have provided a link at the end of this post). Fish emulsion and kelp are definitely more affordable but the Fox Farm trio, in my opinion, are much more foolproof in that you are less likely to accidentally burn your plants with them (plus they don’t smell as gross!). A little hand pump sprayer dedicated to you fertilizer is an inexpensive way to ensure your plants are being fed.
Soil prep and plant nutrition is a complex subject. Without overwhelming you too much, I hope I covered the basics to get you started! The better you feed your plants, not only the happier the plants are but all those nutrients eventually come to feed your body. Just know, for the most part, plants want to grow!
Watering
For us, we are huge fans of drip tape for our flowers. With the addition of vegetables, certain vegetables (such as leafy greens) prefer being overhead watered. If you can get your plants on some kind of automated watering system, you will have happy plants. If in doubt, go for drips to help prevent the spread of disease, such as powdery mildew, and if you are growing lettuce give them a little overhead water once in a while. Hand watering, even for a tiny garden, will get old fast. Also, it is less efficient not only in water waste but the plants do not get as good of a drink of water as they do when on drips. Not to mention, human error, that one time you forgot to water… Automated water system. Drips. Come July you will thank yourself.
Pest Management
The best pest management is truly having healthy happy plants. We prefer using organic growing methods and more and more we use less and less of even OMRI certified pesticides. Keeping a clean growing area, proper crop rotation, sanitation practices and attracting beneficial insects is key. There are simply some bugs that are ruthless and it comes down to good old duct tape and a soapy bucket of water. Be diligent. To learn more about pest management and the different organic pesticides you can read my blog on that here, oh and part two here. To attract beneficial insects, this comes with companion planting. For example, alyssum attracts predatory wasps so plant them with tomatoes! Nasturtiums are a wonderful edible flower that also acts as a trap crop for a number of pests. Floating row covers of insect netting are great for leafy greens that are vulnerable to leaf miners such as chard. It comes to taking morning walks and checking your plants for pests and then again at night with a flashlight. Earwigs were one of our biggest battles at the last property being in a more urban neighborhood filled with lawns. You can read how we dealt with them here.
We really prefer nature handling nature, this year we added a few khaki Campbell ducks as an addition to our pest management system along with focusing on soil health. To be honest, homegrown vegetables come with some chew holes but with a little diligence, you should have plenty of crops that will be pest free. Just think how much safer your vegetables are with the few blemishes from insects rather than all the toxins that wiped out all those bugs! Plants absorb, we then intake what the plants absorb. Embrace the blemishes for healthier, safer food.
Have fun!
Gardening is fun, it is work but it is fun work! You will feel accomplished and you will be amazed at what your kids are willing to eat when they grew it themselves! The garden has a habit of taking today’s worries away and giving you hope. In a world that is spinning out of control this is one small aspect of our lives we can take some control back. Grow a pea-tee-pee (better yet a sweet pea-tee-pee, say that five times fast!). Allow yourself a calm place to reflect and become one with nature. Give your children space to hunt fairies and have adventures. It will bond you to each other and to nature. Take your salad bowl out to the garden to make and eat dinner amongst your beautiful plants on a hot summer night.
I hope this post is helpful and not too overwhelming! Overall, just have fun. The plants will grow and you will be able to experience vegetables like you never have before. They are tastier when you work hard for them! This is a great way to make sure you and your family have access to safe, delicious, fresh foods that will feed your spirit and your body. This is the best immune system booster out there that you can also create family memories at the same time. Win-win!
If you have any comments/questions please leave them in the comment section. Also, if you have any stories you would like to share about your personal experience in these crazy times and how gardening has helped you, we want to hear!
Happy Growing!
- Jessica & Graham
some recommended crops to get you started!
Here are some crops to be planted and harvested in spring to get you started, this is just a handful, there is many to choose from!
Here are some summer crops that should be started indoors in early spring to be planted out after your last frost date or direct sown after your last frost date.
Your garden bounty doesn’t have to end once the first frost comes! Here are some fall crops that can be started indoors in summer or direct sown late summer to have for winter. Winter squash is a tricky one: it grows the same as summer squash but has winter storage capabilities, which is why I listed them under the fall crops.
Some of seed suppliers to check out!
Here is a list with clickable links to some of the more well known seed suppliers that offer heirloom/open pollinated seeds. Some companies are not taking new orders but hopefully they will begin taking some soon! The companies marked with “*” are taking orders as of 4/5/20 according to their websites.
Johnny Select Seeds (shipping only available to commercial growers until 4/28/20)
Baker Creek Heirloom (website down until 4/14/20)