GROWING FROM SEED OR SEEDLINGS
Growing your own food and eating “garden to table” not only tastes better, but it is more nutritious as you are consuming the plants immediately after harvesting (vs. days or weeks later for supermarket produce which normally travels from warmer parts of the world). This is because plants start to lose their nutritious value once harvested due to respiration (the plant is continuing to breathe), which uses up stored carbohydrates and proteins. And some vegetables, such as broccoli, lose their nutritious value faster than others. Jo Robinson’s book Eating on the Wild Side provides an in-depth guide on the types of fruits and vegetables to eat fresh, which can be helpful in determining what produce to plant vs. buy.
The simplest and easiest way to grow fresh greens is…..to not have to grow them at all! Foraged edible greens are not only cheaper (i.e. free), but they usually pack much more nutrition vs. domesticated greens as they contain more phytonutrients (which enable them to survive inhospitable environments). Therefore, if you compare wild dandelions to domesticated dandelions, the wild variety will inherently be more nutritious. In addition, you also lose less nutrients because the time between harvest and consumption is typically much shorter (you can just harvest and eat them right away) as compared to supermarket greens which are usually traveling in from another state or country.
When foraging, it is very important to only harvest plants in locations that you know are not sprayed with pesticide or have high risk of containing toxic chemicals or other contaminants. We mostly forage wild edible greens from our own property to supplement vegetables from our garden and what we buy from local farms and supermarkets. See our EAT section for common, easy to recognize edible weeds that you can start with, and some delicious recipe ideas - such as dandelion pesto!
Deciding to grow your own food can start with just one variety of plant, or two, or three. Feel comfortable in starting small and go with easy-to-grow plants and vegetables while you are still learning and practicing garden essentials. We also recommend that you start with purchased seedlings or transplants from your local nursery, greenhouse or garden center as they make it easy to start a garden instantly. Although more expensive than starting from seeds, purchased seedlings saves time, lets you test out what does well given your available space and sunlight, and avoids the potential disappointments and time waste often experienced by growing from seeds for the first time (it took us a few tries!).
Where possible, we purchase organic seedlings as we want to support merchants who are using natural and sustainable growing practices, which result in more healthy plants and environments. However, we feel it is not critical to buy organic as long as we grow the plants organically, such as by using our own compost or purchased organic compost or soil, and do not use pesticides.
We recommend that you determine what seedlings you purchase based on 1) what is easy to grow in your climate, sunlight and available space, and 2) what you will most likely use in your cooking or for making herbal teas. Purchasing at least 2-3 seedlings of each type of plant is recommended to ensure that you will have enough harvest to support your various uses and recipes. We started with an herb garden, as herbs are very easy to maintain, add a zing of flavor to even the simplest dish, and leftovers can be dried and bottled for your spice cabinet. Some great starter options include: Basil, Mint, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, and Parsley. In terms of vegetables, we found the following easy to grow while providing a substantial enough harvest to be used in a dish: Kale (Red Russian, White Russian, Lacinato/Dinosaur), Arugula, Swiss Chard, Beets, and Tomatoes.
You do not need a large garden plot to start growing - you can start with just a pot (or upcycle a used tin can or 5 gallon container by drilling a few holes on the bottom). But if you have a bit more space, starting a small garden bed is easier than you think - with just a couple recycled cardboard boxes! We currently use a combination of pots and garden beds (created by using cardboard!), both of which serve specific purposes and are easy to set-up:
Pots: We started with planting herbs seedlings (e.g. basil, mint, thyme, rosemary) and edible flowers (e.g. nasturtiums) in large pots, because it was the quickest and easiest way to start planting and get immediate satisfaction. We could immediately feel good about using herbs from our beginner garden, and there are few things as effective as potted plants to give a house a facelift. In addition, using pots makes it easy to shift plants indoors to enjoy during the cooler seasons. For more details on planting in pots, see Growing from Containers and Beds.
Garden beds: With virtually the same effort as it takes to plant in pots, planting directly into a garden bed or into the ground provides additional benefits, including larger and healthier plants (since plant roots are not restricted by the pot) and less frequent watering (as soil dries more quickly in pots). For more details on how you can quickly set up a garden with virtually no digging required, see Growing from Containers and Beds.
Growing plants from seed is much more economical vs. purchasing seedlings, and provides access to a broader variety of herbs and vegetables than you may find at your local supermarket greenhouse or nursery. However, you may hit some common beginner pitfalls, which can feel discouraging; we know, because we seem to have hit them all. What we learned is that to successfully grow plants from seed largely comes down to 3 fundamental requirements: sunlight, warmth and airflow. Therefore it is important to consider which plants are most compatible with your climate zone and the area in which you will be growing your seedlings. Urban Farmer offers a comprehensive and easy-to-use guide for when to plant in a given month, as well as by state and zone.
Below are some tips and tricks that have worked for us, along with references we’ve found helpful. If you have any suggestions please share with us, as we are still learning!
Start with Microgreens: The benefit of microgreens is that they are easy to grow and fastest to harvest (can be ready to eat in just a week or so!). As microgreens can be grown indoors, you can have access to fresh greens all year-round provided you have a relatively sunny window (or grow lights). However, as you are essentially eating much smaller version of the more mature greens, it means that you need more volume, which means you need more seeds. Therefore the tradeoff is that you spend more money on seeds but less time waiting, vs. less seeds and more time if growing plants to maturity. Here’s a helpful video from Epic Gardening to help get you started.
As we like to get a tray or two of microgreens going every week or so, we usually buy these seeds in bulk or use edible cover crop seeds to make it more economical (and they tend to be heartier). Types of seeds that have been successful for us include: field peas, white or red clover, radish, and alfalfa. However, almost any edible green can be harvested as a micro or baby green, such as arugula, spinach, kale, beet, Swiss chard, and sunflower. We grow our microgreens in recycled plastic salad boxes as the lids are handy for maintaining the moisture condition conducive to germination, and makes it easy to stack/travel!
Direct sow seeds: You can sow seeds directly into pots or garden plot outside if the weather/temperature is appropriate for your seed variety (this guide is helpful in determining what to plant when). Note that some variety of seeds (such as peas) may require presoaking before planting. If you want to maximize your season, you can start with cool hearty plants such as peas, kale, Swiss chard, spinach and beets (all leaves are edible on these plants). You can also start seeds for warmer weather plants indoor to get a head start, but as mentioned above, make sure you have a spot with adequate sunlight and air flow.
REDUCE/REUSE/RECYCLE:
Growing your own plants doesn’t require significant costs. Although the videos and references that we share seem to require specialized pots, trays, soil and grow lights, what is more important is to under the conditions ideal to growing plants. Once you understand the concepts, a little thought and organization goes a long way to save money while reducing waste. Here are some examples:
Harvest seeds - from your kitchen scraps! In the “Recycle” Leftovers section we mention saving seeds from your cooking - bell peppers and hot peppers are the easiest beginner seeds to harvest as they are usually very clean and easy to access. Other vegetables include tomatoes, pumpkin and squash (this link has helpful instructions). Another consideration is to re-grow vegetables from food scraps, which can make fun/free experiments with kids.
Reuse containers for growing seedlings and potting plants: If you purchased seedlings, simply keep the pots once you’ve transplanted the plants into the ground to use when growing your own seedlings. We also recycle plastic salad containers to grow microgreens (as mentioned above) as well as plastic containers or clamshell boxes to grow seedlings (e.g. plastic boxes from berries, tomatoes or other produce purchased from the supermarket). If a box has a lot of ventilation holes, we tape off some of the holes and place a piece of cardboard on top of the tape to prevent water from leaving too rapidly when watering and lose precious soil.
Use compost for soil: If making your own compost, we have found that it will greatly reduce your need to purchase soil for plantings after about 2 years into it (timing depends on how closely you manage your compost - we tend to turn it once a week and let it sit, therefore it can take a little longer).
OTHER TIPS:
Before determining the location for your pots or garden, take a day to observe where sunlight hits on various parts of your property throughout the day, and for how long. Most plants that you grow for food will need plenty of sun, therefore it is important to pick a location that gets plenty of sun throughout the day.
Make sure you match the plant’s needs to your immediate environment. Read the information on the seed packet or plant tag to understand sun/shade, soil and water requirements, and how tall or large the mature plant will get in order to determine where to best place it. And if like us you have spots on your property that tend to accumulate water, use plants that thrive in wet soil (e.g. water mint, marsh marigold, Japanese primrose).
When it comes to shrubs and trees, we tend to purchase plants native to our area so that no special care is required as these plants are already acclimated to local temperatures and weather.
HELPFUL REFERENCES: