Grow Your Own Food
Click Here for instructions on how to grow a Window Garden.
Vegetable Gardening Basics, Source: The University of Illinois Extension
All gardens have problems. One year it may be insects and
disease and the next year it may be a drought. Gardening does require work, but
by learning a few basic skills and techniques, you can make your vegetable
gardening experience a pleasant one.
Planning the Garden
Location: Choosing
a location for your garden is the most important step in the garden planning
process. Vegetables need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight for best growth. Leafy
vegetables like spinach and lettuce will grow with less sunlight. Choose a
location as far away as possible from trees and shrubs. The roots of nearby trees
and shrubs will rob your vegetables of needed nutrients and water. Good soil
with good drainage is needed. Have your soil tested before you start gardening
to determine if your soil is lacking any needed nutrients. Be sure your water
source is close by.
Keep a Garden: Journal
Keep a journal of your activities in the garden. Keep a list of the varieties
of vegetables grown. Record seeding and planting dates, insect and disease
problems, weather and harvest dates and yields. This information will be valuable
as you plan future gardens.
What To Grow: Don’t
go overboard with your seed ordering after viewing all the colorful garden
catalogs with their beautiful pictures of veggies or you may be the gardener in
your neighborhood trying to give away zucchini. Grow what your family likes to
eat. As a first time gardener, stay away from “exotic” veggies like kohlrabi or
hard to grow veggies like cauliflower or head lettuce. Grow hybrid vegetables.
Hybrid vegetables are usually stronger and healthier than other vegetables.
They often have higher yields. Many have a built-in disease resistance and they
are more likely to recover from bad weather. Hybrids may cost a little bit more
than other types of vegetables, but the cost is worth it. If you save seeds,
remember that hybrids do not reproduce true to type meaning the new plant will
be inferior to the mother plant. Choose vegetables that have earned the
All-America Selections award. All-America Selections is an organization that
has been evaluating new vegetable varieties in trial and display gardens across
the United States and Canada since 1933. Each year after the evaluations have
been analyzed a number of the most outstanding vegetables are designated as
All-America Selections indicating that they performed well under all types of
conditions.
Draw a Plan:
It is always a good idea to draw a plan of your garden. It doesn’t have to be a
fancy diagram. Remember the tallest plants in your garden such as corn should
be at the north end of the garden and permanent vegetables like asparagus
should be at the side of the garden.
Containers: If
you don’t have space in your backyard or only have access to a sunny balcony or
patio, you can still grow vegetables in containers. A container for vegetables
can be as simple as a bushel basket lined with plastic, a hanging basket or a
self contained growing unit like the earthbox. All containers, whether plastic
or clay must have drainage. Soil in containers will dry out quickly, so
frequent watering is necessary. Containers with no drainage will cause your
vegetables to develop root rot. Use a sterilized, soilless mix for your
container garden. Soilless mixes are light and contain some organic matter.
Fertilize with a slow-release vegetable garden fertilizer that is applied in the
spring and will provide nutrients for your veggies throughout the growing
season.
Basic Tools:
+ Hoe = Great for weeding, covering
seeds and chopping up the soil.
+ Rake = Used to prepare the seedbed
and to break-up large clods of soil.
+ Spade = Used to dig up the garden
in preparation for planting and for adding organic matter to the soil.
+ Trowel = Used for digging holes for
transplants and breaking up the soil around plants.
+ Labels, string, ruler = Used to
layout rows and measure correct spacing. Each vegetable should have a label
with the name of the vegetable and the date seeded or planted on it.
+ Watering can = Use to water in
seeds and transplants.
Soil Preparation and Fertilization: Before you can plant, soil preparation is a must. Dig the
soil to a depth of at least 6-10 inches. Add a two to four inch layer of
organic matter and incorporate it into the soil. Organic matter will improve
your soil structure and will add nutrients to the soil. Vegetables need
nutrients to grow. A good vegetable garden fertilizer should have an analysis
of something like 5-10-5, 10-10-10 or 12-12-12. The first number stands for the
per cent of nitrogen, the second number the per cent of phosphorus and the
third number the per cent of potassium. Nitrogen promotes green growth,
phosphorus promotes root growth and fruit development and potassium promotes
disease resistance and root development. If you are growing your vegetables
organically, organic fertilizers like peat moss, compost or composted cow
manure are a good source of nutrients for your vegetables.
Planning Techniques: Plan
to use all the space in your garden. Through planting techniques like vertical
cropping, succession planting and intercropping, you can make maximum use of
the space you have.
Vertical Cropping: Train
veggies like pole beans, peas, cucumbers, squash and gourds to some type of
support to save space in the garden. Existing fences, poles, wire cages,
trellises can be used for support.
Succession Planting: This
technique involves growing a crop like lettuce in the spring and replacing it
when the warm weather hits with a crop like beans. In the late summer, you can
reverse the process and replace the beans with a cool season crop like lettuce
or radishes.
Intercropping:
Intercropping is the growing technique of planting fast growing vegetables
among slow growing vegetables. An example of this technique would be planting
radishes, lettuce or green onions among caged tomato plants.
Planning Tips: Check old veggie seeds for germination. Wet a
paper towel and place the seeds in a row about an inch from the edge. Roll the
paper towel up from the opposite side and put the towel in a warm area like the
top of the refrigerator. Mist the towel to keep it moist. After 10 to 14 days,
unroll the towel and check the number of seeds that have germinated. If less
than half have germinated, either discard or seed more heavily this spring.
Clean your garden tools. Remove soil and use a wire brush to remove rust.
Prepare a mixture of a bottle of motor oil and builder’s sand in a five-gallon
bucket. Dip the tools into the sand several times to clean and prevent rusting.
This mixture can be used over and over again. Treat the handles with boiled
linseed oil and paint the handles with a bright color to make them easier to
find in the garden. Avoid damping off with seedlings. Damping off is a
major threat to young seedlings being grown indoors. Damping off thrives in
cold, humid, wet, conditions with poor air circulation. Symptoms of damping off
include curling, wilting and collapse of emerged seedlings. Some preventative
measures that will reduce the likelihood of damping off include: Use
high-quality, treated seed; use sanitized soil and containers; keep soil on the
dry side; and provide plenty of light and air circulation to the
seedlings. In the spring, never work your soil when it is wet. Tilling or
digging when the soil is wet will cause it to dry into concrete-like clods.
Pick up a handful of soil before digging and squeeze. If it crumbles easily, it
is ready to be tilled. If it doesn't crumble, it is too wet. Allow the soil to
dry for a couple of more days and test again before digging.
The University of Illinois Extension has many great online
resources for growing your own garden. Here are some links to some of our
favorite U of I resources.
+ Hort Answers (Q&A for
gardening)
+ Watch Your Garden
Grow (A guide to growing, storing, and preparing vegetables)