On Becoming a Gardener

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while now, how I became a gardener. I know I’ve talked about my garden a lot on here (you can peruse all those posts here) but I really wanted to compile one post where I talk about all things gardening. It seems pretty appropriate since we’re heading into that season. I haven’t started any seeds yet and I still haven’t updated my plans beyond drawing out a map of the new garden plot. But I do have a few gardening classes coming up (that I’m teaching) and I found a ton of notes I’ve taken through the years so I thought what better to keep track than here on the ol’ blog. So let’s dive right in!

In the beginning

I started my first garden when we lived in TN way back in 2008, which also happens to be when I first got chickens and discovered my love of all things homesteading. We lived on about 2 acres on a dead end road, surrounded by pasture fields on three sides. We had an old pole barn and the Mister enclosed the back third of the barn for a chicken coop. I’ll leave the story for how we ended up with chickens for another time. But once we were there and settled (and if memory serves me, the Mister was working his notice in PA still) I decided I wanted a garden. So the neighbor farmer brought his tractor over and disked up a plot for me outside the barn. My parents lived near us so they were there for the weekend (must have been a weekend because I had a full time job back in those days) and when the farmer was done with the tilling, my parents were kind of shocked at how big the garden was. Apparently I got a little over eager and had him till up a quarter acre! But I wanted to live self sufficiently. I just didn’t realize how much work would go into that big of a garden.

I still miss that garden (and that house/land situation). As a side note, the Mister and I were just discussing that we didn’t take one single picture of the house, land, or garden from the time we lived in that cute little house. So the pictures are from the real estate listing online. That laundry room is where I brooded my first batch of chickens. And we discovered our bird dog was allergic to birds! That ended up being a very costly discovery.

I even found my garden plan from 2009! And boy I planted everything. Literally everything. You can see from the garden plan. I really had no clue what I was doing or how to plant things. I just did it. And it grew! And we canned and froze and canned and dehydrated. And I was hooked.

Then came the details

So. That was my first, and last, big garden, mostly because I haven’t had land like that since. Or the space. I’ve had a variety of container gardens until last year when I had the tennis court garden. I also started attending lots and lots of gardening and seed starting workshops. I love learning from other people. I’ve always wanted to have a garden that is planted from seeds that I saved and then started from those seeds. And if the garden was a (mostly) heirloom garden, even better! So I started doing my research and have finally found a plan that works for me. Of course, as we all know, it’s a living thing so things will change, plans will change, but if you have good foundation then it won’t take as much time each year to get your garden started.

What you need to know

I go into a lot of detail here about what I’ve learned about starting seeds. Those workshops I took last year were very helpful! I think some of the information bears repeating:

1. Don’t start your seeds too early! Make a list of what you’re planting and when you need to start your seeds and then use that plan! don’t go rogue!
2. Try to source your seeds from a company in the same growing region as to where you live (there are several good companies for us Northeast growers such as Fruition, Johnny’s, and Hudson Valley Seed Company)
3. Don’t use potting soil to start your seeds, but rather, use a seed starting mix.
4. You really do need grow lights (see my new set up with grow lights)

One of the things I’m most looking forward to this year, in terms of starting seeds, is using a soil blocker and making my own seed starting mix. Making my own soil has been on my list for a long time. I have a formula here that I’m going to use. There are so many different formulas out there so I think I’ll start there and see how it goes. It was recommended by the Cornell Cooperative in Ithaca. Oh, I use this fertilizer. It’s worked out really well. And if you’ve read this post then you’ll know I’ve been having a debate with myself on whether I’m going to use a capillary mat system or ‘mesh’ 1020 tray system. I still haven’t decided, but I need to get on it!

Other items to note about starting seeds:
1. If you need to cover the soil block with soil after seeding, use vermiculite
2. Use hot water for wetting your soil starting mix. You want the soil mix to be about the consistency of brownie mix.
3. Use one cool bulb and one blue bulb for grow lights. I bought my light bulbs (T8’s) at our local hardware store and my lights here. But you could probably get everything at your local hardware store.
4. Start using a fertilizer once the plants have their first true leaves and not before.
5. Get your soil tested. You can send a soil sample to your local extension office and for a nominal fee they’ll test the soil and then give you recommendations on how to amend your soil. Testing is recommended every 3 years.

You need a good plan

So, other things that I think are very important for gardening and that I’ve learned throughout my gardening career, is that you need a plan. You need to keep a good record every year of how things are going, what’s growing, when you planted, when you harvested, etc. etc. I have several different layers to my plan. I have a master garden plan, a seed inventory spreadsheet, and a seed starting spreadsheet as well. Oh. And of course an outline of where I want to plant everything. In theory that would be included in the master garden plan, but it could be a separate plan as well. You could do all of this in spreadsheet form and I’ve done that before. But I’m an old-fashioned kind of girl and really like putting pencil to paper for planning purposes. Although I do use the spreadsheet for inventory and tracking purposes.

So now what? I’ve spent years researching and learning and always dreaming of that huge garden from way back in 2008-2009 and wishing I could do a garden like that again. So here we are right before the growing season of 2021 and I have my wish. The garden won’t be as big. And I’ve cut back on the things I plant and try to concentrate on growing the things that we love to eat and that we can preserve.

More than vegetables

And I’ll add flowers this year. I didn’t do flowers back in 2008 nor any since then, until last year. I planted a few marigolds and some zinnias and sunflowers. I had really good success with the first two, but something kept eating my sunflowers. And if you’ve read here for any length of time, you’ll know that I saved a bunch of flower bouquets that I bought last year with the intention of planting a cut garden. I’m looking forward to that. I’ll plant the hay wagon with flowers and also have a small dedicated space to growing flowers outside of the haywagon. I’ll also do some interplanting with the vegetables.

And one other thing I’d like to get into is planting a dye garden. I think I’m putting natural dyeing on my “Things to Learn” list for 2021. I just decided that and bought this book to get me started. I’ll keep you posted on how this project works out. But in theory I’d like to have plants in my garden that I can use to make dyes plus I’d forage for other plants and materials to use in the dye pot. Oh! I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my friend Annie and her fantastic dyeing skills. She is clearly a master dyer.

On becoming a master gardener

The final thing I want to mention about gardening is, and you may know this already, but there are Master Gardener programs throughout the country. They are normally associated with your local extension office and they are a volunteer group who help with the general public with gardening questions and also work on projects throughout their counties. They’re a great resource and I highly suggest you seek your group out, if for nothing else than to see what resources they offer. BUT. You can become a Master Gardener too. I am just about to finish my training with my local extension office and then it will be full steam ahead. We have projects around our county and I’m happy to be a part of a new project that we are starting-seed libraries!

Resources for you

I wouldn’t be a good librarian if I didn’t mention some resources. I am a huge advocate for taking classes. So check out your local extension office, but also there are some good print resources as well:
1. Cornell Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners: this is a great resource for those of you in and around NY State.
2. I like this book for information on an heirloom flower garden (affiliate link)
3. This book is on my wishlist. It is a fantastic resource for the heirloom garden. And it’s written by a Master Gardener! (affiliate link)

I think that’s it. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something so I’ll just have to make a note of it and share it in a future garden update. But I feel better knowing that all my gardening tips, trick, and notes are all in one place with links to the other resources. Are you planting a garden this year? Tell me what you’ve learned and what you’re going to do!

PS Linking up with the Homestead Blog Hop again this week!

’til next time
-k
xoxo