Introduction

WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT?

There is an old saying:  “Red skies in the morning; sailor take warning.”  That’s not an old wives’ tale; it is something you can count on, it means there is a storm on the horizon.  I and many others see another type of storm on the horizon, high food prices like never before.  I remember well the Seventies and the high gas prices with long lines at gas stations, or some with a sign reading “sorry, no gas” and food costs that skyrocketed.

There is another thing that you can depend on; gardening, growing your own food.  Back in the era of World War II, there was an effort on the part of everyday people to have their own gardens.  They were called Victory Gardens and they were designed to offset the costs of the grocery bill and to supplement food rationing and shortages in support of the war efforts.  I believe the time has come to start-up those Victory Gardens again.  Besides, gardening can be very rewarding.  My approach to this Blog will presume that you do not know much about gardening, but if you do, I hope even the most experienced will learn from this Blog.

© NOTICE: Anyone reading this, or watching the video clips; may copy or print all or any portion to share with others; as long as you do not profit from my works.  I want to help people grow their own food, not grow your bank account.  I would prefer that you send them the links to this site and my other locations in orderfor themto read my blogsand view the video clips because the more who visit, the more it will encourage me to keep this going and will let me know that I’m helping others.  I make no claim to endorse or control any advertisements associated with this Blog site, or any other sites where you find my works that are not gardening related. And please, be safe in your garden; by using tools and products properly as well aswearing the appropriate gear and clothing.

FIVE MINUTE GARDENING…  REALLY?

I chose the title Five Minute Gardening because most of what I will write and show you in the video clips, will take only about five minutes to read and view.  Plus, learning gardening in five minute bites will be easier to remember and understand without overload, because for the beginner, gardening can seem intimidating.  I want to keep all that I write and show you as brief but informative as possible; so I will not waste time and space with a lot of anecdotal stories, complicated details and gadgets, just what works for me in my garden.  I want to show you the basics of growing your own food from a production garden.

Gardening is work.  Let’s get that out of the way right up front.  Your plants are going to work hard to produce as much food as possible for you.  The amount of work you put in the garden will have a great effect on what you get out of it and make the plants produce to their maximum.  What I hope to accomplish with this Blog and the accompanying video clips is to help you get as much out of your garden as possible, with the minimum effort.  That sounds like a contradiction to my previous statement, but this can be done without spending all day every Saturday in the garden.  It is an absolute must to visit your garden once every day, rain or shine and I’ll explain that in a moment.  A garden that is healthy and is working for you; will make your care-taking efforts seem more like fun than work.

Your garden can suffer irreversible damage from insects and other elements in less than one hour if conditions are not monitored closely; and most issues can be spotted and dealt with in five minutes if caught early.  Therefore, a daily visit is a must to catch any possible issues before damage is done, but again these visits can be done in about five minutes.  With these things in mind; it should be noted that the garden should be located as close to your house as possible and that leads to my first topic; where to put the garden?  So, with that said, let’s get gardening.

STARTING YOUR OWN PLANTS

STARTING YOUR OWN PLANTS FROM SEED

The reason to start plants, or buy seedlings, is to get an early start on the season to maximize production and to give the little plants extra protection from the hostile elements that could shorten their life.  If you start your own plants you should start about 20% more seeds than you need, because there will be some that fail to sprout or be deformed, so the extra will help cover any loses.  The rule of thumb is to plant seeds indoors about six weeks before the last expected frost date in your area (see zone map below)  and any longer than this is really not necessary; plus your plants might outgrow their containers making them weak.  Starting plants is not just a springtime event; I start plants all season long to have seedlings available to fill in bare spots.These dates are averages and zone maps can differ depending on who made them.   You should check with a local Garden Center or County Agent to better understand the climate in your area.

You do not want to start large seeds such as corn, beans and peas indoors or in containers, because they sprout easier than the smaller seeds, plus they do not require a jump on the season and are usually planted in mass, so you would need a huge amount of containers.  Carrot roots are the part you eat and although the seeds are small, you do not start them indoors because transplanting them will warp the root and you’ll get an odd shaped product that is difficult to process, if you get anything worth eating at all.

Staring plants from seed can be a tedious job and the little plants require almost constant attention because they are so delicate that they can be annihilated in a matter of minutes from insect or weather damage.  Most of the Garden Centers are limited on the varieties of vegetable plants they have and you may not find what you’re looking for.  If you plan to buy seedlings, try to get them as soon as you can to get the healthiest plants and if the roots grow to fill the pot you can transplant them into a lager one until it is safe to put them in the garden.  If you do not find warm weather plants (tomatoes, peppers) for sale at the garden center, ask them if they have them in the greenhouse that you can purchase now, letting them know you are aware they will have to be kept out of the cold for a few weeks.  It is very rewarding to start your own plants, but keep in mind the care they will demand and if you are a beginner, I recommend you buy most of your plants.

STARTING SEEDS WITHOUT SOIL

You will never get 100% of the seeds you plant to sprout and be healthy seedlings; especially if the seeds are from last year.  By the way, check the date on the back of the seed package before you buy them, because the current year’s seeds are best and as seeds age the sprouting percentage goes down significantly.

I use a method that helps me select the best sprouts to go into the container they will grow in (seed video).  I take a dinner plate and lay a paper towel, or tissue, on the plate and then wet the paper; then drain off the excess water.  Be sure the paper does not have additives such as lotions or fragrances that might inhibit sprouting.  Then I sprinkle the seeds (don’t crowd them) on the paper and cover them with another piece of tissue; then cover the plate with plastic wrap to keep them moist because if they dry out even once, they will most likely die.  I sow enough seed for what I will need for now and save the rest for planting a second, or third, crop later.  I place the plate in a warm spot until they sprout.  Some will take a week or more to sprout, but most will sprout in a few days, so check them every day and be prepared to transplant them into pots.

When the sprouts are standing up above the tissue paper, I select the healthiest looking ones; gently removing them from the paper by grasping the leaf, not the stem or you will crush it, or lifting them with a flat implement like a plastic knife  and plant them in the containers with potting soil.  Be careful not to pull so hard that you tear the roots off and wetting the paper again will help loosen them and a little tissue paper stuck to the root will not harm them.  After three weeks, any seeds that haven’t sprouted are not likely to do so (read the package) and you can throw these away.  What I like most about this method is that I can be sure of exactly what will occupy every container of soil — one good, healthy seedling per container.

If I just planted the seeds in the containers I would have to plant at least two seeds per container to help overcome the odds of seed failure.  Some would have one seedling, some two or three and some with none.  Then I would have to transplant the extra seedling into the container with none or to replace a sickly looking seedling; thereby increasing the risk of damaging both plants.  This is the traditional method and I do plant some seeds this way, but I start most of my seeds using the wet tissue paper.

The tissue paper method requires a watchful eye, because as soon as the seedlings stand up; you must move them to a container of soil within a day or two, or they will become spindly, weak and the roots will be entangled.  So if you do not have the time for this method, or have an abundance of seeds; sow them directly into soil-filled containers as directed on the package.  Regardless of which method you use; it is wise to have a few extra seedlings on hand in the event one or two get damaged.

POTTING SOIL AND CONTAINERS

Whichever container you choose to use to grow your plants; they require a rich soil and enough space for good root growth.  I buy potting soil because garden soil tends to be too harsh on the little plants and bagged potting soils are usually free of insects and diseases.  The plastic trays that plants come in at the garden center can be saved and reused the following year as long as they are clean in order to prevent disease.

There are many types of starter kits on the market, but because I buy some plants every year and save the containers I have enough on hand to start my own seedlings.  These packets come in a variety of sizes, typically in six-packs consisting of six cells per packet and in a tray (or flat) of twelve packs, so a flat of six-packs can grow 72 seedlings.  Depending on what you are going to grow and how long they will be in the packets, will determine which size to use, but most do just fine in the standard six-pack cell.

Any nurseryman will tell you that 90% of plant failure is a direct result of water supply, ether not enough or too much.  I water my seedlings before setting them outside for the day by bottom watering which is done by setting the packets in a tray of water for about five minutes to allow the soil to soak up the water.  Bottom watering helps keep the nutrients from being washed out of the soil and this watering method also helps prevent a fungal disease known as damping-off.  This disease usually strikes during the night so avoid late watering if you can.

I set my trays out during the day if the temperature is at least 45 degrees and place them in an area that is mostly sunny but shaded or dappled light in the afternoon to keep the cells from drying out, as they will do rapidly on a warm day.  I bring them in at night to prevent damage from frost or animal marauders and damping-off.  After a few weeks they can be outside at all times, unless there is a frost or severe weather in the forecast.  Keep a water source next to them at all times so you can give them a quick drink if needed.

The best situation would be to have some form of a greenhouse to control the atmosphere the seedling will be in.  The plastic cover of the starter kits will be helpful for the first week of growth, but the seedlings will quickly outgrow this cover and it might make the little things too delicate to put outside on a windy day.  I get my seedlings outside in the sun and gentle winds when they first pop-up out of the soil, or as soon as possible to strengthen them for the garden; sometimes that is just one day a week, but it makes a tremendous difference.  If you start your plants indoors and cannot get them outside soon, then keep them away from excessive heat and if grown near or in a window, they will lean toward the light so something reflective such as a mirror on the opposite side will help balance the lighting.  Artificial lighting is great, but the systems can be cost prohibitive.  The sooner you can get the seedlings outside to get sunlight, the better the will grow.

AMENDING YOUR SOIL

pH, VERY IMPORTANT…DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!

The pH of your garden soil is critical.  It’s like the conductor of the symphony, or the key to unlock the door to the nutrients, so the plants can get to the amendments you added.  If this isn’t correct (too high or too low) your plants will not be able to absorb all the nutrient amendments you added and will be sickly, subject to insect attacks, diseases and just sit there unproductive.

The pH test you do every year will tell whether to add ground limestone or sulfur (best done in the fall to let it work into the soil) to bring your soil to an acceptable number.  The pH test range is between 0-14 with 0 being very acidic and 14 being very alkaline and 7.0 as neutral.  Generally speaking, the soil in the eastern United States is usually on the acidic side of neutral and the soil in the western United States is usually on the alkaline side of neutral.  Most vegetables do well with a number slightly below neutral around 6.5, but don’t sweat the decimal point.  The bag of limestone or sulfur will have the manufacturer’s recommendations of how much to add, based on you test.  You can also use this first addition of lime to help you mark the outline of your garden plot like is done for a football field.

Note: Do not use limestone in the area you are going to plant potatoes because they need a slightly more acidic soil than most plants and a sweet soil will promote diseases on potatoes.

COMPOSTING… OVERRATED

In short, composting is the process of managing a pile of decaying vegetation, such as leaves, grass clippings, etc. and allowing the materials to rot (decompose) for a period of time into fine particles which in turn feed the plants.  This can be accomplished in a matter of weeks by turning over the pile every few days, or if left sitting can take a year; but I find that successive rains will wash away a lot of the good elements of the organic materials.  I practiced composting for many years and still have a compost pile, but I use it as a dumping ground for excess waste vegetation, such as cornstalks and weeds, that will eventually rot to the point it can be useful in the garden.

There are volumes written about the wonderful world of composting and this practice does have its merits, but I prefer to skip all that work and get the materials right into the ground where they can do the most good.  Compost is truly the black gold of garden soil amendments; so when I say composting is overrated I mean that I prefer to get the gold into the bank (my garden) right away to gain the maximum interest as soon as possible.  The creatures living in the soil (in particular the earthworms) will do most of the work.  I believe there is no better fertilizer than the excrement of earthworms, also known as worm castings, which are digested leaves.  Something you may have seen before on a ball field; it looks like small lumps of dirt in the morning when the dew is on the grass.

BRINGING IN THE LEAVES

I find no better soil conditioner than chopped leaves and best of all they are free.  All those leaves you have been raking up and taking to the landfill or burning will do wonders for any garden.  You may compost them, but I prefer to skip all that work and get them right into the garden. (Episode Two)

I take the leaves to a spot in my yard and scatter them in a thin layer and then run my mower over them several times to chop them into small pieces, aiming the side discharge shoot toward the center so as to end up with a row of chopped leaves.  This will help the leaves break down faster, make them easier to handle and they will not blow around so much.  Leaves make an excellent mulch to help retain soil moisture, prevent weed growth and feed the earthworms and plants.  After running the leaves over with my mower I attach the mower bag and vacuum them up with the mower and take them to the garden.  After vacuuming up the leaves, I usually have to rake the spot in my yard where I did this to get all the smaller pieces up off the grass.  If I am ready for them to go on the ground, I spread them on in about a 3” layer.  At this point you can till them in, or let them lay on top as mulch around the plants, but do not cover seeds with leaves or they will block the sunlight and the seeds will not sprout.  If you’re not ready to use them, you can bag them to have on hand when you need them and you can never have too many leaves to add, so get as many as you can.  In the fall you can just till them in whole without the chopping step, but save some for the spring as mulch.

KEEP ON THE GRASS

Fresh grass clippings are loaded with nitrogen.  If you’ve ever piled up grass clippings and came back a few hours later; you likely found them to be very hot and smelling like ammonia; that’s the nitrogen at work.  Nitrogen is an element that is critical to leaf growth on plants, so if you’re going to plant spinach or other leafy vegetables, this nutrient is needed in hefty doses.  Also, a combination of brown leaves and green grass clippings will make the compost pile break down fast and steam will rise from the pile as you turn it over.  Grass clippings need to be processed almost immediately while they are loose and easy to handle.  If left in a pile on the ground they will soon become unmanageable and when dry will be like a woven mat.

You can till grass clippings into the soil, or sprinkle them on top of the shredded leaves (mulch) and they will act like a mat to hold the shredded leaves in place.  If I do not have enough leaves for mulch, I use grass clippings as mulch.  Any green leaf materials will do wonders for the soil, these are known as green manure; so save the kitchen scraps for the garden, but do not use meat scraps.  Your neighbors might bag their clippings to go to the landfill, so ask them if you can have them, keeping in mind that they must be used almost immediately.  Be sure to ask if they have used any chemicals on their lawn such as weed killers or insecticides because most weed killing chemicals will kill your vegetable plants.

MANURE

When you hear someone say that manure is hot, they are not necessarily referring to its temperature.  Fresh manure is generally acidic (or hot) high in nitrogen and; if fresh manure comes into contact with the plant roots, it will burn the roots and could actually kill the plants.  If you have a dog and a lawn you know what I mean.  However, after the deposit of a dog or other animal has aged, you may notice that the grass in that spot is now lush and deep green in color.  That’s because the surrounding grass that survived the burn is now benefiting from the nutrients in the manure.  However, do not use dog or cat waste in your garden.

Manure was and still is the best fertilizer, but for convenience, consistency and cost, many farmers use chemical fertilizers.  This has an obvious advantage to manure, but one disadvantage is soil condition, or the lack there of.  The manures you might find in your area are (in order of “hot” to coolest) chicken, cow, horse and rabbit.  Adding a few inches of manure in the spring and mid summer will feed the plants very well. (Episode Two)

There are a multitude of bagged manures on the market and they are composted and ready to add without fear of burning the roots.  I add fresh when I have nothing else, but this should be done with care not to get close to the roots.  I place fresh manure several inches from the base of the plants and in a shallow trench and then cover it with soil.  By the time the roots get to the manure, it has cooled to the point that roots are less likely to burn.  Composted or not, if you find a source of free manure take it!  Keeping fresh manure in a pile to compost for months or a season will lower the burn factor; be sure to cover the pile with a tarp to keep the rain from washing away the nutrients.  I have never paid for manure, but I have paid to have it delivered.  Most people who have these animals have more manure than they can use and will gladly give it to you, but they will likely want you to load and haul it.  If you want to be purely organic in your gardening, you’ll want to know what they feed their animals.

ROTOTILLER… OR NOT

If you are just beginning a garden then you will likely need a rotor-tiller to break up the ground and to add your amendments.  You do not have to own one, but if you rent one, get the biggest and most powerful one they have, even if you have to wait a week to reserve the rental.  A five horse power, or more, will make the job a whole lot easier because you will have to go over the area at least three times and go as deep as you can to do this right.  This initial ground breaking can be done by hand with a shovel if your soil is soft enough to do so and I’ll touch on that in the second half of the video titled Episode Two.  Basically it is just plunging the shovel into the ground to the full depth of the blade and then flipping over the resulting core of dirt.

Although the majority of plant roots are in the top few inches, tilling deep will break up the subsoil and allow the deep reaching roots to find water easier.  I would avoid the tillers with the tines in the front as these tend to be hard to control and are almost more work than they are help.  A rear tined tiller (blades that spin behind the drive wheels) is easier by far to operate and in my opinion does a better job.  However, if a front tine tiller is all that is available then you will have to settle for that.  Take the whole day to till the garden if you have to, add all the amendments you need and all you can get for this first tilling.  This is the main event; so have all the additives you need: limestone, sand, leaves, manure, compost, on site and ready to go!  You can put on the amendments first, days before, if you want to save some rental time later while using the tiller.

Renting a tiller will be costly, but trust me it is worth every penny.  If you have neighbors close by, talk with them about sharing the tiller and the rental fee.  If you are going to pick up the tiller; get to the rental shop as soon as it opens to use every minute of the day’s rental to get your money’s worth.  The more you till the better the mixing and the better conditioning elements will be worked into the soil.  Another possibility is that a farmer in your area might come over with his tractor and disk to till the area for a reasonable fee and this will reduce tilling time to minutes instead of hours.  Once you have your soil conditioned to the best consistency, you’ll find you do not need a tiller as much, if at all.  I practice what is called no-till gardening, where you add amendments to the top of the soil, or scratch them into the top layer.  Look at the forest floor and you will see that is how nature does it.  However, you need to do that first tilling to condition the soil; especially if you’re adding sand because your soil is mostly clay.

Never try to go full depth with a tiller on the first and probably not the second or third pass, or the tiller will buck out of control, depending on the ground you’re working.  Run the tiller over the entire area and overlap as you go to ensure you get all the ground tilled; then after you finish the first pass (left and right) till in a perpendicular direction, back and forth, alternating after each pass until reaching the full depth capacity of the tiller.

If you choose to add the amendments as you go; then after the first or second pass you can add your amendments and till them into the ground.  This will allow you to see the ground you’re tilling and give you an idea of how things are going; as well as allowing you to see what the dirt below is like.  Some say that you must remove the grass (sod) from the garden area before tilling; I say phooey, that’s more unnecessary work.  You’re going to grind it to a pulp anyway and sod is organic material so let it stay.  Besides, you’re going to mulch the garden, so the grass will not be an issue.  If you’re concerned about the grass coming back, you can kill it by covering it up for a few weeks, but who has the time for that?

NEXT ENTRY: STARTING YOUR OWN SEEDLINGS

LOCATION AND CONTEMPLATION

WHERE DO I LOCATE MY GARDEN?

Just as it is said in the real-estate business, when it comes to gardening, the first thing to be considered is location, location, location.  To grow vegetables you must have at the least six (6) hours of direct sunlight and more is better, naturally.  When selecting your location; keep in mind anything that will cause shadows in the early and late parts of the growing season; such as trees, buildings, etc.  As the season progresses, some spots that do not get direct sunlight early, or late in the season might get the required hours of sunlight as the arc of the sun changes, allowing you to grow the mid-season crops in this area.

Your garden can be located on a sloped area, but you will have to construct the garden beds in stepped areas or leveled terraces to keep the plants and soil from washing away.  You can also locate your garden in a low sitting area that stays moist, but not damp or wet; however, you will have to build raised beds (beds framed by wood boards or some other materials) to keep plant roots out of excessive water in order to keep them from rotting, but keep in mind that these raised beds will add to the cost of establishing your garden.  The best spot is a sunny area, as level as possible and away from areas prone to flooding or washout in heavy rains.  This will make working in and around the garden as comfortable as possible.

I mentioned in the location video to stay away from trees and roadsides.  This is because the roots of trees will grow far beyond the branch lines (the outer edge of the tree branches) and trees will rob nutrients that the vegetables need to grow; so keep back about 20 feet from the branch line.  This also makes working the soil easier by not having to constantly fight with tree roots.  Roadsides tend to carry pollutants from the road surfaces into your yard and a garden close to the road will be tempting to garden raiders (animal and human) looking for a snack, or mischief.

EXAMINING THE SOIL

There is absolutely NOTHING more important in gardening than soil preparation!  If your soil is not prepared, you are wasting your time and money because plants will not produce without the sweat of your brow from your efforts in amending the soil, sunshine and water notwithstanding.  If you have good ground, you will still have to add some nutrient amendments every year, but the initial preparations are absolutely necessary for a healthy productive garden.  Soil amending is best done in the fall, but at the writing of this entry it is spring here so some things will be done slightly different than fall preparations; primarily the use of fresh manures.  This soil preparation effort now will save you headaches later.

Dirt and soil are words used synonymously, but they are not exactly the same thing.  Soil is the darker top layer of the ground that contains the nutrients plants need to grow; such as organic matter and beneficial organisms that contribute to plant growth.  This top layer is where the majority of the vegetable roots will grow to take in the nutrients needed to produce vegetables.

There are three basic soil types: sandy, clay and loam.  Sandy soil is generally dry, loose and drains very quickly with very little organic nutrients.  Clay soil is as hard as rock; it cracks when dry and it is slimy or sticky when wet and it drains very slowly; but surprisingly it has a good bit of nutrients and that is one reason why it usually has a swamp smell.  Loam is a combination of sand and clay soil with plenty of humus (decayed organic material) it retains moisture but drains well and has a rich earthy odor, but this soil type is a rarity in most areas.  Nevertheless, with a little effort and a lot of humus, just about any soil can be made ready for gardening.

To determine what soil type you have, dig a few sample holes in the area you have selected for your garden (view episode one) and examine the type of ground you have.  Take a sample of the dirt and sift out the large rocks then fill a clear plastic jar (such as a plastic mayonnaise jar) half full of your sample dirt and then fill the jar the rest of the way with water, screw on the lid tightly.  Shake the jar thoroughly and let it sit undisturbed for 24 hours, then hold it up to the light and examine the results.  The dirt will settle into layers; rocks and sand on the bottom followed by clay and then humus on top.  Bits of leaves and other light materials will float to the top.  This simple test will give you an idea of what soil type you have.

There are good soil nutrient test kits on the market, but unless you send the sample to a lab you really cannot get the whole picture and your soil will differ from one area of your yard to another.  However a pH test is an important test and I recommend doing this test.  Plus, as I said before, you will have to add amendments every year (not as much as the first year) so we will assume you need to add everything.  You may import top soil to your garden area, but many questions can arise and the most important is:  where did it come from and is it contaminated with unwanted chemicals, or insects, etc?  Unless your soil is all sand or all clay, it is best to avoid importing your garden soil, or be sure it is clean and tested.

If your soil is mostly clay, you might want to add sand; DO NOT USE BEACH SAND because it contains too much salt, you want to use what is called clean builder’s sand.  A two inch layer of sand should be sufficient for most soils and this will likely require a dump truck load.

If your soil is mostly sand then you will need lots of humus.  No soil can have too much humus, but you can add more humus than the plants will need for this growing season, so it is best to add humus periodically and save the rest for fall or next year.  However, if this is the first (groundbreaking) year, then add as much as you can get.  Soil is a symphony of elements and if any of the players are missing, or if there is too much of one and not enough of another, the plants will not produce as they should; so add a balance of amendments.