Getting Started with Gardening

INTRODUCTIONS
Gardening is an art form, a scientific endeavor, a craft to be studied, and a way of engaging with the natural world. People come to gardening for many different reasons, not the least of which is to grow some food for themselves. At the same time, gardeners experience a complex interaction between humans and their environment which is both exhilarating and humbling!

While you can garden your whole life and still be learning, you don’t need a ton of training to get a few seeds started and enjoy the fruits of your labor. There are many ways to learn…we recommend taking classes, reading books, and consulting with your fellow gardeners, but above all – get out there and try things! You probably know more than you think.

Here are some basic tips to get you started. This is not meant to be an exhaustive instruction sheet, but merely a place to get you started and encourage you to get out there and try it. There are many many garden resources in our community and on the web for you to check out as well. And often, your fellow gardeners are the best source of information – ask a question about a particular pest, and you might end up with a new recipe for cooking swiss chard!

SITE
Where you garden will determine to some extent what and how much you can grow, but just about any location can support some gardening – even if it’s just a pot in a windowsill!

• backyard – Just about every vegetable wants “full sun” – defined at 6-8 hours per day of direct sunlight, although some will survive with less. Generally, you want your sunniest spot for the veggie garden. Go outside and look around your yard. Notice big trees and houses and other things that cast a shadow. If the sunniest part is taken by your lawn – consider converting some of it to raised beds for herbs and vegetables. Also think about how you’ll get water to it, and how hard it will be for you to maintain.

• community garden – if you don’t have yard, or if yours it too shady or small, why not get a plot in a community garden? Not only do you get a lot of sunny space with a hose right nearby, you can call on the expertise of all your fellow gardeners if you have a question!

• containers – No space in your yard and no time for a community garden plot? Just about anything you can grow in the ground can be grown in a pot.

SOIL
Good soil is perhaps the most important part of a healthy garden. The soil is how the plants get fed, so if there isn’t healthy soil, plants go hungry. Healthy soil makes healthy plants. Soil is a complex living system, and unfortunately most urban soil has been neglected or abused. But there are ways to improve it and make it a better place for plants to live! There are many things you can add to the soil to bring it to life, and they fall in two main categories: organic matter and fertilizer.

• organic matter – organic matter is any type of matter that will rot and break down to feed the soil. Leaves, straw, compost (organic matter that has already rotted), cover crops (plants grown for the sole purpose of improving the soil), the City of Tacoma’s TAGRO product, and manure are a few ways of adding organic matter. No matter what kind of soil you have, adding organic matter will help improve its tilth and texture. You can add it in the beginning of the year before you plant, and also again at the end before you put the garden to rest. Here’s a good website to help explain…

• fertilizer – your plants need many important nutrients to grow. Adding organic matter to the soil is one good way to get these nutrients into the soil, but many vegetables need an additional boost of fertilizer to produce well. Again, there are a number of ways to fertilizer your garden. Most nurseries sell a number of different fertilizer blends, both organic and non-organic, or you can make your own from a number of different sources easily found at feed and agricultural shops. TAGRO also works as a fertilizer in addition to being a good source of organic matter.

SUN
All plants need sun to make their own food, and vegetables need more than most. Plants will get tall and spindly (leggy) if they are not getting enough sun. Most all vegetable and fruiting plants want it to be as sunny as possible, but some plants will do better than others in shade. Lettuce, radishes, onions and parsley are examples of some that should be ok in partial shade.

WATER
All plants need water to grow, and learning how much is the right amount is one of the tricky parts of gardening. When seeds are new and sprouting, it’s important to water often to keep the seed moist while it is germinating – they don’t have large root systems to go looking for water. As the plants grow, it is better to water deeply, but less often, to encourage the roots to go deep to find water.

• mulching (the process of adding organic matter on top of the soil) can help reduce the amount of water that is needed because it prevents evaporation and keeps the soil cool. It also prevents weeds from sprouting and germinating. Leaves, straw, burlap bags or composted bark are all ways to mulch the soil in a garden.

• timing – watering your garden in the morning is best – it is still cool so the water won’t be wasted by evaporating before the plants can use it. Evening is also another good time to water to conserve water, but some plants (tomatoes, pepper, eggplants, squash) don’t like to have their leaves wet all night and it can encourage disease.

PLANTS – there are 2 basic ways to get plants for your garden – either from seeds, or by buying baby plants (starts). Some plants are semi-hardy, and can be planted outside in the cold spring. Some are tender and need to be kept protected until we’re sure it’s not going to freeze. A good way to learn is to find a rack of seeds in your nearby local nursery, and read the seed packs. They may not tell you everything you need to know, but they’ll give you a good idea which seeds you can be planting in February, and which ones better wait until May.

Here’s a list of seeds you can plant outside and when:

April:
chives and leeks and green onions
carrots
cilantro
fennel
dill
parsley
arugula
broccoli
brussel sprouts
radishes
mustard greens
lettuce spinach
swiss chard
beets
peas
potatoes

May:
All of the above, plus
beans
corn
squash
basil
cucumbers

Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants can be planted once the weather warms up, but be sure to buy the baby plants – seeds started now won’t make it. When you plant, a good rule of thumb is that the seed should be planted twice as deep as the size of the seed, i.e. very small seeds can be sprinkled on top and covered lightly, bigger seeds should be planted deeper into the soil.