How To Get Started....

• SELECTING SEEDS or PLANTS- Think about what you want to plant in your garden. Be realistic. What do you enjoy eating? What veggies do you buy in the store that would be cheaper to grow? What will your kids eat? Start simple by planting only a few different things and try something new each year. Pick things that are easy to grow. Seeds can be ordered from a seed catalog or you can simply go to the store or nursery to select the seeds you want. Keep in mind, some varieties are better than others. And some varieties grow better in other climates but not so well here. 
   
• MAKE A PLAN- Lay out your garden on paper. Figure out where you will plant things. There are several reasons for this important step.
  1. Avoid watering problems. Plant Cool weather crops in the same area of your garden so that you can water them more frequently.
  2. Avoid shading problems. Plant tall things like corn or tomatoes toward the north side of your garden so as not to create shade for other crops.
  3. Avoid over planting. Don't plant a whole row of zucchini unless you plan on feeding the whole neighborhood, which is actually fun to do.
  4. Spacing for certain vegetables is critical. For example, corn needs more space between rows than say carrots or beans. Allow pathways for easy access to your vegetables.
  5. Practice crop rotation. Place vegetables in a different spot of the garden from last year. This will help to fight off pests and fungal diseases.
  6. Your garden should be a thing of beauty. Plan rows so they are neat and attractive.
  • WHEN TO PLANT- Cool weather crops can be started as soon as you can get the ground tilled in the Spring, perhaps as early as March. But you must wait to plant warm weather crops until after the last frost, which for us is usually around Mother's Day, or May 10^th. You can also plant a fall garden with more cool weather crops around July 10^th. These will grow and enable you to keep harvesting things right up through October.
    
    
  • APPLYING COMPOST AND FERTILIZER- Growing vegetables takes nutrients from the soil, so we have to fertilize to replenish and invigorate the soil. Make the soil happy and it will make you happy by growing delicious foods to eat.
    
    
  • TILLING THE GARDEN- Two or three weeks before you plan on planting is the best time to till the garden. Apply your compost and fertilizer and then till it into the soil to a depth of seven or eight inches. Depending on the size of your garden, this can be done with a roto-tiller or by hand with a shovel. Tilling the garden also makes the soil nice and fluffy and puts oxygen into it.
    
    
  • PREPARING THE BEDS- Using your garden layout that you designed on paper, figure out where you will create furrows or pathways and where you will plant rows of vegetables. It is easy to make straight rows if you use two stakes at either end of the row and tie a string between each stake. After your furrows are made, then you can use a garden rake and make your planting surface nice and level. 
     
  • PLANTING- (My favorite part!! :) Pay close attention to the instructions on the seed packets. They will tell you exactly how deep to plant seeds and the spacing requirements between seeds. Every kind of seed has different requirements. A good rule of thumb is to plant the seed three times the depth of its size. So if a seed is a quarter of an inch in size, plant it three-quarters of an inch deep. Remember healthy plants need space and should be given plenty of elbow room.
    Some vegetables are better started as transplants. You will have to go to the store or nursery to buy the plants and then immediately put them into the garden. Things like tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers are easier to start from transplants.
    
    
  • WATERING SEEDLINGS- After you get seeds into the ground water them gently with a sprinkler or a hand held sprayer. This will need to be done every day for 15 minutes until the plants are up and established, meaning three or four inches tall. Then gradually reduce the number of waterings until you are only watering them once a week. Transplants need to be watered after being planted into the ground perhaps everyday for a week, but then gradually reduce watering times. 
     
  • REASONS WHY SEEDS DON'T COME UP-
    1. Soil gets too dry.
    2. Packed soil or hard crust.
    3. Cold weather, slow germination, seeds rot.
    4. Fungus diseases such as “damping off”.
    5. Cut worms and other insects eat seeds or seedlings.
    6. Poor, old seed.

Watering Schedule

Spring or Fall Garden

Leaf and Root, Cool Season, Shallow Rooted

Twice a Week 

lettuce, celery, spinach, swiss chard, radishes, beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peas

Summer Garden

Immature Fruit, Intermediate, Rooting Depth

Once a Week

beans, corn, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, yams, peanuts, rhubarb, onions, pumpkins

Summer Garden

Seed and Fruit, Warm Season, Deep Rooted

10 days to 2 weeks

tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, butternut squash, hubbard squash, banana squash, peaches/nectarines, pears, apples, plums, cherries, grapes, asparagus

Three Important Things To Consider When Planting a Garden

***SUN***SOIL***WATER***

• SUN: You should choose the sunniest spot in your yard for your garden. All garden vegetables do best in full sun, but some will do quite well if they have at least one half day's sun. Cool weather crops, such as broccoli, peas, lettuce and other leaf crops, will do fairly well in partial shade areas. But heat-loving plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, corn, and beans need maximum sun. Pick a spot on the south side of your house, fence, or yard if possible. You can also use black plastic on the ground around your plants to attract heat, plus it keeps out the weeds.   

•  SOIL: There are three types of soil- sand, silt, and clay. If you have too much of one type, your plants will not do well. The best way to improve your soil is to add organic material each year. There are three ways to get organic material. 
  
  
  1. From the Garden – return everything to the soil. Whatever plant parts are left in the kitchen should be saved and returned to the garden. A compost pile or compost bin can be useful if done correctly.
  2. From the Yard – All available grass clippings, leaves, sawdust and wood chips of any kind should be worked into the garden
  3. From the Nursery – Compost (poultry manure is best) or fertilizer (16-16-8) can be purchased from the store.
  
  
  One thing to consider when planning and laying out your garden is soil compaction. You want to keep your soil as soft and porous as possible in order for roots to spread and oxygen to be able to reach those roots. Furrows or paths between rows to walk in is the best way to keep soil soft and fluffy. Raised beds stay nice and soft because you never step into them. 
  •     WATER: How and When to water your garden is probably the biggest mistake people make when it comes to gardening. Plants need to be watered deeply and infrequently. Deep, but infrequent irrigation allows more air in the soil and promotes a deep, extensive and healthy root system. This is true for the garden, the lawn and most flower beds and shrubs. Cool weather crops (peas, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, etc) need to be kept cool and moist and need to be watered twice a week. Heat loving plants or warm weather crops (tomatoes, beans, squash, corn, peppers, etc) only need to be watered once a week to every ten days. If you don't have the time to worry about watering the garden, water once a week for everything, but remember to water deeply so that plants are soaked for at least an hour each watering. 
  
  
  Only the roots need to be watered. Try to keep the water down on the ground and not on the leaves of the plants. Watering the leaves can cause fungal diseases. If you water the whole garden say with a sprinkler system, then weeds are more likely to flourish. But if you water only the roots of the vegetables you want to grow, then weeds have a smaller chance for survival because they are receiving less water. 
  
  
  How you water your garden is also important to think about. There are many options such as with a sprinkler system, a drip system, using soaker hoses, or using irrigation water. Some are more effective than others. Pick something that works for your garden, something that is cost effective for you.

Why on Earth Should I Plant a Garden?!!

***WHY?***

• 1. Our Prophets Have Asked us to Have a Garden
  
  
  President Spencer W. Kimball said “We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees— plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments … can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden … neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1976, 170–71; or Ensign, May 1976, 124).

• 2. Gardening Saves Us Money

The cost of seeds or even small plants is much more economical than dealing with rising food prices in this day and age. The garden should be practical and designed in every way to grow usable food in an inexpensive manner.

• 3. Food Quality

If you have eaten food fresh from the garden, you know that the quality and taste of the food produced in your own garden far excels the quality and taste of vegetables purchased from the grocery store. This is true because your objectives are different from those of the commercial grower, which are more concerned about looks and shipping than taste and quality.

• 4. Food Storage

Many vegetables, such as carrots and beets, will hold in the ground for many months as part of a food storage program. Winter squash, onions and potatoes will keep for 8 – 10 months in a cool dry place, like your garage.

• 5. Family Affair

A very important reason to plant a garden is to have a project in which the family can be involved and work together. Include your children in the planting, watering, weeding, and especially harvesting of your garden and watch them grow right along with your veggies. It is great that the children know where their food comes from and learn principles of hard work and industry. Plus, if your kids are involved in the planting, they are more likely to do the eating of the vegetables.

• 6. Promotes Healthy Eating

It is easy to get your five a day when delicious and nutritious foods are growing right out your back door. Nothing beats a handful of sugar snap peas for dinner or a big bowl of strawberries for a snack.

• 7. Enjoyment and Satisfaction

There is something very exhilarating about the smell of good earth, and the process of bringing delicious food from the garden to the table is very satisfying. It is also fun to have something to give away to friends and neighbors.