Home Gardens
Growing your own food is essential to improving your self-sufficiency. No matter how much food you’re able to grow, it all helps. The more you grow, the less you have to buy at the store.
When you grow your own food, you know exactly how it has been grown. If you wish, you can grow organically, using non-hybrid “heirloom” seeds, assuring that you get the healthiest, tastiest and most nutritious food possible.
No matter how small your living space, you can still grow some of your own food, even if it’s just sprouts, herbs, or a couple of tomato plants.
Start a home garden
A garden in your yard can be as small or large as you wish and have space for. A 4′x4′ area can produce a lot of food, particularly if you do “intensive” gardening.
There are many different methods, styles, techniques, and theories of gardening. We suggest you visit your local nursery and ask their advice. They know the soil and climate in your area. You can also check with your local gardening clubs or, if you live in the United States, your local agricultural advisor or Master Gardeners branch.
The basic steps of gardening are always the same: find a location, prepare the soil, plant seeds or seedlings, care for the plants, and harvest.
Here are the steps you’ll follow if you use the popular Square Foot Gardening techniques recommended by Mel Bartholomew.
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Location – pick a site that has six to eight hours of sun a day
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Layout – arrange your garden in squares, not rows
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Boxes – build boxes to hold soil mix
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Aisles – space boxes three feet apart
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Soil – fill boxes with soil mix
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Grid – make a grid for the top of each box
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Care – never walk on the soil
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Select – determine a different crop for each square foot
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Plant – conserve seeds, planting only two or three seeds per hole
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Water – water by hand from a bucket
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Harvest – when each square is harvested, plant a new crop
You can plant your own garden even with little space. If you have space in your yard, you can plant almost anything appropriate to your climate, including vegetables, fruit, herbs and nuts. If all you have is a patio or deck, use planters. If you don’t have even that—and even if you do—consider growing inside. You can grow hydroponically inside your home or, if that’s too much effort, have a small herb garden in your kitchen. (You can grow sprouts too.) You’ll be surprised just how much you can produce.
Convert your lawns into gardens
If you’re limited in garden space—and even if your’re not—the best thing you can do is rip out your lawns—which are heavy users of water—and replace them with gardens. Yes, we know the idea sounds radical, but food is more important than trying to pass off your home as an English manor house.
There are three basic methods for removing a lawn:
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Use a hoe and spade to scrape away the turf, then turn the soil.
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Use a spade and remove the turf in pieces, cutting roots along the way.
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Cover the grass with newspaper, then cover the paper with six inches or so of topsoil. Some months later the grass will have died off and decomposed. (This method is obviously easier, but takes much longer.)
Converting Lawns to Gardens
www.backyardnature.net/simple/lawn2gar.htm
Lawns to Gardens
www.yougrowgirl.com/lawns_gardens_convert.php
While you’re at it – Depave
Rid the world of a small piece (at least) of concrete and let the earth breathe again. Remove your driveway, and replace it with ecological permeable pavers. They’ll let the earth breathe and rainwater return to the aquifer.
Use a hand lawn mower
Okay, so you you can’t bear the thought of ripping out lawn and converting it to food. At least switch over to a hand-powered lawn mower. You’ll save money, get some exercise, and reduce energy use and air pollution. If you can’t use a hand mower, at least switch over to an electric mower. They don’t pollute, and are a lot quieter than power mowers.
Gas-powered lawn mowers are a major source of air pollution. So much so that many municipalities have programs to help you replace your gas mower with an electric one.
Resources
Acres U.S.A. Magazine
A voice for eco-agriculture
California Backyard Orchard, The
If you’ve got the room, grow your own fruits and nuts
Cascadia Food Not Lawns
Group of grassroot gardeners in Oregon. Good collection of articles and recommended books.
Four-Season Harvest
[book]
Organic vegetables from your home garden all year long
Garden Your City
[book]
Guide to raising flowers and vegetables in the city, including community gardens
Gardening Without Irrigation
Free online book but hardcopy is also available for purchase
How to Grow More Vegetables
[book]
And fruits, nuts, berries, grains and other crops than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine, classic book by John Jeavons
Interbay Mulch
Very effective method of soil building
Lawns Into Lunch
Growing food in the city. Profiles 23 different gardeners. [book]
Lawns to Gardens
How to convert your lawn to your garden
Organic Gardening
Good information and resources
Master Gardeners
American Horticultural Society guide to Master Gardeners throughout the U.S. The gardeners provide free expert advice and training to home gardeners.
National Gardening Association
Very extensive information
Perennial Vegetables
From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles [book]
Square Foot Gardening
How would you like a garden filled with beautiful flowers, fresh herbs and luscious vegetables, but NO WEEDS and NO HARD WORK? – From the author of the book All New Square Foot Gardening
Sustainable Vegetable Garden, The
A backyard guide to healthy soil and higher yields [book]
You Grow Girl
Practical information in a friendly gardening site.
