It's Easy! or Not Your Grandpa's Garden

Note:  This was written when I lived in Tennessee.  I moved to Texas last fall and today I am going to go out and work on making a new little garden spot at my new-to-me house.  I will be using this method.  I wish I could have done it in the fall, but I didn't.  I will be using cardboard, newspapers, and leaves.  Hay is very expensive here, so until I can find a source of used bedding, I won't be using that.  Go get your garden ready, y'all!

When you think of gardening, do you think of a big half-acre garden with rows marked off with string to make them straight? Do you think of hot summer afternoons of hoeing weeds? There IS a better way! You can do this, and you can make it easy. Stick with me and I can help. The most work in my garden comes at planting time and when I prepare beds as I prepare for the next season.


Think about that long-ago garden with rows. People walked on over half the garden. Walking on the soil compacts it, and is a bad thing for the soil and for the plants on each side. What if you took 3 rows and slid them together? Now you have a wide row about 3-4 feet wide. You can walk around it and never walk in your planting soil.

This is not fancy, y'all, but I can grow a
 lot of good food here!

Keep in mind that unless you have a reason, you don't need to make raised beds. You just need wide rows with dedicated walking spaces between them. Think about the size of a lunchroom table. That's a good size for a wide row. You can make it 8 or 10 or 12 feet long; whatever you like. You don't want to make it too long because that makes it harder to get to the other side. You can fairly easily dig that size bed up with a shovel. And if you have another “shovel operator” to help you, it's even easier! You don't need a tiller or a tractor. You can DO this!  (If you have access to a tiller, you can certainly this first year go ahead and till this area, then cover with hay, etc.) As best you can, pull out the grass, shaking the soil off as you go.

The beginnings of a new bed.  

If you are like me and don't even want to dig, you can start in the fall and lay down  a layer of cardboard first, then newspapers or shredded paper and then either hay, grass-clippings, or leaves that you have run over with the lawn mower.  Let the worms work it all winter, and by spring you'll be ready to go.  I, however, did not do that last fall on the new spot I am making, and so here it is March and I'm just making that new bed.  I will not dig it up because there are
too many rocks here and besides, it sounds like too much work.  So I'm making my bed and will wait a few weeks and punch throught the layers and plant some things there.  I'll keep adding hay all summer and by next year it will be even better. I won't plant my precious tomatoes or peppers there, but I'll plant something.  It is not a big deal.  

What if you don't have shreded paper?  Just use whatever you have.  If it will rot, then it's probably good.  Do you have donkeys next door like I do?  Then you can add some shovels of donkey manure.  (Don't use dog or cat poo. You don't want their parasites---which could become YOUR parasites.) 

There is a layer of cardboard, then a layer of shredded paper,  Last is a layer
of hay.

That bed will eventually be higher than the surrounding soil because it will get “fluffy” from all the organic matter you're going to add and from the earthworms working the soil for you.  If you have a NEED to make a raised-bed then whatever you do, don't use old cross ties or landscape timbers. The cross ties have creosote which is carcinogenic,;the landscape timbers are treated. All this bad stuff will leach into the soil where you are growing food to eat. Don't do it. In this part of the country, cedar is the best choice.  


Cover the soil with grass-clippings (that have not been sprayed with herbicide) or hay or chopped-up leaves or shredded or torn paper (only black and white newspaper, not colored ads). Pile it up thick. This deep mulch will serve a few purposes. It will keep weeds from growing, which equals no hoeing! It will hold moisture in, and it will rot and enrich your soil. The earthworms will eat it from the bottom side and will speed up this process. Earthworms will “till” your soil when you give them organic matter to eat, and you will actually be able to dig in it with your hand!


(Just so it doesn't get left out--Do NOT spray with pesticides. It is bad for you and your family, and it is totally unnecessary. Most pests can be hand-picked.)

What Should I Plant???

All the vegetables I'm going to talk about are warm-weather plants.  That means they need to be planted after the danger of frost has passed.  Where I live in southern middle Tennessee that could be after April 15^th and sometimes a bit later.  (Update:  I now live in Texas, and I am still figuring out the last frost date.  So far it looks like about the third week in March.)  Also, this is a “quicky.”  I'm not going to go into great detail about each vegetable in this article.  I just want you to get off to a good start.  

First, think about what you like to eat.  What tastes best homegrown or is expensive to buy?  Tomatoes is usually the number one answer.  They only taste good homegrown.  So grow some tomato plants.  Buy plants to put in your garden.  Don't try to grow these from seed unless you can start in February and until you get more experience.   (Which Tomato Should I Grow?)

Next, think about getting a lot of bang for your buck.  These are things that give you a lot of food.  Here's what I do.  

I grow zucchini because I can get lots of food from them.  Pick them small so you don't have 2 foot long ones that have big ol' seeds in the middle that have to be scooped out and so that you are not overrun with them.  

Butternut squash, spaghetti squash, pumpkins and other “winter” squash are very expensive in the store.  (Note: they are called “winter” squashes because they are good for storing through the winter in a slightly cool place.  They all have a thick rind.  Don't try to store them in the fridge.  They just won't last as long.)  They have to grow a long time until they are ripe, and they have long vines, so keep those things in mind when planning your garden.  There are some bush varieties available.  Grow these from seed. 

I grow peppers.  I am most passionate about peppers.  That is for another day.  For right now, you need to know that peppers, both sweet and hot are easy to grow and don't have problems with pests or diseases.  You might occasionally find a tomato hornworm, but they are easily hand-picked and fed to the birds.  Do you want those sweet red peppers?  Then let the green ones stay on the plant long enough to get ripe.  Regular bell peppers ripen to red.  If you buy yellow or orange varieties, they will start out green too and will ripen to red, yellow, or orange.  I'll write more about that later, but that's enough to get you started.  Don't try to grow these from seed unless you start in January or February.  Buy plants. 

Cucumbers are a good choice for quick results.  The seeds are a nice size for kids to help plant and you'll have yields fairly quickly.  I like to let them run up on something so they don't take up so much room.   If you want to make pickles, then you need to buy seeds for "pickling" cucumbers.  The others will be soft when they are pickled. You'll know they are good for pickling because it will have "pickling" in the name.  Picklers are good for slicing AND pickling.  This is what I buy.

In the south, we like okra.  Nothing bothers okra.  To grow okra, soak the seeds overnight and plant when the soil is warmed up.  Give each plant plenty of room.  I would say to give each plant a square of about 2-3 feet.  I like Clemson Spineless because they don't get tough as quickly, but I am growing Lousiana Green Velvet this year at the recommendation of a friend.  

I would suggest that you don't try to grow corn in your small garden.  Yes, I know you like corn.  I do too.  But here's what you need to know about corn.  It is wind-pollinated.  You have to plant several short rows so they can pollinate each other.  Here's the quick botany lesson.  All those tassels are the male part and have all the pollen.  Those silks are the female parts and a pollen grain has to make it to the end of each silk to make each individual kernel of corn.  You just have to have more room to grow corn.  

Plant Cilantro Now - You'll Have It For Months!

     Have you ever tried to buy fresh cilantro? It doesn't last long in the fridge, does it? To be fair, I think we are supposed to put the stems in a glass of water in the fridge, and it will keep. But even better is to just grow it yourself. Then you get to pick what you need, when you need it. There is nothing to compare to being able to go out in your jammies and picking all the cilantro you want to use in your scrambled eggs!   When have a hankering to make the simple restaurant salsa you'll just have to step out of your door to pick fresh cilantro that will put it over the top!  Here's what you should know.
     Cilantro likes cool weather. Even though you really want to eat it with your tomatoes in the heat of the summer, cilantro does not like heat. The really good news is that once you grow cilantro, you can keep it going forever. Plant cilantro seeds in either

Cilantro seedlings

the spring or fall. When planted in the fall, it will keep growing all winter long here in the mid-south. All you do is go out and pinch off what you need, as you need it. When the temperatures dip way down, your cilantro may get its edges bitten, but come the first mild day, it will perk right up and quickly put on a little bit of new growth.

Cilantro seeds--also known as Coriander

     Come spring, your fall plantings will start to get very tall. That tall stem is a flower stalk. You can still eat it. When it blooms, it will make umbel type blooms that attract beneficial insects. I always let 2 or 3 plants go to seed and plant my spring veggies around them. In June the seeds will turn brown and be “ripe.” Here's what I do. I collect some for planting in the fall. I use some for coriander. Yes, cilantro seeds are called coriander. It sells for a nice price in a little bitty bottle, but now you'll have your own. When you need it you can grind them up in a coffee-grinder or in a suribachi mortar and pestle. I leave some in the garden because for me, my best bet for the next season of cilantro is from the seeds that I have left in the garden. Then, even if I don't get out in the garden at the right time, or if my head is trying to convince me that it's too hot to do my fall planting, the cilantro volunteers sprouting alert me that it is indeed time to plant the seeds of fall!