Natural Revolution Empowering Natural Living
Setting out to plant your own garden can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t have a lot of space to grow your vegetables. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it in a small space.
It’s also a great idea to start learning how to garden, if you haven’t started, to understand the process of how food grows, and to grow your own food makes it taste that much better. Plus, you’ll know that you’re eating something untouched by another person’s hand, which many times with commercially bought produce, or even organic produce, they can still have chemicals fertilizers added.
I’m doing square foot gardening with tomatoes, parsley, brussel sprouts and beets. Mostly 12″ pots placed right next to each other with water reservoirs beneath them. I think the hardest part is keep the soil moist, since I don’t have a drip system of any kind and just hand water them every other day. I’m in the process of getting some organic compost, that from what the package stated, acts like mulch as well. So hopefully that’ll hold some moisture in the soil.
Square foot gardening doesn’t necessarily mean that the containers must be square, or that you have to plant in a square raised bed. It simply means planning and creating small but intensively planted gardens, whether vegetables or flowers.
I’m using all organic materials, from potting soil to organic fertilizer. The fertilizer is called Azomite, and it has over 90 trace minerals in it, which is doing great for getting my seedlings up within 3-5 days, plus giving them the extra nutrient boost. I don’t use any commercial fertilizer at all, because from what I’ve read, the chemicals you put in your plants as fertilizer, you end up eating when you consume them after harvest. I highly recommend going the full organic route as possible, and using nothing but filtered water.
Some tips I can suggest which I’ve learned on square foot gardening:
1. Use at least 3-4 seed per growing cell to ensure that you’ll have the best odds of your seedlings to sprout, as sometimes seeds can be duds.
2. Use only filtered water which will take out chlorine and other chemical that only make the plant that much harder to grow.
3. Find at least a five gallon bucket to plant in so that the roots have a better chances to root out as opposed to a smaller container, which will only give you much smaller fruit when it bears.
4. Use a high quality compost/mulch which is essential for microbes to help the root system penetrate the roots, and will also help maintain good cover to keep the soil moist.
5. Having a cold frame mini-greenhouse is a great way to keep your seedlings warm for faster sprouting.
6. To ensure a quick seedling sprouts, place a seedling heat pad under the trays to get fast germination from the seeds.
7. Have fun in your garden!
