Growing herbs can be gratifying and therapeutic, seeing something grow from a seed, producing plants and eventually harvesting, providing food and medicine. The health of your plants depend on the soil and roots. And organic food is better than conventional ones but the trend now leads to wildcrafted ways of obtaining food. Though nothing compares to homegrown, fresh fruits and vegetables when it comes to taste and nutrition and local, farmer’s market is your next best choice.
I only eat cucumbers when it is fresh from my garden because cukes from the grocery store looks like a cucumber but the taste is different. Same as with tomatoes, broccoli, basil, to name a few.
Grow your plants depending on your needs. I followed garden designs before but it was not beneficial for me. Like growing pumpkins. I rarely eat them and it took a long season to grow, using up a lot of garden space. You can plant 20 tomato plants but when they all bear fruit, you may not be able to use them all. Or, you have to dedicate the time to harvest, dry or can them for future use.
It is best to plan your garden in paper, design it and then put it into action. Choose your seeds and plants accordingly.
10 Ways of designing your garden
- SQUARE FOOT GARDEN
Imagine making a chess board in your garden. Measure 1 foot on all sides to maximize the space, with each space allocated for a certain plant type. This idea originated from a retired engineer, Mel Bartholomew, who wrote a book about creating a raised 4×4 garden bed, divided into sixteen square grids. Every square has a designated plant type, and a different crop can be rotated and harvested within the growing season. The advantage is to reduce weeds from growing in between and having a bountiful harvest by using every space.
2. LASAGNA GARDEN/SHEET COMPOSTING
Lasagna garden is making compost through layering. It starts by applying a bottom layer of decomposable material like paper to suffocate the weeds and existing vegetation. Then a subsequent layer of “greens” (kitchen scraps, grass clippings, fresh plant materials) and a layer of ‘browns” ( dry leaves, coffee grounds, small woodchips) and eventually top soil. The balance of greens and browns leads to an efficient way of composting.
The good thing about it is you can start a garden right away as the layers decompose, producing healthy plants. And the concept can be applied in any way like a pot, a garden bed or a whole area if you desire. Sheet composting is an agricultural technique applying the same principles.
3. HUGELKULTUR
This is a mound of garden, a raised bed composed of decaying wood and other compostable materials, making the soil fertile with less watering and less maintenance. The decomposition of the wood or logs take relatively slow where the nitrogen is not balanced in the soil.
Hugel beds work well with annual crops but not for the root system of fruit trees. Plus, you may need a tractor to haul large logs as a base of your bed though you can use small ones too. And make sure you do not leave spaces between logs as mice can live under them.
4. NO DIG GARDEN
Tilling destroys 30% of microbial soil life, the organic matter and living microorganisms that makes the soil healthy. No dog garden can be traced back to 1938 with Masanobu Fukuoka, who found greater yield when the soil was undisturbed.
It was then followed by Esther Dean, Ruth Stout and Charles Dowding, claiming that the soil constitutes a food web of micro and macro organisms. The technique involves adding organic matter directly to the soil surface, encouraging worms, insects and microbes to fertilize and aerate the soil.
5. FOREST GARDEN
The principle is to mimic the inherent natural soil building technique of nature, resulting into a healthy, productive and low maintenance ecosysytem.
6. VERTICAL GARDEN
Growing crops in a vertical layer is gaining popularity, optimizing plant growth and space. This is a more controlled way of gardening. Large start up and maintenance costs can offset this idea in comparison to traditional way of gardening. This can also be applied in growing plants that can climb like beans, cucumbers or squash., building a trellis for them to grow up maximizing the horizontal space underneath.
7. CONTAINER GARDENING
You can plant anything when you have a container. May it be a used can, a pot, a fancy planter; putting holes underneath it for water to drain. This is ideal for urban gardens growing plants in any vessel that can hold soil.
8. SEASONAL PLANTING/CROP ROTATION
For places that have seasons, understanding your planting zones will guide you when to plant certain crops. Knowing their germination and yield times as geography can affect what and when you can grow plants. Like planting a lettuce in the early spring with tomatoes that usually yield fruits in late summer.
9. COMPANION PLANTING
The basic concept is growing plants that has a symbiotic relationship with each other. Common example is planting marigolds and other naturally pest repelling plants to reduce the need for pesticides. Some say that certain crops affect the flavor of another plant when grown alongside each other.
10. KEYHOLE GARDEN
Every culture devises ways on how to grow by geography and what plants are suited for it. In Africa, they use keyhole gardens for the dry season where a raised garden is designed in a circular shape with an indentation in the middle. This is like a composting bin that is situated in the center of the bed where anything compostable is added providing nutrients to the soil and plants.
What garden to make?
Can’t decide what type of garden to do? No problem, you can mix and match them according to your needs. I have raised gardens made from bricks, stones and logs. Inside these beds are Hugel and Lasagna as the foundation. Then, I use square foot gardening, companion, seasonal/crop rotation and vertical gardening methods.
It took at least 2 years for plants to grow healthy in the Hugel bed and when I put my shovel deep enough, sometimes it strikes a log. I then designed my Hugel garden bed into a NoDig garden as well, filled the top layer with composting hay from a nearby farm for $30.00 to $50.00 per bale. I made it settle a little and started planting seasonal crops with shallow roots like lettuce, spring onions, basil, parsley, arugula and as such.
What I learned
After 2 to 8 years, I did not need to water my lasagna garden as much as I do my Hugelkultur bed. And I noticed that the top soil of my Hugel bed is dry and my lasagna bed is not. The lasagna bed has more worms than the Hugel bed.
For years, i have done the conventional way of planting in rows. It does occupy a lot of space and the produce is minimal. Like cabbages that needs a designated spot as the leaves can grow over other smaller plants. This is where square foot gardening comes into play. Planning your garden and designing them in paper applying seasonal and companion planting in mind creates a smooth garden flow and harvest. For acid loving plants like tomatoes and blueberries, I fill the top soil with pine needles gathered in the fall or early spring.
I have tried to incorporate vegetable plants with edible weeds but the weeds will overtake the garden where you have to consistently uproot them. So I made a designated spot for weeds to grow like using dandelions, violets and plantain to line the borders of my raised beds. Try not to use vines or they will eventually win. Love mint but they should also have a designated area as they tend to take over.
Blending them all together
Flower gardens are beautiful and attracts pollinators. I chose the edible kind or the ones that have medicinal properties like chamomile, echinacea, calendula and the like. Then, I use strawberries, thyme, purslane as a ground cover. I am not fond of myrtle as they killed so many plants and they really do not have a use for me. Their root system choked the plants around them and am still ripping them off the ground up to this day.
I do hope you learned from my mistakes. Choose plants that you have every intention of using and eating, not just planting them wherever or growing whatever. The harmony and health of your garden will yield bountiful crops when planned properly.
