Earthling
04-03-2009, 09:45 AM
M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
How Long Has it Been Since You Had a Garden?
By Lucas Proctor
Has it been a while since you had a garden? Have you never had a garden? Does it seem like too much work? Do you not have any yard or space in your yard to plant a garden? These are many questions that may be your objections to having a garden. I say that gardens are so rewarding and giving that to pass up the opportunity to have one is a shame.
Let's work on those concerns.
First Concern: It's been a while since I had a garden. I had a garden growing up at home, but now I've grown up and moved out. I had a garden at my old house, but I've since moved and haven't got around to creating a new one. There are two equally important things to consider in choosing a location for your garden.
One: Gardens need light, lots of light . You need to pick a site for your garden that is optimally in sunlight as much of the day as possible (usually the South side in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa for the Southern Hemisphere). You should also take into account any large structures or trees casting shadows. Light is the power that fuels fruit and vegetable production, so the more you have the better the potential yield.
Two: The other important thing in choosing the location of your garden is just that?the location. There is a time old saying-Out of sight, out of mind. If your garden is in a place out directly out of your sight it will be easily neglected. I suggest placing it in direct view of one of your windows.
The first thing to do after you have chosen your location is preparing the bed/soil. The soil is where all the vitamins, nutrients, and water will be fed to the plant. Generally the average homeowner's soil is not great but not terrible either. Whatever kind of soil you have (unless you have conditioned it for years) it is very beneficial to amend the soil with organic material of sorts. This material can be anything from high-end specialty store bought organic compost to simply shredding up leaves from your yard from last autumn.
You'll need to till the soil in with this organic material. This can be done with a roto-tiller or similar tool. Odds are someone you know owns one of these. If not, they are a common tool at machine rental shops. Once your soil is tilled and amended (and the weather is right) you are ready to plant!
Next Concern: I've never had a garden. I don't know what I need to do to get it going. I don't even own a shovel or any gardening tools. Don't worry. The key is to start small. You don't need a huge plot of unused land to have a garden. It's very easy to convert a sunny flower bed into a very productive small garden.
Mel Bartholomew has a wonderful method of gardening productively in small spaces. You may have heard of it before. It's called Square Foot Gardening. His methodology is very effective and very simple for beginners. He will also be running a column on Meridian describing the process in detail. I have used this method and highly recommend it.
Next Concern: Gardening is too much work. Gardening was the very first job ever prescribed to man. I believe gardening is a way to return the garden where mankind began. It reaches back to our origins. Gardening helps us to appreciate work, and it is not always easy. Gardening is America's #1 most popular hobby. It is work but still can be quite cathartic.
There are many things to do now to eliminate the menial tasks monotony. One of my favorite ways to do this is with new ways to do things. Disney's famed miser Scrooge McDuck has a saying, ?Work smarter, not harder.? I love this idea. There are so many innovations and one of my favorite places to get these is from a company out of New York. Lee Valley Tools has a tool for everything and new and better ways to do things that have always seemed hard or menial. There are many other places with innovative tools/methods as well.
You don't have to have the newest tool to work the smartest. The basic design of the shovel hasn't changed for thousands of years. I also subscribe that nothing works as good as good old fashioned work ethic. What better place to learn this ethic than playing in the dirt?
Last Concern: I don't have any space for a garden. I live in an apartment/townhome. There is no room in my small yard to grow grass let alone food to eat. There are so many people around the world in this situation. I lived in this situation for years. Believe me there is a way to grow things in very small apartments or large townhomes.
I would suggest starting with a window box garden. There are pre-built boxes and pots for this or you can make your own. This can be filled with herbs or flowers or many other things.
If you want to grow things inside you should put your box by a window or use supplemental lighting. There is a new kind of light that uses LEDs as a grow light. This makes it cheap, energy efficient, and space efficient. Most supplemental lighting is very expensive, energy inefficient, and bulky.
How Long Has it Been Since You Had a Garden?
By Lucas Proctor
Has it been a while since you had a garden? Have you never had a garden? Does it seem like too much work? Do you not have any yard or space in your yard to plant a garden? These are many questions that may be your objections to having a garden. I say that gardens are so rewarding and giving that to pass up the opportunity to have one is a shame.
Let's work on those concerns.
First Concern: It's been a while since I had a garden. I had a garden growing up at home, but now I've grown up and moved out. I had a garden at my old house, but I've since moved and haven't got around to creating a new one. There are two equally important things to consider in choosing a location for your garden.
One: Gardens need light, lots of light . You need to pick a site for your garden that is optimally in sunlight as much of the day as possible (usually the South side in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa for the Southern Hemisphere). You should also take into account any large structures or trees casting shadows. Light is the power that fuels fruit and vegetable production, so the more you have the better the potential yield.
Two: The other important thing in choosing the location of your garden is just that?the location. There is a time old saying-Out of sight, out of mind. If your garden is in a place out directly out of your sight it will be easily neglected. I suggest placing it in direct view of one of your windows.
The first thing to do after you have chosen your location is preparing the bed/soil. The soil is where all the vitamins, nutrients, and water will be fed to the plant. Generally the average homeowner's soil is not great but not terrible either. Whatever kind of soil you have (unless you have conditioned it for years) it is very beneficial to amend the soil with organic material of sorts. This material can be anything from high-end specialty store bought organic compost to simply shredding up leaves from your yard from last autumn.
You'll need to till the soil in with this organic material. This can be done with a roto-tiller or similar tool. Odds are someone you know owns one of these. If not, they are a common tool at machine rental shops. Once your soil is tilled and amended (and the weather is right) you are ready to plant!
Next Concern: I've never had a garden. I don't know what I need to do to get it going. I don't even own a shovel or any gardening tools. Don't worry. The key is to start small. You don't need a huge plot of unused land to have a garden. It's very easy to convert a sunny flower bed into a very productive small garden.
Mel Bartholomew has a wonderful method of gardening productively in small spaces. You may have heard of it before. It's called Square Foot Gardening. His methodology is very effective and very simple for beginners. He will also be running a column on Meridian describing the process in detail. I have used this method and highly recommend it.
Next Concern: Gardening is too much work. Gardening was the very first job ever prescribed to man. I believe gardening is a way to return the garden where mankind began. It reaches back to our origins. Gardening helps us to appreciate work, and it is not always easy. Gardening is America's #1 most popular hobby. It is work but still can be quite cathartic.
There are many things to do now to eliminate the menial tasks monotony. One of my favorite ways to do this is with new ways to do things. Disney's famed miser Scrooge McDuck has a saying, ?Work smarter, not harder.? I love this idea. There are so many innovations and one of my favorite places to get these is from a company out of New York. Lee Valley Tools has a tool for everything and new and better ways to do things that have always seemed hard or menial. There are many other places with innovative tools/methods as well.
You don't have to have the newest tool to work the smartest. The basic design of the shovel hasn't changed for thousands of years. I also subscribe that nothing works as good as good old fashioned work ethic. What better place to learn this ethic than playing in the dirt?
Last Concern: I don't have any space for a garden. I live in an apartment/townhome. There is no room in my small yard to grow grass let alone food to eat. There are so many people around the world in this situation. I lived in this situation for years. Believe me there is a way to grow things in very small apartments or large townhomes.
I would suggest starting with a window box garden. There are pre-built boxes and pots for this or you can make your own. This can be filled with herbs or flowers or many other things.
If you want to grow things inside you should put your box by a window or use supplemental lighting. There is a new kind of light that uses LEDs as a grow light. This makes it cheap, energy efficient, and space efficient. Most supplemental lighting is very expensive, energy inefficient, and bulky.