Do You Want to Garden Organically and Just Don’t Know Where To Start?

Have you always wanted to transition your vegetable gardens to all organic methods? It’ s the new thing, you know. All those wannabe crunchy people out there have had some small realization that all these chemical laden foods cannot possibly be good. So maybe some of you are suburbanites that have plotted out a small garden and bought some soil and fertilizers and some seeds. Maybe you had good luck and grew a few pounds of tomatoes and cucumbers. Somehow, it just isn’t enough to make a dent in your food bill and on your lifestyle of McDonald’s and Subway. It’s a small step and that is really good. But transitioning your life to becoming more organic may have to be a lifestyle. Where do you start? Well, I can tell you how I started and maybe you will get some ideas on what would  be right for you and your family.

I moved to the country about a year ago. But until then, I was a suburbanite searching to minimize my carbon footprint, reducing our grocery bill, and transitioning into a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. Where did I get the idea? Well, I realized I had no idea how to sew. I had no way of growing my own food. And I was a clueless American that just bought everything at the store even though I had a little voice in my head that said those stores and the endless supply of money may not last forever. So I read a lot of books. I looked at other people’s websites. I learned how to make my own soap. I learned to make laundry soap for a fraction of the price. You know what happened? It was like a drug; learning all these old- timey skills made me realize that our generation was lost and if anything like an economic collapse occurred, we would all become crazy zombies that had no idea how to take care of ourselves. To make matters worse, I was noticing all the online articles that highlighted the adverse effects of high fructose corn syrup and processed foods. So let’s just say it took me close to 10 years to get where I am today. Furthermore, there are varying degrees of crunchy that you can achieve and maybe I am a little too much for you.
Let me just say that there are varying degrees of “organic” to me. There are those people that buy everything organic- food, clothing, soaps, shampoos, etc. I am not one of those people. I have contemplated the organic movement and I just think its crazy to think something is perfectly organic when less than 100 years ago we thought asbestos was a great idea. There was probably a chemical plant built in the spot that my 90 year old house is now standing on; or even more possible is a farm that probably used formaldehyde as a fertilizer. So am I truly organic? Probably not. Do I buy all organic crap? Not really. I just make an effort to do most of everything myself and in the process most of the products I use are “all natural.”

You have your plot marked out for spring. You have your non-GMO seeds and your soil has been tilled. Now what? Well, your first crop that you plant in that spot will most likely do alright. However, without properly feeding your soil, you will ultimately fail to produce good quality food in successive years. As the vegetables grow, they will take the nutrients from the soil that will help them grow properly. Therefore, if you grow great tomatoes in that spot, next year when you plant in that same spot the soil will be void of those necessary nutrients. You will need to continuously build your soil to continue to grow crops of any nutritional value. And something else VERY important; I mean, you need to imprint this next sentence on your brain or you will just get sucked into buying chemical laden crap for your garden when it starts to crimp.

YOU MUST GIVE YOUR SOIL NUTRITION FOR IT TO PRODUCE NUTRITION FOR YOU

I hope you understand this. You will have to feed your plants nutritional food for them to produce nutrition for you. Healthy plants will also fight off bugs. When your garden gets invaded by crazy little bugs that want to destroy all your precious plants, it is because they are not healthy enough to fight off pests or disease. Healthy plants, just like healthy people, will fight off all the diseases and pests that come their way. The bugs are not stupid! Just like bacteria, they will invade those plants that cannot fight back. So you must continually build your soil so that it is strong and healthy. Here are some ways that you can do this:
1. Compost- compost anything that you possibly can. Throw all your vegetable and fruit craps in a pile in the corner of the yard and the bugs will do the rest. We have a tumbler ( that I got from Craiglist for dirt cheap) and a few different wire fence enclosures that we put any degradable items that would do well in the garden. This includes chicken poop, rabbit droppings, fruit and vegetable scraps and peels, and garden leftovers. No meat, dairy, or processed food scraps go in there.
2. Vermicomposting- This is really easy to do. Take a couple of tupperware bins and drill holes into one of them on the sides and lid. I put a brick in the bin that has no holes. Then set the other bin with the holes on top of the brick and inside the other one. Then I bought a bag of red composting worms from Ebay or somewhere for less than $15 with shipping. I used newspaper and whatever other shredded paper bits I could find, put it in the bottom and wet it down. Put the worms in there with the paper. Then place a layer on top of fruit and vegetable scraps. Voila! Those little guys will create the most nutritious soil you have ever known. So fertile that it should only be mixed into the soil in small amounts.
3. Get chickens, rabbits, and any other animal that may create droppings perfect for your soil- You will have to decide this for yourself. I have chickens and pigs and because I dont feed them a meaty diet, I can use their feces in my garden. No dog poop cant be used! When I lived in suburbia, I used to go to people’s farms and clean out cow and horse stalls for their poop. I let it compost for several months and then spread it on the garden. Free compost! If your really adventurous, those animals can eventually become another food source.

4. Make rainbarrels- Again, I got some off of friends and online for cheap. My handsome hubby put spigots in them and positioned them under gutters and eves. We filtered the water from the roof with a wire mesh that we got from the local hardware store. That would also keep mosquitoes from breeding in them.
5. Slowly grow your garden space each year- We went from a small raised garden area about 12 by 12 feet and just before we moved to Maine the area had over taken the front and back yards. I was planting all edible plants that would grow well in our zone. I even planted some edible flowers that provided both pretty landscaping but would taste good in a salad. Once you get going, you will learn that even with less than a quarter of an acre, you can grow most of your own food. There is a family in California that not only produce all their own food on .10 of acre, but they also sell some of it in order to buy supplies that they cannot make themselves. If you look at their gardens, you will see that they employ a permaculture approach. This is just a fancy word for using a multitude of different plants and animals in a way that prevents pests and diseases from overtaking the garden. It also uses the thinking that if one crop fails, you will have many other food sources to fall back on. Our current monoculture approach in the United States where one crop is grown over thousands of acres creates a habitat that requires pesticides because the bad bugs can grow and thrive all in one spot.

These seem somewhat simple to do. However, unless you know how to compost very quickly, it seems like forever before the compost actually turns into something usable. That is why you will have to be creative and try to get free compost from local farmers or have animals that will create it for you. Otherwise, you will end up spending allot of money buying fertilizer products that may not be the best for you and your family.

However, the rewards are absolutely amazing! Once you make a meal that you grew and raised yourself, you will be addicted to finding more ways to grow and do things for yourself! Have more questions? Send me an email or a facebook post and I will tell you how I do things. It may not be the best way, but I have probably been there and done that! Blessings!