What I Wish I Knew Before I Started: Gardening Edition
20 Garden Tips from Me to You
Burpless and pickling cucumbers, pineapple sage, dill, and Beau
Nothing has brought me more joy than getting closer to the earth.
Watching things grow. Sitting in stillness with the wind and the bugs. Moving my body in functional ways. (Who knew shoveling was, like, really hard? Lol. I always feel it the next day.)
It all helps connect me to myself, being human, and the greater good.
During 2020 lockdown, I went all in on a garden while living with my mom. It was definitely the thing that kept me going and brought me so much joy.
…The happiness of seeing your first sprout. The screaming when I would see a bumblebee pollinate my plants. The awe of holding a 3 lb cucumber…
My human design profile is a 3/5 so I love to learn by getting my hands dirty (literally and physically) and then sharing my experience to help make it easier for other folks.
So that’s exactly what I’m doing!
Now this isn’t a how-to on gardening. These are tips and things I wish I knew while starting my gardening journey.
PS: There isn’t any overtly magical and witchy things in these tips. However, it’s all about intention. Plant with love. Speak kindly to your plants. Watch them grow. Your energy and intention will be infused in the plants.
The 1 cantaloupe plant that took over half the garden, choking out blueberry bushes and a jalapeño plant. AND feeding every pest in the area. (We didn’t get ONE cantaloupe from this big boy)
The Big Picture
1. What’s the goal of the garden? Your goal will depend on the types of things you grow and how many plants of each you do grow.
-Do you want to see things grow? Grow some fast growing things. Radishes take 28 days are are so fun to see.
-Can/food preserve? Grow multiples of the same things. Wanna can tomato sauce? Plant 5-6 paste tomato plants.
-Supplement your groceries? Grow things you like and succession plant. If you plant things all at the same time, they will typically all come to harvest at the same time. Instead, scatter your plantings to every week or every other week. (This takes more planning but will allow you to have a longer reward and harvest.)
-Tea garden/herbs? Grow enough so you can create your spices. And make sure to harvest weekly so they can continue to produce. Also, have a drying plan in place. My mom was very annoyed to find piles of leaves on the dinner table trying to dry.
-Want to garden as an excuse to get outside? Look into flowers and native plants that help out the ecosystem, so you’re not too bogged down with produce.
2. How much space do you have? Some veggies take a wide expanse: broccoli, cabbage, carrots… Some are vining and can be grown vertically: tomatoes, cucumbers, small melons, peas… Keep that in mind.
3. Will you be planting in ground or container? Look for specific types that work well for both. For example, don’t try to grow a 25 lb watermelon if you’re going to do a container garden. Look for a small variety like sugar baby that has about 5lb fruits.
The peas we over seeded and never thinned. Perfect accidental bunny food.
When Planning…
4. Go to your garden plot and watch the sun and sun map throughout the day. Remember, during summer, the trees around you will be full of leaves and that can play a big difference in sun exposure and shadows.
Here is a handy website: www.suncalc.org It can help show you the path of the sun and you can plug in different times of year, too!
5. Pollinators are necessary and fun! Don’t exclude those! Work them into the garden, paying attention to what works well with each other. My faves are marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers, and oregano.
6. Things will grow and can shadow other things. You don’t want to grow an 8 foot sunflower in the front of your bed because it will cast shadows on the rest once it grows. Plant individual crops up front, then vining, making sure to leave room for trellising. You can even use the shade to your advantage. Planting basil under tomato plants help protect the herb from strong sun and also is a companion plant!
7. Think of trellising when planting. Tomato cages suck. By the time I realized how much they sucked, my tomatoes and cucumbers had gotten out of control and my haphazard supports were not successful. My cucumbers grew too thickly and the lack of air flow allowed for bugs and powdery mildew.
8. And see what things need support. By the time I realized my dahlias needed support, they were already growing vertically on the ground.
9. Know how big your plants get. I do not pay attention to tiny details. Whoops. Who knew cantaloupe can grow up to 8 ft tall and 20 ft wide? And that’s exactly what happened. Completely took over half the garden and choked out blueberry plants. The same happened to beans. We grew them from seeds and I ignored their spacing suggestions. We overcrowded and they all did so badly.
10. Grow what you’ll actually eat. I was drowning in jalapeños and no one would take them from me. It felt overwhelming. Related tip: ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES WHEN CUTTING THEM!
11. Definitely grow from seeds because it's exciting, and also get some seedlings (already grown mini-plants) from the garden or hardware store to take some of the pressure off. Do not feel like you have to start everything from seed! Sometimes seeds are stressful. You get 100 in a pack, you feel guilty if you don't use them all, they're difficult to work with sometimes... just spend the $4 on a plant vs seeds.
The Details (AKA: THE BIGGEST WAYS I FAILED, lol)
12. Don’t be afraid to prune. I should have pruned the cucumber vines so they weren’t to unruly. And I didn’t cut back my flowers or herbs as much as I should. Pruning allows for more energy to go into the plant. It’s okay!
13. Succession planting. I planted once and then thought I couldn’t plant anymore? I wish I would have continued. When my bell pepper plant failed, I should have got another seedling from the garden center and tried again.
14. Bug control. Look up natural ways (or ways you feel comfortable) getting rid of bugs and then have a plan. I felt so overwhelmed when I got attacked with two types of bugs (squash bugs for cucumbers and flea beatles) that I just let them do their thing and ruin the plant. It doesn’t have to be that way.
15. Vermin/ bunny control. Speaking of beans, not only did they not do great but we noticed too late how stunted they continuously looked. Then we realized that bunnies were eating all the new growth! So pay attention to any animal clues and have a backup plan.
16. Having easily accessible water. Nothing more annoying than lugging a heavy hose all summer, esp to all random parts of your yard.
17. Stay on top of weeds. Mulch is your friend! Esp in high heat. We used lots of mulch to keep our plant friends cool. Even if you are using containers, we heavily mulched the tops and sides.
18. Fertilizing schedule. I constantly forgot to fertilize. So having a set schedule is important. Esp if you’re using grow bags. And esp if you have heavy feeders (melons, cucumbers, etc…)
19. I failed. A lot. And that’s okay! My tomatoes didn’t do anything. I grew the world’s tinies bell peppers; they were the size of a golf ball. We never got to eat our cantelopue because pests ruined them all before they got ripe. It was still such a fun journey!
20. And the most important tip of it all: JUST START!! JUST BUY A SEEDLING AND PUT IT IN A POT! JUST DO IT! No matter if you’re in an apartment or house, there is a way to grow and learn something.