Bob Ewing - Food is best when it is fresh, and it is freshest when it comes from your yard. Gardening does more than put food on your table; it allows you to connect directly with nature and gives you a great reason to go outside. It also is a fun, family activity.When you decide to begin an organic, vegetable garden, get the process started by having a family conversation. Meal time is perfect for talking about food; if you do not have a garden or a vegetable garden, then announce you are doing so and need some help.
Now this announcement may not be greeted by much enthusiasm, at first, however, let the family know, all you are looking for now, are suggestions on what to plant. The most successful gardens begin by planting vegetables that your family is already eating.
A salad garden may not get much respect but a pizza or pasta garden may. Both pizza and pasta, well tomato sauce, can use similar ingredients, for example, tomatoes, onions, green peppers. Both gardens can benefit from a few herbs, basil, thyme and oregano.
Now that you have made choices about what will grow in your first organic garden; tomatoes, onions, green peppers, basil thyme and oregano, it is time to buy the seeds. Buy organic and heritage seeds. This way you know what you are getting, and if you plan to save seeds, will be certain you have quality seeds for next year.
Leave the seed catalogues out, pass them around and let the family have an opportunity to select varieties. It is fine to buy more seeds than you can plant, put the seeds, you do not use, in a sealed container, a zip lock bag will do, and place them in a cool dark place, I use the fridge. They will keep until the following spring and likely longer. These saved seeds are your insurance that you have the beginnings of a future garden, right in your kitchen.
As spring advances, it is time to select a garden site; your pizza-pasta garden will need a site that gets eight hours of sunlight per day. If this is your first organic, vegetable garden, I would start small; a ten foot long by four foot wide plot is ample. A site this size, and you can add some beans and a few flowers for the table, will grow enough food while being manageable.
Once the site is selected it is time to prepare the bed. There are two ways to do this; one is to dig and fill; the other, my favourite is the no-dig. Why no dig, simple, I enjoy growing things but see no value in working any harder than necessary, that is my personal reason. My gardener reason is this: when you break up the soil you are disturbing a community that will help you garden. This community has many, many residents; some so small that your unaided eye cannot see them. You want their help so do not destroy or disturb their home.
Next week we will show you how to start a no-dig bed together.
