Gardening Solo
January 5, 2011 7:24 PM   Subscribe

Gardening solo for the first time. What's a 30 year old woman to do to prepare for Spring?

I've lived in city apartments all my life. I've only recently moved to a basement apartment with access to a yard consisting of 3 strips of soil measuring about 3 feet by 30 feet.

Being in the Northeast U.S.A means the ground if frozen. A shallow hole dug with an old spade reveals grass roots tangled 1 1/2 inches thick.

I'm not willing to call in a landscaper. I have my good four limbs, common sense, and small car. What sort of preparation should I make once the ground thaws, any expensive supplies to save for?

I'd like to produce a food garden of sorts. I think my main efforts will be on weekends. Perhaps I'll only cultivate one of the garden strips.
posted by ayc200 to Home & Garden (19 answers total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
It sounds like square foot gardening may be something for you to look into--it's a great way to raise vegetables in smallish spaces, and you could start with a small garden and work your way up.

It's generally done with raised beds, which means you don't have to worry too much about the soil underneath, and the beds can be built with scrap lumber which is easy to come by and inexpensive.
posted by padraigin at 7:33 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best gardening decision I ever made was to have my soil tilled instead of trying to turn it over with a spading fork. You can rent rototillers at most equipment rental outfits, but you don't want the small one for flowerbeds -- you'll need the bigger one. If you can get that home in your car, great. If not, spring for the delivery fee. At my community garden, there's a guy who owns a tiller who will do the plot for $25. That money is so well worth it I can't even explain.

Put some compost down -- 3" thick or more -- along with aged steer or chicken manure (1" thick or so). Till it in. Rake them level. Your beds are now ready to go.
posted by mudpuppie at 7:47 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


If the ground is still frozen, this is the time to start planning indoors. Figure out what crops you want to go in to your spring garden. Not sure about your area, but our local extension office offers a calendar of what veggies can be planted in what month of the year, so look in to that. You might even try planting starts from seed. Once the soil is soft enough to dig into, pull out any thatch, and supplement your row with compost. Dig it in there. If possible, you'd like to get pretty far down. Once the last frost has passed, you can plant your starts and you're ready to go.

Good luck. As an apartment dweller, I'm seriously jealous.
posted by Gilbert at 7:55 PM on January 5, 2011


Month-by-Month Gardening in New England

I have the central Midwestern edition of this book. It's incredibly useful; it provides detailed instructions on what to do for different categories of plants (bulbs, roses, perennials, vegetables, etc.) during each month of the year.
posted by tully_monster at 8:19 PM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]


I'm by no means an expert on this, but I think it might be wise to have your soil tested if you're still living in the city, especially since you're planning to grow plants for food. The first risk that comes to mind is lead contamination (from gasoline, paint, etc) -- there's a surprising lot of lead contamination in the Northeast. This article talks about the different contaminants there might be in urban soil and how to test for them.

I wouldn't be so worried if you were just growing flowers, but for food, I would want to check if I were you. If there's any contamination, you could use raised beds with fresh soil instead.
posted by zahava at 8:31 PM on January 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


Rototillers really are awesome if you can get them turned on. I suck with lawnmowers, therefore I suck with rototillers. But bloody Hell can they mix, chop & churn once they're going!

Anyway, the way I start any garden I'm going to build is dig it out (keeping as much of the soil and as little of the weeds as possible, add topsoil, add manure (aka "composted manure." General rule of thumb for composted cow is 1/3 of final mix should be manure; cow is the most common variety. You'll also run into horse & chicken manure. Their properties vary, as does the ratio.). It's not one of those *AMAZING* mixes, but it gets the job done for Gardening 101. You may want to ask with your local garden centers about what regional soil variations may need to be taken into account (eg sandy vs clay). Those may require different amendments. Peat moss is one of the more common adjustments in my area. I've also been known to lay down an inch or two of gravel under a slightly raised bed where drainage is especially bad

The thing is, skimping on soil amendments is BAD. Rock hard soil? Little roots are going to have trouble drilling through it. Soggy all the time? Half the plants you buy will rot out, unless you stick to bog plants. Soil is boring, hard work, and moderately expensive. It is also where the plant is going to live and get a lot of its nutrients, so do the work: Get your soil straight before you dive in.

Once you've got your dirt down, go to your garden center and see what you like. Go with some idea of the light and wetness conditions in the areas for which you are considering plants. In my experience, most plants can do one degree of light different than the recommendation on the tag. So a plant said to thrive in full sun can generally get by in part shade, but not full shade. Likewise a shade plant can usually do part sun, as long as the sun is not in the hottest part of the day (which would be mid afternoon to late afternoon sun--BLAZING HOT when that sun is full up. Morning sun's not that bad. Late evening sun...use discretion.). Pick out some things to try. Some will do poorly although *everything* is right, others will thrive in what appears to be ridiculously wrong conditions.

Experience will make you a better gardener; most people don't start out with *amazing* chops. Some people love the frustrations and triumphs, other people decide gardening is not where they want to put their energies. Some people love a manicured yard, other people just enjoy growing things. Follow your muse, keep your sense of humor & learn from the failures as well as successes. Enjoy.
posted by Ys at 8:32 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Many gardeners advise against rototilling, since it so disrupts the natural layered ecosystem of the soil. Better to use a broad fork to gently loosen the soil, then add a metric ton of compost on top to keep things workable. Problem is, broad forks are expensive and hard to find.

If you build high raised beds, you don't need to do anything else. Just fill the bed frames with compost and plant away. In a couple of years the wormy critters will till the soil for you, which is what you want to happen anyhow.

I live in NE too, and it's much too early to do anything but order seeds and plan. I suggest starting out not too ambitiously. Plant a salad garden--put in spinach, lettuce, and peas first (literally as soon as you can work the ground, which can be hastened by putting plastic down over the garden area to warm the soil; these plants can handle freezing temps at night). Plant stuff you really like to eat.
posted by Camofrog at 8:48 PM on January 5, 2011


I like the book Weedless Gardening a lot.

(Not that my garden is, er, weedless in any way, but I still like the book . . . )
posted by flug at 9:20 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


I would start small. Pick the sunniest of your strips, and you can always expand to the others later on. You could rototill, but if you don't want to go to the trouble and want to get started now, you could try a "lasagna garden method". If you google that you will get plenty of tutorials, but basically you cover the bed (grass roots and all!) with a layer of newspapers or cardboard, then peat moss, compost, manure, grass clippings, leaves or whatever you can get your hands on. You can buy composted manure and peatmoss in bags at hardware stores and garden centers. I would throw in some organic fertilizer, and water it well. You could get this started now without having to dig in the frozen ground, and your garden is ready to plant when the ground thaws.

You might want to think about making some compost bins. Composting is a cheap way to make really beautiful soil, and gardening is really all about soil.

As for tools, I would think about getting a shovel, garden fork, and a little trowel to start. Eventually you might want a wheelbarrow.

I like to use the winter months to plan my garden. I get lots of books out of the library and get out the seed catalogues, which are usually online too. I think about what I can plant when (my local seed company has a great planting date chart), and what I want to grow. I would recommend buying seedlings in the spring for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants unless you have a grow light inside to get them started. You can start cabbage family plants in windowsills, but you could buy those too. It's always fun to see what seedlings the garden centers and farmer's markets have. Other things can be seeded in your garden in the spring. Greens, lettuces, kale, and peas go in fairly early. After that comes beans, corn, squash, cucumbers and on and on. Have fun!
posted by squid in a people suit at 9:33 PM on January 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


City soil is not always the cleanest. Stuff falls from the sky etc. You can avoid most of the issues with all but the most contaminated soil by just putting in a raised bed, which is essentially a frame of some sort into which you put new fresh soil. Things will grow better in this new premium soil anyway so even without contamination of any sort it is a good idea. If you have money the easiest way is to fill the bed with potting soil. Otherwise put in a mixture of soil, peat moss and compost such as mushroom compost (my fav) or manure compost (a little stinky). You will likely also need some lime to counteract the pH of the peat moss, and you will want a lot of peat moss, like half the volume if not more. It is cheap and bales of it expand greatly upon watering. A garden center can help you buy what you need. There is lots of information spread about the web but probably the most efficient way to get up to speed is to check a few gardening books out of your local garden. Even if you do not go organic, the organic books do the best job of describing how to make conditions optimal for growth, disease resistance etc., so include at least one book on organic gardening.
posted by caddis at 4:30 AM on January 6, 2011


out of your library, not garden.

I am getting more coffee......
posted by caddis at 4:58 AM on January 6, 2011


Raised beds all the way, then fill them with garden soil you buy from home depot. No need to fool with the soil there now. Plant stuff that's easy to grow (bush beans, carrots, radishes, marigolds). Get started earlier than you think to take advantage of cool weather growing season (lots of veggies need to get started in very early spring.) Don't overwater. Watch out for squirrels!

You must buy a copy of Square Foot Gardening! I have a copy of the old edition I'd be happy to mail you if you memail your info.
posted by yarly at 5:39 AM on January 6, 2011


BBC show How to be a gardener is a good introduction to gardening. If you want better quality video, memail me.
posted by leigh1 at 5:47 AM on January 6, 2011


ps: Topsoil vs potting soil. Generic topsoil is a fairly poor quality, heavy fill material for gardens. Potting soil is a heavily amended (usually mostly peatmoss, I'm thinking?), lightweight material, intended for plants in pots. Lots of nubies are confused on this point and think it is a quality + price difference. It's actually a difference of intended use for the soil. Topsoil is for bigger in-ground jobs, and needs additives to keep it from getting rock hard & to be nutritious (eg the native soil & manure you mix in). Potting soil is for small jobs, generally isn't intended to go in the ground, and is pretty much made up of additives (natural or otherwise).
posted by Ys at 6:05 AM on January 6, 2011


I also came in to strongly recommend raised beds. They're better because:

-they warm up faster
-can retain water better if you lay down a barrier layer (recommended)
-easier to plant, weed, and harvest in because you don't have to lean down as far
-you totally control the quality of the soil and can exclude the contaminants that are very probably in your existing city soil
-easier to keep weeded because the soil won't contain thousands of indigenous weed seeds
-pretty looking

An incredibly helpful resource for beginning gardeners is the Cooperative Extension service of the government. Look up the extension program for your state and visit their website, then give a call or email to get their calendar and resources. Extensions do a few useful things: one, they are the experts on your region and local microclimate and can recommend varieties of plants that do well, best local planting dates, frost and frost-free dates for your region, etc. Two, they usually run a Master Gardener program in which trained and certified gardeners are available to answer your specific questions. Three, those gardeners often run programs on themes, like "growing heirloom tomatoes" or "starting a home orchard" that are, again, specific to the growing conditions in your area. They're a wealth of knowledge.
posted by Miko at 6:34 AM on January 6, 2011


Yesyes, soil amendments, compost, lead checks, raised beds, thawing, tilling, ...

But listen to Gilbert. Winter is a really exciting time for home gardeners - this is when the seed catalogs are arriving! The world of vegetable opportunity is out there!! February is the month of wild dreams and crazy plans, so get busy with your crazy ideas! By March or so, you will have ruled out more things, and in January you haven't had all your craziest ideas yet - Feb's the best!

so in short:
1. check where there's sun (keeping in mind that the sun angle gets steeper and the tree cover gets opaque)
2. make a list of your favorite vegetables for eating, whether they need a lot or a little sun, and when and where you plant the seeds (outside/inside).
3. go looking for tomato seeds and decide you need a yellow, a green-striped, a black/purple, some pear-shaped, and 5 other delicious and beautiful heirloom varieties. And why plant canteloupes when you can grow bright yellow stripey asian melons with really floral-smelling sweet flesh that are small enough to eat like an apple? And did you know they have round yellow cucumbers and 3-foot long green beans, and vice-versa?
4. realize you'd have to till out to the street to plant and quit your job to maintain that much garden, and narrow down your planting choices.

Right now, you should be thinking about sun and varieties and beautiful food, and making maps (square-foot gardening book is good for talking about how to plan and map in that system), and just be aware that all the boring stuff with soil testing, preparation, and amendment is all 100% necessary and 95% annoying, so get prepared by stockpiling enthusiasm.
posted by aimedwander at 7:05 AM on January 6, 2011 [2 favorites]


Ys - on the question of Topsoil vs potting soil - what about a third choice: a gardening soil mix like this one, available for around $8 for a 2 cubic ft bag? Unless my math is off (totally possible), a reasonable sized beginner's raised bed garden (say, two 8ft x 2ft x 1 ft beds) would require 16 bags, a $128 investment. That seems worth it to me, both in good quality soil and as a good short cut for the beginner gardener.
posted by yarly at 7:13 AM on January 6, 2011


Do raised beds. They are easy to build. Follow these instructions:

How to build cedar raised beds for $10.

After you have you raised beds fill them up with good garden soil (not that 99-cent "topsoil" that they sell). You can add in some peat, compost, manure and other amendments too, if you like. If you're okay with things not being totally organic, the Miracle Gro garden soil works really well.

Good luck! Raised beds make things SO much easier, and you can still do square foot or biointensive gardening in them.
posted by Ostara at 7:39 AM on January 6, 2011


The place I used to work did sell Miracle Grow Garden Soil. It wasn't a hot seller, but that's probably because of pricetag. It's looks really expensive when you're talking about covering a large area. On the other hand, I've never actually "run the numbers" to figure out if getting cow, + peat, + topsoil + fertilizer (some people go strictly cow, I like to augment) really is cheaper than just paying for a bunch of more expensive single bags. Might be worth looking at. The little feedback I did get on it was overall positive. It's basically amended topsoil. Whether it dries like a brick the way topsoil does, I don't remember, but I do know it comes with plant food pre-mixed.
posted by Ys at 7:49 AM on January 6, 2011


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