Five Tips for Gardening Success

I’d like to start by saying that I am SOOOO excited about my garden this year! We’ve spent the last four years in VT where the growing season was short and sweet, but our migration to western NC means a much longer growing season, possibly even with year round production if done correctly. But this isn’t my first time growing in the south. I spent three years managing a learning garden in GA, but I focused on spring and fall crops that could be planted, grown and harvested quickly by the students who planted the garden. This will, however, be my very first experience managing my very own garden in the south where I can figure out the tricks to keep veggies coming year round! How cool is that?

As my first planting of seeds are beginning to mature, I can’t express the joy that I get from seeing the reward. Much time, money and energy has gone into establishing my garden, and now I’m starting to reap the rewards. I just harvested my first round of baby beet greens, and my lettuce and spinach are nearly ready to start eating. This marks the start of a season with less money spent at the grocery store and a more heavy reliance on foods that are as fresh as it gets. I truly love this time of year. 

I wanted to encourage my readers to experiment with gardening this year no matter how big or small of a space you have. For me, this means a 30′ x 40′ vegetable plot (plus all of the other perennial crops that I won’t go into right now), but this certainly isn’t for everyone. So, if you’re new to gardening, consider the following tips to help you get started on gardening success!

1. Start Small

Ever heard the saying “go big or go home?” Well, it doesn’t apply to gardening. A better motto would be “don’t bite off more than you can chew.” You can even start as small as having a few large pots with herbs, lettuces, or tomatoes. An 8’x4′ raised bed is another good option. Just remember that you have to weed and water. You can always do more in consecutive years, so don’t go crazy… pick something that’s manageable. 

2. Add Compost

Don’t feed your plants, feed your soil. Dark brown soil with specks of sand is a good indicator of healthy soil. Unfortunately, many people don’t start with something this glamorous, which means you’ll need compost…. lots of compost or manure. Try bagged mushroom compost or manure from hardware stores for easy transport and low mess. You can even fill an entire raised bed or pot with mushroom compost and plant directly into it. I have an 8’x4′ raised bed that I filled with a mixture of soil conditioner and mushroom compost, which is an excellent option. Both products were found in bags at Lowes Hardware. For my larger garden, I had mushroom compost delivered in a dump truck. 

3. Seed Selection

I think this is probably where most people go wrong. Don’t buy just any old seeds, especially those found at huge box stores or grocery stores. You need a variety that’s appropriate for your climate, which means reading seed descriptions to see if it meets your needs. For example, I select slow to bolt varieties of lettuce and spinach for spring crops since heat will be a limiting factor. I then select lettuces and spinach with frost tolerance for winter plantings since frost will be a limiting factor. The following seed companies are great options:

Turtle Tree Seeds – this is one of my faves. The plants and seeds are grown and harvested by mentally handicapped adults as just one of their many business ventures to support wonderful, working communities for people who are typically ignored and disregarded by our society. My sister actually lives in one of these communities and has never been happier. 

High Mowing Seeds – a VT-based company with all organic seeds and again, lots of heirlooms.

4. Plant Selection 

When it comes to buying plants, I’ve found the absolute best thing is to grow plants from the farmers – they’ll know which varieties work best for your climate. Grow what the farmers are growing. Local farmers are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to small scale gardening. Head down to your local farmer’s market and you’re bound to find a huge selection of ready-to-plant vegetables and herbs. 

5. Water

Knowing when and how to water can be a bit of challenge for most people. When you’ve just planted seeds or plants, I recommend watering at least every other day if there’s no rain till roots are well-established (this will take 2-3 weeks depending on the plant/seed). You can then space the waterings out to just once or twice a week depending on the rain. You also want to water much more than you think is necessary. It takes a lot of water to soak the soil. I like to water for a while, dig down into the soil about 2″ and you’ll be able to easily see whether you’ve soaked the soil or just the surface. 

I hope this helps you get started on gardening success! Feel free to ask questions by posting in the comments below.