Gardening - A Lost Art

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Michael_00005
Posts: 130
Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 12:26 pm
Location: East coast USA

Gardening - A Lost Art

Post by Michael_00005 »

For anyone thinking of starting a garden, late summer to fall is really the time you want to get started. I’ve heard people say gardening is expensive, but it’s really not. If you are patient and do research it could be done for nothing.

The basics, or what you need: 1. Spade shovel, 2. chicken wire (2-3 feet high to keep out rabbits; if you have deer you will need to go up to 6ft). Button down the fence so there are no gaps at the bottom, you don’t want rabbits or deer in your garden!

How to get stared: I would NOT recommend doing a raised bed, unless you like doing that sort of work or don’t mind spending extra money. Simply fence off your garden and then toss a tarp, black plastic, cardboard, leaves over the area to kill all the grass & weeds… pick a sunny area. This could be done late summer, or in the fall. Then in the spring you will be ready to sow your seeds with minimal work. Start your compost now.

Compost: One of the reasons you start in the Fall is so you can save leaves. Compost is an art, and is actually kind of fun when you see how quickly you can transform the soil so it grows tons of vegetables. The link below gives you the basics on compost, basically it’s a mix of green kitchen scraps (nitrogen) and carbon (like dried leaves, that’s why you save them). They are great for compost and people toss them out, then they go back to the garden store to buy back the same thing they just threw out. Only it's completed composted from leaves, etc.

Seeds: I picked up a Heirloom variety pack, but you could save them directly from produce or even do a seed share and get them for free. Heirloom seeds work nice because you can re-use the seeds from the grown plants; oddly enough most seeds will not reproduce from typical grocery vegetables. If you guy organic, or heirloom produce it’s more likely the seeds will sprout.

Results: To give an example of how productive a beginner garden can be. This year I picked up a variety heirloom pack (below) and planted Kale, swiss chard, and lettuce in February and have been picking greens every week since late March, the Kale will likely keep growing until November. Tomatoes and cucumbers are also doing very well. My guess is that I will likely grow around a$100 dollars’ worth of produce this year. In the SE USA we have a lot of clay soil, so it's about the worst soil you can start growing in. As an off-hand guess, maybe triple the results each year for 3 years, if I stayed in the same location with continued composting. That's as a part time minimalist work gardener. Most of the seeds were not used, and some were replenished so there will be a complete set of seeds for next year.

Benefits: Probably the largest benefit is that you spend time out-doors (sunshine, fresh air), instead of sitting behind a computer, stuck in traffic, TV, etc.. It’s a natural destresser, and it feels good growing your own food… it’s really a lost art. I never regret spending part of the day working the soil, and almost always feel better after a couple hours in the garden.

The last piece of advice for a beginner gardener, is to plant things that grow well in your area. You might love tomatoes but they don't grow well in Seattle, so in that case you would pick something else to grow.

Compost:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FZznkQXZzE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYobJsr9BKc

How a garden can look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCAAL1saPzM

Earn a living from a backyard garden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl_vDWKFb44

Heirloom Vegetable Seeds Survival Garden 32 Variety
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LE ... UTF8&psc=1
Last edited by Michael_00005 on Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:08 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Gardening - A Lost Art

Post by Lemur »

First Year - Planted some squash. Was successful. Did not know anything about compost, fertilizer, and the like.

Second Year - Have watched a few youtube videos, started a compost bin? (I dug a big hole in the ground...), learned the importance of pulling weeds (whereas before I just did it to make my garden 'look nice'). Planted Squash (they died this year, found out it was due to over-water), Watermelon (have 11 growing now), Onion, and already harvested Potato and radishes. I also just had some spinach sprouting that I'm currently keeping my eye on.

Now - Just learned from your video how to begin prepping for next year. Thanks! These were very good resources. Next years goal is to continue with what I am already planting and add greens. May even try to build an irrigation system...

Michael_00005
Posts: 130
Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 12:26 pm
Location: East coast USA

Re: Gardening - A Lost Art

Post by Michael_00005 »

You might enjoy growing sweet potatoes Lemur. Many people don't realize that you can eat the greens (super healthy) all summer long and then dig up the sweet potatoes in the Fall. You plant them in loose soil.

https://www.prevention.com/food-nutriti ... to-greens/

p.s. do NOT eat regular potato greens, it's only the sweet potatoes greens that are eatable.

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