Starting a Garden

A friend of mine had some questions, and I want to answer them for her as quickly as possible. I thought there might be some others who would appreciate the questions she had.

How do I compost quickly and easily to make the best garden?

There are a lot of ways to compost. If you haven’t already read my post on our compost pile you can read it here. If this is your first spring planting a garden, you are probably too late to do much composting this year. I would start thinking about it for next year though. Composting is a great way to put nutrients back into the soil.

As things start to grow, start a pile of your green waste. When you cut fruits and veggies keep all the pieces separate from your other trash so you can throw it into your garden. You can also put your grass clippings into your garden to keep weeds down. In the fall, you can throw your leaves in as well. We also throw in all the plants left in the garden that are dead from the cold, like tomato plants and pumpkin vines. Designate an area to put all this stuff. When the weather gets chilly and things are done growing, you will have a pretty good sized pile. It should be turned every couple weeks. It may also need moisture added, depending on the rain fall in your area. You want it to be moist but not mushy. By spring, it should be mostly broken down. When you are ready to plant you can spread it over your garden and mix it into the top layer of dirt.

How soon do I need to prep the ground before planting?

You can’t do anything if the ground is frozen, so if you live in an area where that is an issue, that is the first thing to look for. Once the ground thaws you can get to work. But first, start thinking about what you want to plant. Some things will need to be planted as soon as possible and other things will be better if you wait until there is no more danger of frost at night.

You probably don’t need to prep much until you are actually ready to plant. If you prep early and don’t plant, you will just have to prep again when you get ready to put the seeds in the ground. If you did your own compost pile you will want to spread it out in the spring and work it into the soil. But, if you didn’t do a compost pile you will just want to break up the dirt and get rid of the weeds before you plant. You could also consider adding fertilizer if you want to make sure your ground has the nutrients it needs. Otherwise, just see how it does.

What are the best planting times/temps to watch for?

This will be different for each type of plant. I suggest deciding what you want to plant first. Once you figure that out you can go buy your seeds. We have bought seeds from home improvement stores, nurseries, and sometimes the regular grocery store. This year we are going to try online. On the back of each package it should tell you when to plant, in which areas. Some crops do better with cold than others. Some, like spinach, will be no good once it gets too hot.

Check out this picture of the back of a seed package for cauliflower. Notice that this one suggests starting indoors 8 weeks before outdoor planting time. Then it has a chart for transplanting. I live in an area that is green on their map so I would plan on transplanting in July-Aug. Counting back 8 weeks I would figure I need to start the seeds in May-June.

If you are in a warmer area you may be able to start planting as soon as February or March. We usually have to wait until the end of April or beginning of May around here.

This seed package is for carrots. As you can see, the planting directions are much different than for cauliflower. Carrots are something that I would recommend for a first time garden in most areas. Everybody likes carrots, am I right? Plus, they can stay in the ground until you are ready to eat them. They don’t have to be harvested daily, like some others.

What are the easiest things to grow?

This question is kind of hard to answer. I really think it varies from person to person and from garden to garden. Your area will determine what will grow well. In colder areas it will be easier to grow carrots and potatoes and in warmer areas it will be easier to grow peppers and tomatoes.

A lot is also determined by your interest level. Some things need to be harvested daily in order to get the full value from them. If you don’t have the time to harvest daily or every-other day, you should probably stay away from those things.

For example, when my raspberries are on I find great satisfaction in going out every morning and filling up my bowls of raspberries. I then wash and freeze them. As a result I ended up with a great harvest of raspberries.

In contrast, two years ago we planted broccoli. I happened to be pregnant at the time and just the smell of the plants made me nauseous so I never really harvested them. As a result, our broccoli crop never really made it onto our table or into our freezer. Needless to say, we didn’t plant broccoli this year. I think I might finally be ready to try it again, but we will see.

Nothing is effortless to grow. Everything will take time and attention. But different things need different kinds of attention, at different stages of growth.

When we started gardening I quickly realized that I need to plan on spending a little time every day in the garden. It needs water and it needs the weeds pulled. Once things start growing it will need to be harvested as well. Peas for example should be picked either every day or every-other day when they start coming on. If you want the best quality stored produce you should plan on using or freezing them right away as well. If you spend a little time over several days then you don’t end up slammed on your weekends.

You also need to think about what you want to do with what you grow. If you are not sure, just guess for now. You will figure it out as you go. That is one of the fun things about a garden. You will find out what you like and what your family likes.

My point is, you need to consider what you want to do with what you are planting. There is a time commitment involved and if you are excited about what you are planting and harvesting it will help you make that commitment. If you put in the time you will have more success. Success leads to enjoyment.

Can I grow things inside my house by a window?

For sure! As long as you have a window that gets a lot of light. There are a lot of things that grow great in pots. I suggest you start with herbs or leafy greens. Again, it kind of depends on what you want. Check the seed package before you plant. Or, you can buy a potted plant already started, which might be a good idea for your first attempt.

Water

This one wasn’t a question but I wanted to bring it up. You should think about how you are going to get water to your plants. I live in the desert where we can’t rely on rain. We have to irrigate. For seedlings we water the top of the dirt but once the plants emerge we use ditches or pipes (depending on the plant) to get the water to the base of the plant.

For me this was an essential part in achieving a successful garden. I would forget to water. We had to plan the easiest way to get water to our plants. I also had to set an alarm on my phone until I got into a rhythm. That sounds pretty lame, but hey, it worked. When we start planting I will document how we set up our watering system. I could write an entire blog post just on this topic. Maybe I will.

Start small

If this is your first attempt, or your first attempt in a while, just pick one or two things that you feel pretty confident you can handle. For example, buy a couple of potted plants for your window sill. Maybe Basil and a tomato plant. See how it goes and decide if you want to tackle more in the future. Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go well. Just evaluate what went wrong and try something different.

If you have some things you are thinking about but want to run some ideas past me I would be happy to give you my feedback.