Starting is Simple, Keeping it Going is the Challenge

As the saying goes: “There is no better time to start than the present”. And so it is with home gardening. Many home gardeners grow their own food out of a love of just doing it, some others do it for the peace of mind that comes with knowing the food they take from their garden is not tainted with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. And of course there is the freshness that can come only from picking from your garden and having it on your dinner table the same day.

With our economy going the way it is, tightening everyone’s purse strings typically means more people are going to join us in the gardening world. If this is something you have never done, then the startup can be a bit overwhelming. I think back to when I grew my first vegetable, it was in a typically small space where some previous renter had previously grown something, so I was fortunate, and very grateful, that the soil had already been used for something other than grass. The one thing I did not know for certain was if the previous tenant used chemicals. I set aside my fears by reasoning that up until that point in my life I probably had already been exposed to chemicals in my food so worrying about what might have been was not going to stop me from planting. I knew I wasn’t going to add any chemicals, so off I went.

I was very much like every beginning gardener in that I chose tomatoes as my first crop. And as is typical of a first time gardener, I planted too many. Needless to say the neighborhood had fresh tomatoes for a time. I just know, as I write this, realized that even that long ago, just as today, very few of my neighbors had a home garden. But, as I mentioned previously, that will probably change. I do hope so.

I also grew some strawberries that first year. The crop that was produced exceeded my expectations and I was ecstatic at the sweet juicy berries we picked from those first plants. Ecstatic over the bounty of the strawberries and the tomatoes and ecstatic that I was actually able to succeed. That was a great confidence booster.

Experience, I have found, learned from your own mistakes and successes, will provide you with far better lessons than just reading about others’ mis-adventures.

The best way to start is to put something in the ground, even if it is unproductive the roots from that first growth will provide a starting point for bringing soil nutrients locked below the surface up to where future plants can take advantage of them. The most miraculous thing I have learned from gardening is that a plot of ground that seemingly will never support anything, such as hard packed clay, will grow healthy plants that will produce a monstrous harvest as long as you feed the soil.

Soil will quickly come to life with worms and microbes simply by tilling compost into it. By keeping the soil cool in the summer with mulch and maintaining a steady, somewhat constant temperature through winter, also with mulch, you will already win over half the battle of maintaining a healthy and thriving garden.

Worms work to aerate the soil and breakdown large chunks of compost into smaller ones that serve to keep the soil loose to allow air and water to pass through. This ‘looseness’ of the soil, called friability, will also aid plant roots in their search for nutrients. Worms and microbes basically keep the plot refreshed through their constant churning. As long as you feed them they will be there for you. The thing you don’t want to do goes against what may at first seem natural. You don’t want to over-till the soil. It is more beneficial to ‘work’ compost into the top few inches of soil with a pitch fork by gently turning over the soil. A mechanical tiller will tend to cut up the soil too fine and unfortunately cut up the worms as well.

Even if you will not live in the house you are in for very long, starting a garden will prepare the soil for the next person. Perhaps this will be just the encouragement that next person needs to grow their own food. Imagine for a moment if everyone was to do this with their current yard, before too long, grass won’t be taking up so much acreage on this planet, there will be a decrease in the amount of chemical fertilizers used to feed the lawn, and you will have helped in progressing the natural evolution toward a more organic world. After all, there is far more residential property than commercial property so each of us, when we start a home garden, will be increasing the total amount of farm land. Plus, every little bit you do adds to your knowledge base for when you do have space to grow that dream garden. Every new garden plot helps the global community.

Then, if you would post your results to your very own blog, or leave comments on someone else’s blog describing your experiences, both good and bad, you would be adding to the world’s knowledge pool and that is always much appreciated by the next beginner. Perhaps you will learn of a hidden talent that you can specialize in.

You really do not require a huge farm to grow everything you need. You can grow a surprising amount of plants in a very small space. If you have a neighbor who has a garden, ask if you can offer to help weeding or planting. You will gain valuable advice and perhaps even a few plant starts to get your own garden going. Gardeners are an endless supply of knowledge, some of which you cannot learn from books. And I have never met a gardener who does not want to talk about their garden or share advice.

Dig a hole in the ground, fill it in with store bought garden soil (compost can come later), stick a plant in the soil, feed it with non-synthetic fertilizer and watch it grow. You may not get a huge harvest from this first planting but, like every new undertaking, baby steps count. You will gain confidence to try something bigger next year.

If you don’t have a yard, use a container. Many plants do great in containers, you just need to feed and water them more often and make sure the container has good drainage.

Also, don’t be afraid to plant vegetables among your flowers. The added dimension and diversity will benefit both types of plants and prevent any bare spots that would otherwise invite weeds.

For more advanced tips on starting and maintaining a garden plot, see here.

I am willing to bet that once you gain a little experience you will want to continue growing your own food, even after the economy gets back on its feet and it is no longer a ‘necessity’ to grow your own food. So, if you do find you enjoy maintaining a garden maybe keeping it going won’t be such a challenge after all.

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Please Ask For Help, First

I listen to a three-hour radio garden show on Saturday mornings, Greenhouse Garden Show, on KSL FM 1o2.7. After listening to this guy for four years now and reading magazines, books, etc, it’s getting to the point where I can almost always answer the callers questions myself but am still surprised by some answers given by the expert. And I always defer to him because I don’t feel I am an expert yet.

Anyway, I am still blown away by the number of people who call in saying they have some problem or other and have already tried all sorts of chemical pest controls BEFORE asking for help. In some cases they have used two or even three different chemicals. Some of them learn that what they have been spraying for is not even a pest but a disease or vice versa. Very different treatment requirements.

I just want to toss out a quick reminder that there is nothing wrong with asking experts to identify a problem before applying what ever fix is called for. It is very important to not use chemicals just because of what you heard a chemical company advertises.

Especially at this time when we are seeing an increase in the number of new gardeners we don’t need to see an equal increase in the sales of chemicals. There are many very viable organic alternatives to common problems. But first the problem needs to be properly identified.

PLEASE, ask for help FIRST. We have got to keep these chemicals out of our food chain. This stuff gets washed into the road gutters and then into the sewer and finally into rivers and streams.

If you can start your garden on an organic path from the beginning everyone will be better off. Also, learn what you can about how to attract beneficial insects as well and you may not even need to resort to any other type of control. It requires a bit of knowledge on how to properly balance your crop diversity but it can be done. Also, attracting birds to your yard will go a long way to keeping down the insect population.

Okay, now that I have had my say on that subject, here are some great sources for learning about common problems, their causes and good organic methods of treatment.

Your area Cooperative Extension Office specializes in all manner of crops that grow in your state. They also offer services such as soil testing, insect & disease identification and their proper control and they will be happy to tell you what time of year to expect outbreaks in your area.

Natural Insect Pest Control for the household

Organic Pest Control Guide

Tips on how to get rid of pests the natural way

Tips on Organic Fertilizer plus

Organic Fertilizer and Soil Amendment Guide

Information on Organic Fertilizers

Beneficial Insects

Make Friends with your good bugs

Beneficial Insects & Biological Pest Control

Project Wildlife: Attracting birds to your backyard

Attracting birds to your feeders and Backyard

This should help you get started. Now go out and have fun. Oh, and start a blog so we can all share in your successes.

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I am Gardener: Provider of Life

I read Doug’s post about his observation on how the number of new home gardeners increases during economic downturns only to decrease when times get better. This topic is of special interest to me since I have grown veggies off and on for over twenty years now. There were times when I simply could not garden because of having to travel so much due to my job. When I could settle long enough and had enough room to actually start a garden I had to basically start from scratch each time. And I can tell you from this experience that saving money can never be expected due to the initial outlay of soil amendments, fertilizer, garden tools, plant trellis material, etc. At least not during the first year.

When economic times get tough, it is reasonable for someone to think that growing their own food would save them money. Especially when they see those anemic pale red blobs that pass for ‘fresh’ tomatoes in the produce aisle for $2.59 a pound and up and then see a tomato plant selling for the same price.

Most new home gardeners that I have talked with also reason that by growing their own they will be putting healthier food on their table. This is also a reasonable expectation. However, what they fail to account for is the time, effort and cost required to produce the healthy food they desire while resisting the urge to use chemicals when they are faced with the prospect of seeing their hard earned efforts get eaten by voracious insect pests or diseases.

Any seasoned gardener knows that a few pests are not going to make a huge difference in the output of a vegetable plant. And thanks to the widespread access to the internet and garden websites and garden blogs, a newbie is now less likely to run screaming to the nearest chemically-laden pesticide sprayer determined to eradicate every insect they see. For those of you who have actually done some home work before starting your first garden and therefore know better than to think that every insect is a menace, I salute you.

You need to know that you will not always get the perfectly shaped and beautifully colored produce of your expectations. And sometimes your crop may fail miserably, producing mediocre yields or bland tasting produce. Garden books cannot adequately cover every aspect of gardening to turn everyone into an expert, not over the course of one year or ten years. Only experience will teach you the subtleties of gardening that make the effort worthwhile.

Gardening is a frame of mind, a lifestyle if you will that involves much more than just sticking a plant in the ground and expecting it to give you the bountiful harvest of your dreams. You will become a steward of your chosen plot of earth, a caretaker with the potential to encourage new life that will provide food not just for you and your family but for all of the surrounding wildlife, including the pest insects. The responsibility is great. If you can take it to heart and learn that every animal, reptile, bird and insect, beneficial as well as pest, plays a part in the grand scheme that we call nature, then you will soon feel what it is to be a gardener, a provider of life.

Gardening is a learning experience that teaches so much more than how to grow food or flowers and it takes time to get reasonably good at it. It is those new gardeners who don’t learn these lessons who will most likely give it up after just one season, or sooner.

Being a gardener, raising food for personal consumption, is a link to our primal nature as hunter-gatherer. Over the millennia, we have repressed our connection to our evolution on earth. Gardening allows us to re-connect to our past. It slows us down and allows us to look at not what earth can provide for us but what we can do to support earth. Once we are fully in tune with this mindset and feel the connection we will then see our place in nature not simply as user but as caretaker.

I still get chills when I stop to examine the responsibility that I have taken on. Gardening is the most soul-cleansing activity I have ever undertaken.

Society has become disassociated from nature leading to many health problems, both physically and mentally. In re-connecting with nature we take on the many positive effects of our involvement, not the least of which comes from eating fresh food, but also from greater concentration, creativity and developing a bond that can lead to a greater appreciation for an environmental stewardship.

We have heard how owning a pet can decrease high blood pressure and improve recovery after heart attacks. I believe gardening offers these same health benefits.

I go to nature to be soothed and healed,
And to have my senses put in tune once more.
- John Burroughs

With today’s proliferation of electronics, TV, computers, cell phones, iPods, we have become more in tune to these devices and out of tune with nature. Through these devices we have access to mountains of data but in accessing it we are missing out on other data. Data collected through smelling fragrant flowers, hearing buzzing bees and singing birds and feeling the texture of soil through our fingers and the texture of plants as we prune and care for them.

High food prices could actually be viewed as a saving grace just by driving more people into their own backyards to grow their own food and slowing them down in order to re-connect with nature.

People start out with the best of intentions and, as Doug so rightly pointed out, some soon realize that home gardening is more work than they thought. But if you are willing to work at it and understand that the rewards are immeasurable, then please join in. There is plenty of room out here in nature and we can always use more stewards.

So, to all newcomers, I look forward to the opportunity to view your progress on your very own blog. Drop me a line so I know who you are and where you garden. Just knowing there are others out there who take seriously the responsibility of maintaining the diversity that makes nature so rewarding and at the same time providing wildlife a respite from the ravages of our society as they are constantly pushed out of their environment says so much about the caring nature of being a gardener: provider of life. Welcome.

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One year blog anniversary

I finally made it to one year! I wouldn't trade this past years experience for anything.

Through blogging this past year I have come to understand so much more about gardening than I could from just reading about it.

Reading about gardening helps you to ‘know of’ generalities about gardening, such as,

terms like annual and perennial,

the difference between a bulb and a bareroot,

Fall is the best time for planting,

soil has more impact on plant health than just watering and fertilizing,

not all insects are pests.

Actually getting into the garden and working it shows how things interact and helps you to learn such things as

feeding the soil really is more beneficial than just feeding the plants,

mixing flowers with vegetables and herbs attracts beneficial insects to help you keep plants healthy,

growing a variety of shrubs, trees, grasses, and flowers helps support a greater variety of wildlife, and why that is important,

losing a portion of your crop to insect damage is so much healthier than trying to keep everything by destroying every insect you see and eventually ourselves,

being a part of nature by working with it rather than just watching it go on around you is healthier for your body, mind and soul.

Writing about gardening helps you focus your intellect in order to understand why we are dependent on a variety of wildlife just as they are dependent on us. And how much impact our little garden has on the world.

Gardening can’t help but make everyone a better environmentalist. It illustrates how using chemicals to keep a ‘greener’ lawn or grow ‘bigger’ tomatoes really does more harm than good, just like we have been told for years.

My fellow blogging gardeners have presented so many wonderful new tricks and ideas to help rookies like myself succeed. I realize after just one year of perennial gardening that I had been previously only working at gardening and now, after being able to create some beauty of my own, I realize that I can indeed begin to call myself a gardener, still a novice, but a gardener just the same.

This yearlong experience has made me hungrier than ever to learn more of this fascinating lifestyle. I thank each and every one of you for helping to make this possible. Hopefully, this blog will be viewed as a source of inspiration and knowledge so that I can do my part to help someone else.

Happy Birthday Utah Valley Gardens from a blogging neophyte who deeply appreciates being a part of this great and wondrous world of gardening and blogging.

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Would growing herbs make me clever?

Gee, I want to be a clever gardener! Someone said that clever gardeners know about companion planting. I’ll have to look into this ‘simple technique’ just to see if it makes me feel clever. I’m already learning about putting perennials together for color, fragrance, and texture, so it seems learning about companion planting shouldn’t be any great stretch.

In the past, I have grown nasturtium and marigolds along side my tomatoes as a pest repellant. Not every year, since I’m not sure if it works or not. Sometimes I would find the dreaded Tomato Hornworm merrily chomping away on a tomato stem next to nasturtium, so I don’t think he was too bothered by that repellent plant. Maybe he didn’t know he was supposed to be repelled.

There are many plants that benefit from having companions around. People benefit from having companions, so why shouldn’t plants? Many of the companion pairings I have seen listed involve at least one herb.

Herbs are something that have both intrigued and mystified me for a very long time. I see herb gardens featured on TV garden shows and in magazines, etc and they either look manicured and formal or wild and unkempt. I like the wild, natural look myself. It just seems more inviting and alive.

I always think after viewing these gardens that I would like to have one of these but then I think “what would I do with all of those herbs?”

Herbs are that branch of the plant world that cries out to be used. And it seems there is an herb that can be used in almost every aspect of our daily lives. But when it comes right down to it I don’t know if I would or even could use them properly. Like I said earlier, they mystify me.

I have great admiration for anyone who can take a plant and make soap out of it or spice up a bowl of soup or add a sweet fragrance to a home. The utilitarian aspect of herbs is what, I suppose, appeals to me most. Maybe its my frugal upbringing that tells me that if a thing can be used for more than one purpose then it becomes more valuable. Herbs both look good and can be used for other beneficial and useful things.

Despite my few failed attempts to use herbs as an insect repellent, I still am motivated enough to expand my knowledge of how the plant kingdom can do more than just look good and feed us.

I have read plenty of books about the culinary and medicinal uses of herbs but I’m not sure where to start or what use I should go for. Using a plant for medicinal reasons just seems out of the question, what with all of the fast acting medications we have available to us. It’s not that I have overwhelming trust in the FDA when it comes to allowing only the best medications to reach the market, it’s just that I’m not sure I want to be experimenting with something that may not be very effective in ‘curing’ me when I’m sick and want to get well quickly. There are an awful lot of people who swear by herbal remedies and herbal preventatives, my wife being one. She takes these Wellness Formula tablets every cold season and urges me to take them as well. She never seems to get sick but I do every year just before Thanksgiving, just like clockwork, whether I take them or not. So, based on these two samplings of using herbs as preventatives, I’m not convinced they work all that well.

As far as culinary use goes, I know fresh herbs add a little something extra to foods, because I have tried them. We have bought basil, thyme, rosemary, etc from Farmer’s Markets and our foods do taste better as a result. But honestly, I don’t know just how much parsley or basil our family would use for cooking if we grew it ourselves. I suppose the excess could go to the compost pile or friends.

We lead pretty simple lives and are not given to extravagant or gourmet meals. Occasionally I enjoy testing my culinary skills by trying a new recipe that sounds especially tempting. Sometimes the recipe tastes pretty good, if I may say so.

I would like to make potpourri, sachets or soap, etc but that would take an awful lot of Lavender and I just don’t have that kind of space.

Making my own insect repellent seems, to me, to be the most practical reason for growing herbs. There are many herbs that can be ground up and mixed with water and used as insect repellent and/or fungicide. A few are elder leaves, chamomile flowers, chive leaves, horseradish leaves, feverfew flowers, etc, all of which can be interspersed throughout my perennial beds since they require the same growing conditions. And they put on a show of flowers as well.

So, let’s see, scattering them throughout the garden would add some fragrance, help fill in the odd gap here and there, attract beneficial insects and help feed birds. Maybe companion planting can make me a clever gardener after all.

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Gardening is a learning experience

I am grateful for finally having the space to garden as I always knew I could. And I am grateful for being healthy enough to get out there and do it.

I am grateful that gardening is such a popular activity. Its popularity has made possible the wide variety of plants and the nurseries that make them available.

I am grateful for the variety of media available to give me ideas, to spark my imagination and to answer my many questions either through websites, bulleting boards, blogs, podcasts, books, magazines, and to a lesser extent radio and television.

I want to take this opportunity to send my heartiest thank-you to each and every one of my wonderfully talented, generous, caring fellow gardeners who take the time to blog their experiences so beginners like me can learn.

And I have learned a lot this past Spring and Summer. About how plant colors interact with one another. How to put color combinations together to design a ‘cool’ setting or a ‘hot’ setting. About how some colors give the feeling of depth, and how texture can give the illusion of movement. I have also discovered that there are no hard and fast rules. That it is okay to experiment to find your own unique style.

I have begun to learn ‘nursery speak’, the hidden meanings behind words like creeping (invasive) or airy (long and thin).

About what plants won't grow in 'full sun' areas like I was told they would. Without casting too much discredit onto nurseries trying to sell their wares, I realize they look at ‘full sun’ from the view point of warning potential buyers to give the plant at least six hours of direct sun. My experience has now shown me that more than six hours of full sun can be detrimental to the plants health. I probably should have watered more for those particular plants, but I don’t know which plants need more water in the ‘full sun plus’ areas just by reading the warning that they need full sun. Communication is a wonderful thing, but only if all pertinent information is properly conveyed.

I have learned how valuable it is to have someone you can count on to actually water everything when you are on vacation.

I learned I need to start seeds indoors earlier than I did this year. As well as the fact that I can actually make it work.

Another thing I learned is that this can be a pretty expensive hobby if you let it get out of hand. The rewards are far greater though. Being outside in the sun, exercising your knees and back, and shoulders and legs, and neck, and oh, what a workout!

I have learned the true value of a great pair of pruning shears over the economy of a good pair. Likewise with every other garden tool available.

Other rewards come later after you see all of your planning and hard work come to fruition and even if only one person tells you it looks great, then it was worth it. That’s the moment when you take a break, stand back and don’t look at your work with a critical gardeners eye but look at it for the beauty it is and say “You know, it does look good”.

When dozens of birds, butterflies and bees come around to visit, that is when it will really hit me. That I have actually created an environment that is natural enough for wildlife to nourish themselves, find protection and feel comfortable enough to nest here. That is when I know I have achieved something really important and worthwhile.

I already have more than my fair share of birds coming around to all of the feeders I have filled every day for the past three years. I’m used to, daily, seeing a variety of Finches and Doves. I am regularly visited by Hummingbirds, Starlings, Flickers, Mallards, Chick-a-dees and the occasional Red-tailed Hawk. Now I am to the point that I am anxiously looking for the never before seen birds that migrate through here.

This year there were more bees than last year. Next year I hope there will be even more. This year there were only the white cabbage butterfly and once I saw a red butterfly, but next year, there will be more, I’m just sure of it.

I learned that maintaining a garden bed is a lot of work. I was already in tune with the rhythm of digging, amending, planting, feeding, and weeding with vegetables. But this year it was different. This time it is with perennials. I have already gone through three winters of caring for roses and fruit trees and one winter of caring for a few other perennials.

This winter I will be caring for so many more plants than I ever have before and attempting to learn the timing of when to mulch and which plants should be covered and which ones should not that I am really looking forward to how they come through.

Gardening has taught me to accept nature on its terms, and if you can do that and provide its very basic needs then you will be rewarded by the simple yet complex beauty that only nature can provide.

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Vegetables are coming ‘out of the backyard’

I read this report from the Associated Press about vegetable gardens coming out of the backyard and into the front yard.

The reporters ‘spin’ on the story is how the vegetable part of the landscape ‘riles’ neighbors. But as I read the article, what I got out of it was that more and more people are growing their own food. Not that people are ‘upset’ about the looks of it.

Leigh Anders, of Viroqua, Wisconsin tore up about half of her yard and planted vegetables. She says her garden sends a message that anyone can grow at least some of their own food. She is an advocate of taking the responsibility of food supply away from agribusiness and back to our communities. Hooray for her. I absolutely agree.

I think we should have more community gardens. It gets more people out of their houses, away from their television sets, co-mingling with their neighbors, creating a healthy hobby and decreases the dependence on agribusiness.

Food that is shipped to us from who knows where, many times from other countries, raises the cost of that food in order to pay for the fuel and extra handling. When you take into account that food that has to travel so far before it gets to your table, well, lets just say that your local supermarkets claims that their food is ‘fresh’ is stretching it.

We, in the garden blogging universe, know why we grow vegetables, but why would someone grow vegetables in their front yard? I have seen some people’s backyards and it would take a lot of work and expense to get them into a reasonable condition in which to grow food. Unlike their front yards which most people tend to keep better care of because it is what the neighbors see. And frankly, I think that if food is going to be grown at all, it should be wherever space can be made for it.

Of course, you will always find people who ‘get behind’ on the gardening ‘duties’ and let the plot get ‘unruly’ looking. How many yards have you seen that ‘unruly’ look and didn’t see one vegetable growing in it? But that just happens, no big deal, right? It can be fixed. The trouble that some people have with veggies growing in their neighbors front yard is that the plants don’t look as ‘pretty’ as flowers or ‘well-manicured’ shrubs. To this I say ‘lighten up’. Maybe after you tasted some of your neighbors bounty you might want to grow your own vegetables. And just maybe, your own front yard is the only place you have to do it. Ask them why they grow vegetables, maybe it’s the first time you’ve ever spoken to your neighbors. Who knows, you might just strike up a friendship.

Many herb, vegetable and fruit plants look perfectly beautiful when well cared for and are just as legitimate as the traditional front yard fare.

The report referred to victory gardens that were grown during WWII, those were grown more out of necessity rather than trying to ‘save a buck’. Although those of us growing our own sometimes wonder if we really ‘save a buck’. But hey, just having grown our own is it’s own reward and it tastes so much better.

The reporter presented the article in a negative vein by saying the practice of growing vegetables in the front yard ‘riles’ the neighbors. I think the article should have been presented more positively by stating that more people are growing their own vegetables and then maybe, just maybe, if the reporter really thought it was necessary to say so, then the reporter could say something about how some people think it should stay in the backyard. But I don’t think that point has to be brought up.

We need to get more people involved in growing their own food, if not in their own yards then in community gardens. Mainly for the reasons I already mentioned. However, there is another important reason. Lets get our kids started down this path so they will learn the importance of eating healthier (and have a healthier appreciation of nature) and maybe they will stop frequenting these ‘fast-food’ heart-attack factories that pass themselves off as acceptable food sources.

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