daidoji_gisei (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
daidoji_gisei) wrote2020-04-13 09:54 pm
daidoji_gisei) wrote2020-04-13 09:54 pm
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Crazy Aunt Nancy's Quick-Start Guide to Vegetable Gardening
With the current pandemic many people are taking an interest in growing some of their own vegetables, to help reduce their reliance on grocery stores. If you have never gardened before this can be anxiety-inducing, because there is a LOT of information about gardening available and it is easy to become overwhelmed. This is my summary for newbie gardeners, organized in bullet-form because I can't think of a better way to do it.
--Seeking Online Information: The internet of full of useful garden advice, as well as misinformation, myths, and snake-oil salesman. Until you get experienced enough to sniff out who is who, stick with sources you can trust. When you run a Google search for information, have it select for sites with the .edu domain. That will get you state/county extension agencies and university-affiliated organizations who will be the most likely folks to know what the current best practices are. Look for your state, or a nearby state with similar climate and soil.
--Start Small: Begin with a small garden plot; 4 feet by 4 feet is good, or 4 by 6 if you are feeling super-confident. This may seem tiny but in the beginning you don't want to get overwhelmed, and as the seasons roll over into summer and fall you can always make it bigger.
--Know Your Vegetable Seasons: Vegetables divide broadly into two groups: cold and warm. Cold season vegetables will germinate in cool or cold soil and can tolerate temperatures in the freezing range. (Examples: Radishes, lettuce, peas, kale, collards, broccoli.) Warm season vegetables will only germinate in warm soil and will shrivel when exposed to frost. (Examples: Tomatoes, peppers (both sweet and hot), beans, all squashes.). Cool season vegetables can be grown in the spring and fall; warm season vegetables are summer only.
--Where to Get Seeds and Plants: If your local grocery store has a temporary display rack of seeds right now, buy your seeds there. I say this because those sorts of displays are stocked with old, standard varieties that have been shown to be reliably productive in a wide range of soil types and climates. This is exactly the kind of reliability you want as a newbie gardener. If you go to a garden center ask the staff (from six feet away) for recommended varieties for your area. For the new gardener some plants are better off bought as transplants than as seeds, and there again your best bet is the local grocery store.
--Succession Planting: This is a compact term for taking advantage of the fact that very few plants are productive spring, summer, and fall. So plant your peas as early as you can in spring. When June comes and it is time to plant your tomato seedlings the peas will be fading from the heat, so you can rip them out and put the tomatoes in their place. Bush beans are planted when the soil warms up; they will provide heavily for a few weeks and then start to taper off--so pull them out and seed a cool-season vegetable like lettuce, kale or collards for the late summer/fall growing season.
--Intercropping: A full-grown tomato plant is huge but the transplant you put in the ground is very small. Take advantage of that temporary space by planting something quick-growing (radishes and/or lettuce are good choices) in a circle a few inches out from the tomato. By the time the tomato grows large enough to need the space, you will be harvesting its quicker-growing roommates.
--Recommended Starter Vegetables: Obviously, if you don't want to eat a particular vegetable you shouldn't bother growing it. But this is a list of things I have found to be easy to grow. If there is (seed) after its name you should direct-seed them into the soil; if (plant) you should start with a transplant.
Cool season: Radish (seed), looseleaf lettuce (seed), Swiss chard (seed or transplant), collards (seed), snap peas (seed), broccoli (transplant)
Warm season: Tomatoes (plant), peppers (plant), beans (seed), summer squash (seed)
Finally: You can do this. Everything you do this spring will help you learn for summer, everything you do this year will help you learn for next year. If something doesn't grow you haven't failed, you have learned.
--Seeking Online Information: The internet of full of useful garden advice, as well as misinformation, myths, and snake-oil salesman. Until you get experienced enough to sniff out who is who, stick with sources you can trust. When you run a Google search for information, have it select for sites with the .edu domain. That will get you state/county extension agencies and university-affiliated organizations who will be the most likely folks to know what the current best practices are. Look for your state, or a nearby state with similar climate and soil.
--Start Small: Begin with a small garden plot; 4 feet by 4 feet is good, or 4 by 6 if you are feeling super-confident. This may seem tiny but in the beginning you don't want to get overwhelmed, and as the seasons roll over into summer and fall you can always make it bigger.
--Know Your Vegetable Seasons: Vegetables divide broadly into two groups: cold and warm. Cold season vegetables will germinate in cool or cold soil and can tolerate temperatures in the freezing range. (Examples: Radishes, lettuce, peas, kale, collards, broccoli.) Warm season vegetables will only germinate in warm soil and will shrivel when exposed to frost. (Examples: Tomatoes, peppers (both sweet and hot), beans, all squashes.). Cool season vegetables can be grown in the spring and fall; warm season vegetables are summer only.
--Where to Get Seeds and Plants: If your local grocery store has a temporary display rack of seeds right now, buy your seeds there. I say this because those sorts of displays are stocked with old, standard varieties that have been shown to be reliably productive in a wide range of soil types and climates. This is exactly the kind of reliability you want as a newbie gardener. If you go to a garden center ask the staff (from six feet away) for recommended varieties for your area. For the new gardener some plants are better off bought as transplants than as seeds, and there again your best bet is the local grocery store.
--Succession Planting: This is a compact term for taking advantage of the fact that very few plants are productive spring, summer, and fall. So plant your peas as early as you can in spring. When June comes and it is time to plant your tomato seedlings the peas will be fading from the heat, so you can rip them out and put the tomatoes in their place. Bush beans are planted when the soil warms up; they will provide heavily for a few weeks and then start to taper off--so pull them out and seed a cool-season vegetable like lettuce, kale or collards for the late summer/fall growing season.
--Intercropping: A full-grown tomato plant is huge but the transplant you put in the ground is very small. Take advantage of that temporary space by planting something quick-growing (radishes and/or lettuce are good choices) in a circle a few inches out from the tomato. By the time the tomato grows large enough to need the space, you will be harvesting its quicker-growing roommates.
--Recommended Starter Vegetables: Obviously, if you don't want to eat a particular vegetable you shouldn't bother growing it. But this is a list of things I have found to be easy to grow. If there is (seed) after its name you should direct-seed them into the soil; if (plant) you should start with a transplant.
Cool season: Radish (seed), looseleaf lettuce (seed), Swiss chard (seed or transplant), collards (seed), snap peas (seed), broccoli (transplant)
Warm season: Tomatoes (plant), peppers (plant), beans (seed), summer squash (seed)
Finally: You can do this. Everything you do this spring will help you learn for summer, everything you do this year will help you learn for next year. If something doesn't grow you haven't failed, you have learned.