I know...it's the middle of May. But if you are not on the hunt for plants seeds etc long before this, you may be out of luck on some items. We gardeners get a little antsy at the first sign of spring. Because this year may be different, with California and other western states in drought, you might have occasionally thought about or worried about the price of food. Yes, eventually food will come from other parts of the world. And we can pray that California is not going to go through the whole fifteen to twenty years of drought that is predicted.But it is still going to cost more. I work in food bank. I know how stretched budgets are....... I would like to share some ideas with you to encourage you to try and grow your own. No, it doesn;t have to be a half an acre of garden or more. Nor does it have to fulfill every requirement of your household. Any effort you make will not only grow food for yourself and others, it might just lessen your anxiety a bit. And that is a good thing. It might lead you to visit farmers markets..where food is cheaper fresher and locally grown. another bonus.Depending on farms a thousand mile away or more has always seemed a bit nuts to me. and carbon footprint? sheesh, commercially grown produce uses tractors to plant weed and harvest, the fertilizer chemicals are made in a plant somewhere..more use of fuel...and might we add, it takes fuel to pump the water out of the ground to irrigate.....and then we use trucks trains etc to transport to markets. Small organic plots use no chemical fertilizers, but can use up anything compostable as additions, and manure to boot. Time to market and fuel used...negligible. As well, organic gardening sequesters carbon. significant amounts of carbon. Less waste less dumping and a partial answer to the fierce scientific and governmental pressure to end carbon dioxide overload and lower the chances of global warming (though THAT science is full of holes, I am listing some of the benefits of growing in your backyard or buying locally to make a point! that we CAN solve these huge problems by sensible use and management of wastes...) It's easy. you need sunlight, a plot of ground or pots, access to water during dry periods. and you should have a usable crop.If you have extra of a crop, share it with neighbors or take it to the local food bank. they will be glad to distribute it. ( I say this as the overabundance of lettuce means I will be sharing some of it...though the chickens can eat some..) You can also satisfy the urge to recycle by using cast offs to grow plants. Old pots, old red rider wagons, old children;s toys...all it needs it the ability to hold enough soil for a plant, and a way to drain excess water. If it has wheels you can follow the sun! If soil is too hard to get to your new garden, consider lining the bottom parts of the pots with hay mulch bricks....anything natural.Concentrate your soil compost and manure in the top eight inches, that's the veggie love zone. You can also create an herb garden in very little space. I've seen herb spirals (made of stones and just little pockets of soil where you plant the herbs) herb sundials or clock shaped wheels, and massive beds of just herbs.You can set herbs in a sunny window and enjoy lovely additions to your meals. Frankly, I plant some of them near the house in old flowerpots of all shapes, and the rest I broadcast in the garden, no rows, no worrying about what grows with what.dill and cilantro will usually return on their own, and I plant a LOT of basil. this year they will be inside the large tomato cages I got on purpose for my multi planted style. I'm tired of tying up or cutting off tomato plants for being too large!I should mention I do use tomato fertilizer--tomato tone--and bury egg shells near tomatoes for the calcium I not only sow my beds with as many different species as I can, I plan on a second harvest. I have broccoli brussel sprouts and kale and collards, ready to be started indoors in July and planted out in August. it leaves enough time to grow the crop out before killing frost; light frost just sweetens the veggies and makes them better. I will oversow with peas turnips etc..if we get a crop great if not we have a cover crop in place to hold the soil in winter.we do cover with leaves too..with ten acres of trees, leaves are some of our best amendments. The broccoli will go in ( freshly amended with lime manure etc) the bed that now hold garlic and shallots.That bed is worked in the fall before planting...and this last year, I raised the bed even further by packing straw between three rows. this is to make sure the garlic isn;t too wet; last year;s crop had soft husks.What it does for future crops is add tremendous lift and lightness. there is no evidence of clay in the bed at all!( and even my newest areas, when I dig a hole the area is covered in worms. down into that clay, it's amazing.). I also mist water. no longer popular, but I use it on hot days to cool the whole area off, and I use it because the organic beds hold so much water, it isn;t as if I can even judge when I have watered deeply enough( we have had thunderstorms so severe we have a lake by the back door..but the beds are pristine and only damp....). I mist water until the top of the soil is sparkly with drops. Only grow what you like. you do not need to grow every veggie on the planet. You can start with standard varieties and venture into heirloom territory as you get more comfortable with choosing what your family really loves. For us, it's greens and herbs, tomatoes and onions and garlic Corn and potatoes and such, we buy locally.
As I have previously posted, i try fun things to get my grandson interested, A potato and strawberries in a child's cart, sunflowers in a sweater box in an old red wagon...a circle of popcorn up near the house. I'm not worried about a crop, just with teaching him to love plants. By his age, his mother would wander out and munch on the cherry tomatoes.... It's easy to change to organic gardening, you might have to buy compost the first year, and the manure, but filling a pot with dirt and magic stuff, or digging square foot holes you can amend and raise, these things are easy, you can even pick a spot, layer your amendments with straw, up to eighteen inches, and open up holes and put in transplants. you get a no weed easy garden and the best start to next year you can imagine.( we also have to add lime here, the wood ashes from the fireplace don't alter the ph enough...and I like garden tone, a simple slow acting fertilizer. the garden tone and lime cost me about $15 a year) You can do this. you can stop being afraid of circumstances that raise the price of groceries. If you really have no way to plant, please visit those farmers markets.Keeping the local guys in business helps ensure you always have food available! ( I can;t afford organic meats at the prices the locals want....they also sell to much more upscale areas and price for them., not us. it is a shame.) |
Faith and ReasonA grandma's perspective on a few things.. Archives
May 2020
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