Table of contents:
Why to grow š¦šš§āš¼
If you haven't already tried growing things, I think itās worth an attempt.
š±Ā There's something pretty magical about planting a seed and having it turn into a living thing. (Iāve often wondered whether it could be therapeutic for would-be-parents and it also has some of the delights of those little mystery animal sponges that come out of capsules when you soak them in warm water. I also think that caring for something/tending to something is a powerful force for good in the world, with positive internal and external effects.)
Then there are the normal reasons: creating habitat for beneficial insects like bees and butterflies, growing food you canāt get at the grocery store or that wouldnāt taste as good from the grocery store, creating beauty in the landscape around your home/school/work/neighborhood, etc.
What to grow
I particularly like growing plants that are edible (bonus points if they're things I can pop in my mouth while gardening, e.g. cherry tomatoes). Plants that totally overproduce like zucchini, or herbs that you can just trim now and again.
But even regrowing my scallions in water glasses on the windowsills for my next batch of Fermented Kimchi: easy, healthy, delicious is pretty delightful.
šĀ Cut flowers are also nice, especially if you're willing to bring them inside or share them with friends when they hit their peak. (They can also be dried, which Iāve recently become more interested in for lower pressure bouquets.) And creating support for pollinators is a worthwhile endeavor that pays off with fun insect visitors š¦š
See also Advice: Consider adopting a bin of composting worms to live under your sink.
If youāre interested in starting plants from seed (which I recommend for the proximity to that first miraculous appearance of life) Johnnyās Selected Seeds seems to be a reputable and thoughtful research-based provider ā even Martha Stewartās garden is sown with Johnnyās seeds. Hereās a guide to when to plant.
Here you can check your areaās āhardiness zoneā which will help you understand which perennial plants should be able to overwinter into your location:
NPR made a cool explainer when the zones were updated recently:
A lot of edibles are annuals, so knowing your last and first frost date tells you how long your growing season is. Some plants mature quickly, some take so long that you may need to give them a head start indoors so that they will produce before theyāre killed by the first frost.
But donāt forget about perennial trees and shrubs. Older generations in my family planted carefully selected fruit trees in the 70s and 80s and 90s and somehow Iām still harvesting them all these years later. šĀ
How to grow
If you donāt have a yard, you can still grow things in containers.
And even if you do have a yard, raised beds might be the way to go: better soil, more weed and pest protection, less bending over, easier to execute on crop rotation, etc.
Iām pretty excited about āsoil blocksā for starting seeds indoors. (And since a number of seeds need warmth (but not light) to germinate, Iāve repurposed my mini fridge and temperature control setup from Inkbird for Fermented Kimchi: easy, healthy, delicious and sauerkraut for germination since I needed to put a small heater in there for winter fermentsāit might be perfect!). Iāll then keep them at room temperature indoors within a few inches of a full spectrum 5500 lumen LED shop light. (This one from Walmart is cheap and readily available and can link to others if I scale up.)
If you order seeds, I highly recommend storing them in a binder (youāre supposed to keep them dark and cool and dry, so maybe you can layer that on top, while keeping this organizational format ā e.g. by putting the binder in a bin with silica packets or something)
These binder pages are perfect. Theyāre 3.5āx5ā and hold 4 packets per page vertically. I have four different sized seed packets and all but the lumpiest peas fit just fine. (they also come in a pack of 100 pages, but that seemed like overkill for where Iām at š ).
(Iād say about 15 pages with ~50 packets will fit in a 1.5ā D ring binder. More pages or seed packets and I would consider sizing up, or separating hardy cold crops from tender annuals in separate binders)
If youāre in an area with a short growing season and didnāt get around to starting seeds indoors, look for local plant sales in addition to your local nursery or the garden center at big box stores. My co-op has one that brings in seedlings from a dozen local small farms, thereās also one at the local botanical garden, as well as a fundraiser for the master gardener program thatās attached to many university extension offices. It seems like a good way to shortcut the process while also selecting for particular types of plants that are likely to be successful in your region.
Learning š©āš«
šĀ If youāre just starting out, I think Iād recommend checking out āThe Vegetable Gardenerās Bible.ā I have it along with a few others from the library, but this one is the best ājust starting outā one; as an example, when talking about raised beds, he assumes that youāll be slicing out some of your lawn, whereas these other books (that are more aimed at āmarket gardenersā?) think you might be interested in constructing a mobile chicken coop that you can move 100ft every week to evenly fertilize before the planting season š Ā The other advantage is that he dedicates a couple pages to each likely vegetable or herb you might be interested in growing, giving facts like germination and preferred growing temperatures, trellising, pest management, harvesting, recommended varieties, etc.
Keep in mind that there are things to do in the garden basically all year, so the perfect time to start is right now!
Thereās also an adorable Irish TV show called Grow Cook Eat (streaming on Amazon Prime and YouTube):
Farmers are innovators. Itās like the startup community but without the ego and ambition, and people are reliably trying to solve their own problems (which is generally the hallmark of a good startup). E.g. this brilliant low tunnel design for extending your growing season without a bunch of hassle:
And if growing your own vegetables isnāt for you, try joining your local CSA for getting local veggies at their peak with less work, while supporting a more diversified food system.
Further tips
Cleaning your fingernails
Even if youāre diligent about wearing gloves, if youāre like me, you are probably still going to get dirt under your fingernails. There are nail brushes, but I find using my electric toothbrush (with an old head) is very effective while also being very gentle on my fingertips (which are often tender after a long day in the garden).
Protection against the sun (and heat)
āļø sun protection becomes a much bigger deal when youāre out in the elements regularly, whether youāre actively working in the garden or just going out to check on your plants.
- The best defense is to only go out in the early morning or evening when the UV index is low (most weather apps will track this for you).
- The next best is to create your own shade, whether thatās a patio umbrella on casters or a wide-brimmed hat and long pants and a long-sleeved shirt.
I have a recommendation for The Best Sunscreen (for people who hate sunscreen) but I find that the biggest issue with gardening is how difficult it is to protect my hands.
I wear gloves when I can, but some tasks are easiest with bare hands, and even if I start out with sunscreen on them, Iām going to end up washing it off in short order. So Iāve found that the safest thing is for me to wear a sunshirt with thumb holes like in my Advice: If you're thin with long arms, look for shirts with thumb holes ā because the fabric covers a significant part of my hands and wrists that otherwise get the worst of the sunās rays. (Iāve been laughing recently at how wrong Iāve been in thinking that the tan lines for a farmerās tan are on your upper armsāat least for this farmer, my wrists mark the spot with the highest color and weathering contrast š)
Over the years Iāve also found that my lower back is vulnerable to the sun, especially if Iām out in the fields where I might be crouching a lot. Iāve tried a number of things, but the most reliable solution is overalls. Mine are Carhartt (though Iām currently kind of excited about dovetail workwear); my Carhartts wouldnāt have worked for me if they didnāt have tall sizes, so you may have to try Zappos or elsewhere to test a couple to find something that works for you (and keep in mind whether you want to wear them solo or if you want to layer them over your regular pants). Something that helps to a certain degree is wearing higher-waisted boxer briefs (which I recommend to everyone as an alternative to traditional womenās underwear) and/or higher-waisted pants, along with a shirt that is long and doesnāt cling/ride up, especially once you start getting sweaty.
Speaking of sweating, donāt forget to hydrate. It can be dangerous to replace sweat with too much pure water, so I recommend supplementing with electrolytes. I use 40,000 Volts from Trace Minerals, but it tastes gross, so I just add it to Juice Spritzers. I also use Celtic grey salt when Iām cooking.
Comfort
New favorite gardening object: foldable knee cushion. Significantly more comfortable than the gorilla grips one recommended by wirecutter (that one is dense, almost like a yoga block).
(Note: I found these on a list of the most āworth itā gardening purchases that this adorable PNW flower farming couple made)
Protection against biting insects
If youāre out at dusk and dawn, itās likely that mosquitos will be too. š£ And I have a couple tips there as well Mosquito shirt and Mosquito bite relief: a tiny heater
I donāt live in tick country, but itās worth keeping that in mind: Tick bite avoidance & tick removal