By Scott K. Munroe RLA, PLA, LEED AP

How to Make the Most of Your Space and Time

A Guide to Gardening Basics:

What are the basics?

Questions to ask yourself: What am I trying to do? What vegetables do I eat? What space do I have? How much time am I willing to spend? What will I need? What are some resources?

What am I trying to do?

Are you trying to grow flowers, plants, fruit, or vegetables? This will determine how you approach the garden Where you might start How much space you will need The tools and techniques you will use

What vegetables do you eat?

When I go to the grocery store what do I buy?

Lettuce Tomato Cucumber Carrots Onions Herbs Etc.

What space do I have?

A balcony A big sunny back yard A sunny front yard A patio Shade and lots of it Does your yard or place you

live get 7 or 8 hours of direct sun? This is important.

Community gardens

Community gardens are great. If you don’t have the right light, or space, or you want to meet new people and have people around that can help. Seek out your local community garden.

Community gardens are wonderful places to learn to garden since there will be other gardeners that often love to help others learn.

You will need to plan more for your trips to care for your plants.

You may need to bring your tools back and forth. You may need to pay small fees for your plot. Many communities and cities have growing

community gardening programs and offer classes through extension or master gardening programs.

Public gardens, botanic gardens and arboretums Great resources! They often have demo vegetable gardens Are very creative in how they are put together Wonderful for idea-starting Some offer classes Fun to visit National Public Garden Day is May 10, 2013

http://www.nationalpublicgardensday.org/

As long as you have lots of sun The key to garden location is the sun exposure. You need to have

about 7-8 hours of direct sun during the growing season to be successful. You may have to mix the shrubs, flowers and the vegetables together.

Mixing edible plants throughout the yard means that you and the kids can snack as you play in the yard on something healthy and home grown, all while being fun.

There are also benefits to using plants like hot peppers near plants that deer or other animals like to eat, since the hot peppers will help keep the animals away.

At the University of Maryland our dinning halls are incorporating rooftop vegetable gardens to provide produce for the kitchens.

Remember, though: Sun is King.

Make the vegetable garden a fun place to be

This is important: You want the vegetable garden to be a place you enjoy being in. When you plan your garden, add things like:

Furniture

Benches, chairs, tables, rocks to sit on, even a hammock if you have the space.

Structures

Gates, pergolas, trellises, plant pyramids Statues and other fun items

This makes you want to, and enjoy, spending time there. This means you will likely have more success.

How much time am I willing to spend?

Basic fact is that gardening takes time, from a few minutes to hours, depending on how much you are trying to do.

There are daily activities that you will need to do. Check for pests Water Weed Pollinate? (This can increase yield) Harvest

Research first

Learn about your plants and climate. A quick search on-line can help to provide information about right planting times, soil and watering needs, distance between plants (Spacing), pests to watch for and other things.

Make a calendar. You will want a weekly as well as monthly schedule, this can be done on any basic calendar. Also use this to takes notes on about the plants as the season progresses. These notes will make the next year better and easier.

Schedule tasks. Keeps the work manageable and fun.

10-5-5 rule. A typical rule of thumb is start with 10 types of plants, 5 cold season and 5 warm. This helps provide a longer growing season with longer yield. The reality is start small with something you are comfortable with. Even if that is just a single tomato, pepper and cucumber and lettuce plant in a large pot.

Building confidence improves your green thumb.

Pests

Do you need chemicals to control pests and weeds? The answer is no you don’t.

Weeds: If your soil is loose enough regular checks in the garden with some light pulling will keep weeds in control. Also, once plants mature they will help shade out weeds.

Insects: Routine checks and working with the right companion plants can make this an easy task. In your research you will be able to find herbs and other plants that naturally repel most garden pests. Good plants for repelling insects:

Marigold Basil Garlic Henbit Mint

Seeds or starter plants?

Easy - When first starting to vegetable garden it is a lot easier to buy the started plants at a local Garden Center and this can be good for maintaining control of the size of the garden and how much you are taking on.

More difficult - Seed starting. This can be done either inside or in cold frames, it can also become either addictive or frustrating. I’ll explain:

As a kid it is really cool to plant a seed, keep it watered and watch something grow. This holds true for big kids or rather adults as well.

Seed packs come with an awful lot of seeds in them so self control is important. Plant only the number of plants you are ready to take care of.

This means that you will likely give away or throw into the compost extra plants. If they don’t grow it can be frustrating. If they do it can be addictive, you can become attached to them,

this happens to plant people all the time.

What will I need?

Soil and compost Building supplies Pots Tools Shovels, hoes, trowel, weeding tools, rakes,

and other tools that make it fun and enjoyable. Hoses Watering can Gloves A smile

Soil and compost

If you are lucky, you have the nice loose, sandy loam mix with excellent organic matter for your soil. If you are like the rest of us, you need to bring in soil.

Buy bags of vegetable garden soil and compost to make your beds. How much you need depends on how much space you are gardening. Mix at a rate of either 1:1 or 2:1 (soil:compost).

Make your own compost, it is the green thing to do! Composters come in many sizes, shapes and types, and build-your-own methods are found easily on the web.

You will need a tiller or hoe. (You can rent gas and electric tillers if you do not wish to buy one.)

Building supplies

This all depends on what type of gardening you are doing. In Ground Raised Bed Pots (Small Container) Large Container Green House

Generally you will want fencing for any of the above.

For raised beds you will need lumber (hardwood or cedar). Do not use pressure-treated as it can leech chemicals into the soil and your plants. You can also buy kits.

For pots and large container – a 1-gallon would be the smallest you would want to use for most vegetables but the bigger the better. You can also build your own off-the-ground containers.

When to plant?

Most plants will go in the ground once the threat of frost is gone. Start seeds inside in March to have good size seedlings Late April to early May for the garden.

Warm Season – Planted after last frost, typically May and maturity by July. These plants need the soil to be warm.

Examples are:Tomatoes, Peppers, Squash, Cucumbers, Beans, Corn

Cold Season – Planted in Spring and Fall. Depending on Climate zone this can be late March or April and September or October.

Examples are:Carrots, Potatoes, Peas, Leafy Vegetables, Broccoli, Onions

Companion plants

Plant Name Good Companions Bad Companions

Beans Potatoes, Carrots, Cucumbers, Eggplant and others Onions, Garlic, Gladiolus, Chives

Celery Leeks, Tomatoes, Bush Beans, Cauliflower, Cabbage

Corn Potatoes, Peas, Beans, Cucumbers, Melons, TomatoesPumpkins, Squash

Strawberries Bush Beans, spinach, borage, lettuce, Onions Cabbage

Tomatoes Chives, Onions, Parsley, Asparagus, Corn, KohlrabiMarigolds, carrots

Sources for further information The Vegetable Garden: http://www.thevegetablegarden.info/companion-plants Burpee Home Gardens: http://www.burpeehomegardens.com/VegetableHerbGardening/

_CompanionPlants.aspx Organic gardening: http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/companion-planting

Additional resources

Your Local Botanic garden or Arboretum Extension Service Master gardeners Association Garden Center Many Farmers Markets

Some More Websites

Better Homes and Gardens http://www.bhg.com/gardening/

Gardeners Supply Company http://www.gardeners.com/

Earth Easy http://eartheasy.com/

Sunset http://www.sunset.com/garden/

Weekend Gardener http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to.htm

And there are many others.

Q&A

Thank you for attending!

If you have further garden or landscape questions after this session, you can always speak with a professional at any time: http://www.pearl.com/home-improvement

By Scott K. Munroe RLA, PLA, LEED AP