This is the time to think about your big picture questions. Why do I garden? Why am I making this garden? Recognize that you may have different answers for different gardens around your property, and ask them for each. Give yourself permission to apply different priorities to each garden. You don't have to make every one of them for pollinators, or strictly organic, or highly productive. It's your garden.
What do I plant? comes from Why do I garden? And Why this garden?
For Flavor This is why so many gardeners start with tomatoes! Grocery store tomatoes just don't compare to home grown. If this is you, prioritize growing the fruit and veg that taste significantly better than store bought, and look for varieties whose descriptions mention excellent flavor! If it tastes the same as what you can buy, you don't need to grow it.
To Save Money We've all heard the jokes about the $200 tomato, but you really can save money by growing your own over buying. If this is your goal, look for the most expensive items on your grocery list, and prioritize space for them in your garden. I recommend growing your own herbs. One bunch from the store costs several dollars, and I often can't finish a big bunch of parsley before it goes bad. A pack of parsley seeds costs the same as that bunch and provides years of parsley...and speaking of seed...search for local seed libraries, where you can get a wide variety of seeds for free. You can't beat free! If you're more of a flower grower, look to perrenials that you only have to pay for once, and join any local gardening groups in person or online. Gardeners often give away perennial divisions to anyone willing to come pick them up.
Even garden amendment can be free. If your town collects branches and leaves, they may well have a pile of free wood chips and a pile of free leaf mold compost for the taking.
Preserving the harvest can cover your needs for a full year. You can replace most or all of your canned and frozen vegetable purchases, based on how you strategize your garden.
Save your own seeds to plant the next year. I've never bought garlic because I save and replant some of what I grow each year.
For the Environment/Wildlife This is a fun one, because there is so much out there for you right now! Look into planting natives, and meadows, and permaculture guilds. Even if you only prioritize planting for insects, you will benefit the whole ecosystem, because everything else up the food chain eats them. One of the best things you can do for insect and birds is less. Less cleanup, less cutback...who doesn't love doing less work and watching more life in the yard?
To Avoid Pesticides If this is important to you, find one of those dirty dozen lists and prioritize growing anything on it that you love to eat and can grow in your climate. For instance, bell peppers always make the list. They are easy to grow in my climate, and I've never had a pest problem with them. I'm working towards growing all of my peppers for the year, which also goes back to gardening to save money. I overwinter my peppers, so I've maybe spend $15 in seed and soil over several years. $15 buys what, a dozen or less organic peppers? My plants have paid for themselves several times over, even with the cost of the lights they sit under for the winter.
For Family/Cultural Heritage My father grew up in the southwestern US, and learned to cook Chinese food from a second generation Chinese friend/roommate. When he moved to Western New York State in the 60s, he couldn't get the foods he had grown up with. He came here as a young adult a year or so after his parents. The story goes that he filled his station wagon with coolers full of dry ice and tortillas for his parents and every formerly southwestern friend they had made in the area. In my childhood, Dad grew many varieties of peppers for both Chinese and southwestern cuisine that couldn't be bought here. He also got seeds from owners of the local chinese groceries. My Italian husband's grandfather was one of many Italian immigrants in our area who had the expertise to grow fig trees in USDA zones 5-6. It's wonderful to grow our own heritage fruits and veg that aren't consistently available in stores. Seed catalogues have vast offerings, and recently I've discovered a few companies that specialize. Kitazawa Seed Company is over 100 years old and specializes in Asian vegetables. True Love Seeds sells seeds from around the globe. I heard abou them through Soul Fire Farm, an organization I support, who grow seeds of the African Diaspora for them. These folx are growing peanuts in New York State! That's some impressive heritage growing!
For Beauty Grow some gorgeous plants! Even food plants can be beautiful when presented that way and intermixed with flowers! or just grow the foliage and flowers! Just because I'm obsessed with food doesn't mean you need to be!
For Ease of Care Let's be honest. Some ways of gardening are back breaking. I can't speak for you, but I want to live a long life, and garden up to my last day. I've been reworking a lot around my garden to make it easier as I get older, trying to stay ahead of the curve. I'm raising beds and widening paths. Perennials are always less work than annuals. Keeping up with mulching is easier than weeding. Meadow plantings and forest gardens practically take care of themselves. Each time I plant a new bed, I want it to be less work, and less environmental impact, than the lawn it replaces.
For Sense of Place For me there is something about how gardening connects me to the seasons and the flow of time. Native plantings also connect me to my place on this land. Trying to plant so that something is blooming or harvest-able at each day through the year keeps me connected. So does watching the birds, insects, and other wildlife. If you have a harvest/bloom gap, look around your area for what others have blooming or ripe at that time and consider adding it. Use your plantings as needed sources of shade, or wind blocks. It's also ok to have times of rest in the garden.
To Experiment In the age of "fake news" its nice to know that we can test nearly every gardening claim. Someone says, "you have to put this in the hole when you plant tomatoes" I can plant half of my tomatoes with "this" in the hole, and half without, and take note of yield and plant health over the rest of the summer. My garden is my science outlet, and if that sounds exciting to you, keep your eye out for places you can do side by side comparisons. They will help inform your long term success.
For Joy Enjoy every bit of your garden. Do the things that bring you joy, let go of those that don't, If you're satisfied with what you have, don't listen to anyone who tells you it's "wrong." If you aren't satisfied, visit other gardens, think deeply, find what you need, and if it isn't there yet, add it. Happy gardening.
1 comment:
Post a Comment