Review ('08) First Garden, Overview

One of the reasons we bought this house was because of the lot. It was large for city standards (nearly an acre) and got good sun, perfect for growing a garden. Our plan was to grow some of our own food, partially in reaction to the news about genetically modified plants, so we were extremely conscientious about the sources of our plants. We knew we wanted heirloom seeds, the kind that could be collected and used next growing season.

So we made our plans for our garden. Five long rows and two small beds made up our garden.

We chose to use the “no-till” method, primarily because we did not have a tiller, nor did we want the expense of renting one (expense, by the way, is a major motivator behind the garden, that is, the reduction of expense. Therefore, whenever possible, we tried to use methods that were inexpensive or free, using what we had on hand rather than buying new things, and looking for used tools when we could). After reading more about it, however, we likely would have chosen this method of gardening anyway, for all its benefits. 

In the Fall of ’07, we started heaping grass clippings on the spot where we intended to have our garden. On top of this, we tossed out our kitchen scraps. It was our first attempt at composting. Steve (my friend who told me about the no-till method) saw this and said we weren't actually composting so much as trashing up the space. It did look terrible, I have to admit.

But, in the Spring, we were rewarded with mostly decomposed grass and kitchen scraps. We piled these into mounds, leaving the ground bare where the grass/garbage had been. Then we covered these bare strips with cardboard, and covered the mounds with newspaper. If we'd overlapped these a little better, we might have avoided the crabgrass that worked its way up from between the two surfaces.

Our city has a wonderful yard waste recycling center, and our friend Steve brought a big load of mulch, which we spread over the cardboard. He also brought a fresh load of compost. We mixed the compost with some unpleasant-looking dirt that had been dumped in the back of our lot, (probably removed to build the pond). Another friend, Chris, brought us a big pile of decomposed horse manure. I don't think I can express how grateful I am to Chris for that load of horseshit. It made all the difference in our garden.

These three ingredients went on top of the newspaper, making garden-looking mounds on top of our hidden grass/compost/newspaper stuff.

We wove a waddle fence, but after finishing the front half, we decided that there was not enough time for building the fence all the way around, and so, we sprung for some chicken wire.

Starting plants from seed is a good way to reduce cost, but we noticed that we had not properly anticipated the number of pots we would ultimately need. The pots we had consisted of pots from plants that had gone to plant heaven, and a couple of used pots we picked up at the thrift store. This was not nearly enough. I started making pots from paper, but could not make enough for all the plants. Because of this, I have already begun making/saving pots for next year. I should have plenty.

Another difficulty in starting plants indoors was finding enough space next to the sunny window for all of them.

We eventually planted all of our starts, and sowed some directly into the soil. This year, we grew 2 kinds of tomatoes, 3 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of basil, some potatoes, other spices, cucumbers, melons, lettuce mix, corn, beans, squash, greens, peas, turnips, broccoli. Mixed success.