Food Gardening 101 Part One

You’ve probably thought about growing a food garden. The recent pandemic, along with the growing food scarcity has you taking a second look at your lawn and asking yourself “Should I grow a food garden”? Your response should be, Yes!

Why Would I Want to Garden?

Why would someone want to have their garden and grow food? Growing your food garden provides you with many things:

1. Self-reliability– Your fresh vegetable and fruit needs are not relied upon by your local grocery store. If they can’t get fresh vegetables and fruit, you won’t eat.
2. Organic– As a fresh vegetable gardener you control what goes into your soil and on your plants. Whole foods have astounding benefits for your body and its systems.
3. Nature Time– Besides having your private organic garden, working with soil and in soil provides you with a positive stress reliever. Being outside and connecting with nature is very therapeutic. Touching soil with your bare hands and feet allows your skin to get in contact with the vitamins and minerals your body needs.
4. Savings– Think of the money and time you spend driving around to stores looking for and buying fresh vegetables and fruit.
5. Learn New Skills– Your mind will love expanding into learning new skills. YOU CAN teach an old dog new tricks! Think of the knowledge and self-confidence you will achieve by learning to plant, grow, and harvest. Those skills turn into conversations with other people. These conversations turn into expanding into fruit and vegetable canning and preserving. The possibilities are endless.
6. Sharing– This is a lost ancient art! Let’s bring back our Victory Garden and share the bounty!

How Do I Get Started Gardening?

Depending on where you live and the space available, gardening is most likely an option. Even if you don’t have enough lawn space you still have several options. For today’s purpose, we will be talking about lawn food gardening. We will address patio-type gardening options for folks with smaller areas in a later article.

Before we get started, I would suggest a trip to your local library to check out books about gardening. Grab some gardening magazines as well. Call some friends who you know that are seasoned gardeners and pick their brains for starter tips and tricks. Look up Master Gardener events in your local county, they generally provide yearly talks or classes on gardening.

Step One- Location, Location

Finding a good spot on your lawn is primary. You are looking for a sunny area that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight. This area should have healthy soil, and the ability to hold water and drain water properly. 

Before you decide to stake out the dimensions of your garden, be sure to get samples of several possible sites on which you could have a garden.

To test the soil in your lawn, you can go to your local gardening center for a test kit, or call your local County Extension Office and speak to the person in charge of soil testing. Most likely, they will send you a soil testing kit that you can use to take your lawn samples. Be sure to mention you are testing several sites on your lawn to provide you with enough sampling bags.

Once you receive the sampling bags, follow the directions for obtaining the soil samples and shipping them back for testing. Testing costs vary with each county.

After the testing is complete, you will receive a full report on the test findings. Some testing companies will provide you with suggestions on improving your garden soil health.

Another option would be networking with your friends to find a local agronomist who may be willing to help you test your lawn, interpret the soil test results and provide suggestions for boosting your soil’s well-being.

Thanks for dropping in on our United Country Midwest Lifestyle Property blog! We will continue with Food Gardening 101 by sharing how to select and grow foods you’ll eat, grow them from seed or seedlings, how- to plant a garden and many other ideas on making your garden fit and fun.

Please give us a call or stop in at any of our local offices. We are glad you’re here!