Spring into Gardening

This evening it was a pleasure to host the community event: Spring into Gardening. We visited for 2 hours on topics from planning your garden, sowing seeds, transplanting into soil, harvesting and seed saving.

There were a lot of great ideas from the group, and it was great to dream about spring time planting. It will not be long now before we start seeds indoors!


Tips gleaned from the class:

• You can use two ordinary 5 gallon buckets, a small container and a piece of pipe to make a subterranean watering garden pot. The outer bucket holds the water, the inner bucket holds the soil. The bottom of the inner bucket has a hole to hold a cup or container that will extend the dirt down into the water reservoir below. A 1" or smaller feed pipe will go from the inner bucket down to the lower bucket to easily refill the outer bucket's water supply.
• If you make a raised bed out of lumber, do not used treated lumber. It has chemicals to keep it from rotting that may not be the best for your soil and contact with food.
• If you make your own potting soil from your garden soil, pasturize the soil by heating it to 180 degrees F. for 1 hour. Then mix in equal parts of compost and sand. I like to have some peat moss as well to lighten the mix.
• Make a plan to start something in your garden this year. The more you try the more you will learn. Make gardening fun for your family, and don't just add another summer activity to your busy schedule. Rather replace TV and Internet with outdoor gardening.
• Being self sufficient is a skill we need to know, and only recently has the knowledge of how to survive on our own been lost from the general population.

Outline of the presentation:

5 Reasons to plan a garden!

• There is a blessing in working in the soil. There is something really peaceful and rewarding about growing your own food.
• God created a garden, then made man to tend it. We can find ourselves close to Him in a garden.
• Gardening and it's lessons are for character development.
• Trust in an all powerful creator
• Patience – plants grow slowly
• Plants need care and tending just like our children do
• Gardening allows you to brighten your environment with green plants and colorful flowers.
• Gardening allow you to be more self sufficient – Save $ and improve your health.

Your Goals for Your Garden:

My personal goal is that each person make a definite plan to grow something on your own – something new that you have never grown before.

Young people: If your family already has a garden, I challenge you to have at least one plant that is all your own to water and to care for.

• So, what are your goals for gardening?
• Remember to take into account what time and resources you have available.
• Decide what produce you want to grow. What vegetables you would enjoy consuming with your
  family, and plan to grow some or all of them!

Types of gardens:

• You can have a window garden, and enjoy green plants and salads growing from a window.
• You can have container growing, with the focus on one or two plants per container.
• You can try a raised bed, and put mulch down in the pathways to reduce weeding work. If you don't want to bend over, you can add height to your raised bed to make working in the planter even easier.
• You can mark out a garden plot with string and still plant in beds, but not have the wood side walls of a raised bed.
• You can incorporate flowers as a focus of the garden, or as a border around it. Make your garden space beautiful!

Your garden method will be best for you, and just your own. Doing anything in the soil is better than succumbing to the sterile, impersonal existence the mastermind of technology would like to foist on us.


Soil Preparation:

No matter the size of your garden, you will want to prepare the soil. Your goal should be a fresh dirt area of loose soil. Starting seeds indoors does well with a loose potting soil. If you dig up unimproved soil from your yard and bring this inside to start your seedlings, you will have more problems than starting them in sterilized potting soil. Seeds germinate best in loose soil.

Seedlings indoors are easily attacked by fungi and bacteria. Have you ever had seedlings pop up and then when an inch tall, form a dark ring at soil level on the stem and quickly die?

If you cannot afford potting soil, then you can pasteurize your own soil and loosen it by adding compost, sand and some peat moss. One bag of peat moss should make a lot of potting soil! Mix it in as needed to keep the soil light and not too compacted after a week of watering.


Soil Testing:

Soil testing can help you to identify deficiencies in your soil. You can read about how I worked with soil tests when I started a new garden plot. I don't suggest the do-it-yourself testing kits as they are poorly calibrated, and the point of getting a soil test is to know what you need to add to your soils. Soil tests from a commercial lab are under $20 and I think it is a good investment for a new garden plot.


Obtaining Seeds and Planting:

If at all possible, I suggest your using locally adapted seeds – that means a seed swap with others in the area, using heirloom seeds, or saving your own heirloom seeds from year to year. This is really not all that difficult, and you get the benefit of being able to select the traits you appreciate and have even a better variety next year!

Focus on true breeding seeds for your garden. F1 Hybrid means that the seeds produced from the hybrid parents may not be true to form. We suggest your using Heirloom or True Breeding seeds. You can easily save these year after year. Save some extra seed each year (don't plant it all) in case you are are not able to gather your own seeds, but liked the variety. There is more on seed saving earlier in this blog.

Keep track of what you plant – and what your seedlings are. Labels can be simple – using reusing a plastic knife with writing on it, to fancy – with plastic or metal labels

In the north, I suggest starting seeds indoors, and getting a little jump on spring. You can use simple containers like plastic cups with slits in the side walls set on a plastic tray, to the more "professional" (ie expensive yet efficient) seedling starter trays.

One of the things large growers have enjoyed is the soil blocker, where 2" cubes of soil are pressed into a form, and then set into a plastic tray for seed starting.


Commercial Seed Suppliers we Suggest:

• Baker Creek   http://www.rareseeds.com
• Burpee Seeds   http://www.burpee.com
• Seed Saver's Exchange   http://www.seedsavers.org
• Johnny's Seeds   http://www.johnnyseeds.com
• Harris Seeds   http://www.harrisseeds.com 
• Park Seeds   http://www.parkseed.com

Number of Seeds per Tray:

So, how many seeds do you plant in a plant slot or block? I suggest two or three seeds so you can select the most hardy one. Do not allow more than one seedling to grow as they will damage each other as you separate them later. You have to be ruthless in your thinning, and you will find one is generally stronger than the others.

Indoor plants need lots of light. A sunny windows is great, but may not be enough. Grow lights within 2-3 inches above the plant to keep it from becoming leggy. It has been suggested that you change your bulbs each year, as they can quickly loose their lumen power. I have not done this yet... Also it is suggested that you don't need expensive full spectrum bulbs. Rather you can use two cool and two warm bulbs in a 4 bulb fixture, and come off with a lower bulb cost. Use recycled fixtures when possible.

Remember that these tiny seedlings will grow, and need a larger pot of soil, perhaps every 2 weeks! You can easily have 36 or more starts on a tray, but when you go to gallon containers, a tray will only hold 3! So make sure you will have the room and number of lights to supply the plants that you start.

Some have suggested that plants started later will catch up to ones started early, so other than extending your enjoyment of working in the soil, take care to not make too early planting a burden.


Plant on a Schedule (and often):

Regularly in planting is important. If you want to harvest something each week, then you need to plant something each week. You do not have to plant a full seasons row of beats at one planting. Plant some each week, and then enjoy fresh garden produce all summer long! This is not to say you should not do large plantings for canning or winter supply, but more for your fresh eating, you have a constant supply of fresh food from the garden. Work "eating from the garden" meals more and more regularly into your meal schedule.


Seven Tips for your Upcoming Garden:

• Don't bite off more than you can chew. It is easy to get a lot of seeds, but remember that plants need some garden space and garden space needs weeding and watering. Our excitement today needs to be tempered with the reality of tomorrow.
• Plan your garden space. Plot out what you can grow on that space and enjoy the process.
• Start plants indoors to get a head start.
• Protect plants from pests. Deer can be a problem! An electric fence works well. You could even bait the fence with some metal foil coated with peanut butter. One lick should send the deer running and hopefully not to return! Row covers are lightweight material that can keep bugs off, but allows light and rain through.
• Weed and water regularly. Check for water needs 3 x per week. Weed the entire garden area each week. 
• Harvest when ripe for best nutrition and health-giving qualities. Plant enough to be able to share and get to know your neighbors.
• Save seed for next year. And save some extra to swap or give away.

Resources:

• Winter sowing (web)
• How to make your own potting soil (web)