(Genesis 1:11-12) “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. {12} And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
Gardening is one of the ways that you can take charge of what goes in your body. If you read my previous post, you will have come to the realization that there are so many hidden things in our food that are detrimental to us. You will have also learned why our family chooses to grow food naturally.
What Does This Look Like?
Gardening is so diverse. There are many methods that people use to garden. However, gardening doesn’t have to be so complicated. In a natural garden, chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides do not have a place. Instead of that, natural pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers are put into place as healthy alternatives. On our farm, our main supply of fertilizer is compost and rotten manure. When we have trouble with pests and diseases, we look to natural cures to the problem. Many times, the old maxim is true. ‘An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.’ Oftentimes a preventative measure will do so much more than trying to fix the problem.
The Fundamentals
So, I know the benefits of gardening, but what do I do next? Browsing the gardening aisle in stores or flipping through seed catalogs are exhilarating and exhausting at the same time! Have you ever gone seed shopping and bought more seeds than you actually could use? You are not the only one! Before you start shopping for seeds and supplies, plan what you need first. Be sure to plant what you like! Decide how much space you have and work from there.
There are thousands of seed varieties out there. You can buy conventional, organic, non-GMO, or heirloom seeds. Plus, you have all the special cultivars under each vegetable. For example, with carrots, you can get colored carrots, pencil thin carrots, chunky carrots, blunt carrots and much more! If you want to save seeds, it is best to get any seed that is not conventional or hybrid. Those will not give you true-to-type fruit. How do you pick seeds? Once you decide what vegetables you want to grow, you find a few cultivars of each that appeal to you. Don’t forget to take in account your climate! Understanding your climate helps you to know what plants will grow well in your region – especially when you are planting perennials. Regarding the vegetable garden, knowing your planting zone helps you know if you need to start plants indoors. The US Department of Agriculture has a helpful chart to help you find your planting zone.
Another thing to take in account is where you are planting. If you are using flowerpots and window planters, a good vegetable soil mix from the garden center is necessary. While looking at the various brands and types of soil mixes, you may come across OMRI certification. This is basically ensuring you that what you are buying an authentic organic product, not something that just has an organic label slapped on it. Is it important? It is only important if you want quality assurance that you are using certified organic products. If you are interested in OMRI certified brands, visit this extensive list and scroll down to page 73 ‘Transplant/Container Media’. However, if you are planting directly in the soil, raised beds are a must. You can either make wooden boxes and fill it with soil, or you can till the soil and rake the loose soil into a bed shape. You want the planting surface to be elevated off the ground. This aids in water drainage. We have used both methods of raised beds. In the city, we used wooden boxes filled with garden soil. Every year, we would buy bags of composted sheep manure from the local garden center and add it in. We grew tasty crops every summer. Here in our market garden, it is impractical to have raised beds made with wooden boxes. Therefore, we have raked the soil into an elevated planting surface. The no-till method is another popular method of gardening. The ultimate goal is to use minimal to no tilling of the soil. This is accomplished by using lots of organic matter and mulch in the garden.
Fertilizer is another big part of gardening. An accurate soil test is the only way to know for sure what your soil needs. In our garden, we use alfalfa pellets (organic matter), lime (calcium), chicken pellets (nitrogen), and composted turkey litter (nitrogen and minerals). Onions and tomatoes get sulfur. Fruiting crops get extra boron and calcium. Boron is an invaluable micronutrient that is applied in small amounts. Do you feel like you are in chemistry class again? Soil health is a lot like chemistry; although, for the new gardener you don’t have to worry about all that science. The main things you’d need are quality compost and calcium. As stated before, what priority fertilizers I use may not be essential for you. It depends on the soil where you live.
Gardening Principles
As a market gardener, our garden is much different from yours, but if you can follow some basic principles, you can enjoy show stopping produce! Homegrown, natural vegetables do not have to look unshapely and full of blemishes. Because we live in a cooler climate (Zone 5), we start plants in our house as early as February! This gives us a head start on the growing season. Another alternative to growing your own seedlings is to purchase them from a nursery or a local farm. Another key principle to use is succession planting. To ensure consistent harvests of vegetables, multiple sowings of fast-growing crops like peas, spinach, and lettuce will give you fresh vegetables all during the growing season. In addition, pay attention to whether plants like full or partial sun. Salad greens and some herbs prefer partial sun. Too much sun can cause greens to taste bitter and start going to seed. Also, mulching is beneficial as it helps suppress weeds while retaining moisture in the soil. Some good mulches that you can use are woodchips, straw, leaves, and glass clippings. If you are using woodchips, make sure that you do not till it into the soil as it takes nitrogen away from the soil as it breaks down. When laying leaves or grass clippings, don’t pile it on at one time – add it gradually. Whole leaves compact into a cardboard-like layer that makes it hard for plants to push through. Fresh grass clippings decompose really fast when placed in a heap; it is best for it to dry slightly before more is added on.
Gardening as a Necessity
In this day of rising food prices and the threat of food shortages, gardening in the way to go to ensure that you and your family have food to eat when the grocery shelves are empty. Growing one’s one food in time of crisis is nothing new to American people. During the World Wars, a huge portion of the fresh fruits and vegetables were grown in Victory Gardens – gardens by the people for the people. By 1944, 20 million Victory Gardens had been planted. These gardens provided more than 40% of all the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in America (Schumm, 2014)!
If people nearly 80 years ago can grow food, so can you! With a wealth of information at our fingerprints, learning something new has never been easier. Some good resources I have found helpful are MIGardener, Melissa K. Norris, Joel Salatin, and Curtis Stone. Johnny’s Seeds is a quality seed source, and they also have an extensive Growers’ Library on their website. I encourage everyone one of you to grow something this year. It is a fun project for everyone in the family to participate in.
As you plant and tend your gardens this year, take time to breathe and marvel at God’s creation.
Jazmyne G. is an undergraduate student majoring in Elementary Education. She lives with her family in Canada where they raise animals and tend their large market garden. Jazmyne works as a part-time writing teacher in addition to being a small business owner. In her spare time, you can find her curled in a corner reading, trying something new in the kitchen, or drawing scenes from creation.
Sources
Schumm, L. (2014, May 29). America’s Patriotic Victory Gardens. History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/americas-patriotic-victory-gardens
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