First thing to do is to sit down and decide what you want to plant and how much you want to plant. How many people do you expect to feed out of this organic garden? Will you want to harvest enough to can, freeze or preserve?
A four foot by four foot area will feed one person and it adds up that if you are a family of four you will need that size plot of land times four whether you create a four foot by sixteen foot organic garden or an eight foot by eight foot one.
Determine how much time you want to spend in your vegetable garden.
Start by selecting an area that gets about 6 hours of sun a day and make sure you put it where it is handy to your watering hose because you will not be able to rely on rain when you need it or want it.
Test your soil to determine if it needs to be amended with good organic fertilizer. A good dehydrated cow manure mixed with water will be a good feeder and eventually if you decide you like organic gardening you can start your own compost heap.
Tomatoes are the easiest to grow and you will have more success if you start with good heirloom tomato plants started in organic biodegradable pots that you can put right into your soil. Six tomato plants will give you a good crop. You might want to check out the maturation time for them so they do not come all at once. You might want two slicing tomatoes, two salad tomatoes such as cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes. You might add two other kind that come at a later time and you can have them all at different times and you will not be overwhelmed with harvesting.
I like to plant some marigolds in amongst my tomatoes as they act as a natural pest repellant and you can do the same where you plant some string beans. Remember to stake your sting beans as they grow in order to have them climbing up the stakes as opposed to being on the ground. I like to have them grow up among a tripod stake which I create by putting 3 stakes in the ground and bring them together at the top with some gardening wire.
You might want to add some peas for an early treat. A garden should have some lettuce that you sow in succession directly from seed and you will have some coming along for quite awhile until you get some really hot weather. Also you will be able to grow radishes from seed if sown early and give you another early treat.
Putting in four sweet pepper plants will give you a good crop and how about some onion sets which will give you some green onions in the beginning as you thin them out and then later on some good onions for your fall storage.
If you want to add herbs then a three foot by nine foot patch will give you all the herbs you need and you might consider keeping the perennial ones in one part and your annual ones such as parsley on the end so you can easily replant the annual seeds each season.
Remember, smart gardeners start small organic vegetable gardens.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
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Arlene – Thanks for the info! I am a ‘know nothing’ gardener! I’ve planted tomatoes for the past several years. Some times they do well, other times they just rot on the vine. The soil we have is old farm dirt . There is a horse farm a few miles away where you can get all the manure you want for free. I’ve wanted to get some and put on my garden patch. Is spring the right time to do this? And – any tips for planting melons and watermelons? I appreciate all your help!
Fall is the best time to do it because once you till it in it can bio-degrade over the winter. However, you can do it in the spring. Make sure your farmer does not feed his horses feed that is loaded with non-organic feed or you will be ingesting it also. Another thing to watch is whether or not you might be getting some aggressive pereninal weeds in your manure.
Chicken manure is really the best stuff for a garden.. Find an organic egg seller and trade a few hours of shoveling and pen cleaning for some good chicken manure.
I think I wrote an article once on growing melons, let me go and check..
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Storytaker,
I just posted the melon information that is in one of my garden books. Click here for the info.
The article I posted is called, “Any Melon Worth Its Salt”
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Thanks Arlene for all your help and advice! I’ll let you know how my garden grows this year!
wonderful.. looking forward to hearing your results.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Hi Arlene,
I’ve been composting, or just piling up my veggie, fruit and others in my compost thing, for over two years now and this is really inspiring me to get serious about starting a small garden. Today is the year since my budget will not allow me to travel this year, I will have lots of time to garden. At least try. I live alone so 4 feet by 4 feet sounds manageable to me. I can’t wait to eat fresh peas, salad, onions, carrots (maybe), and beans. Thanks the reminder about marigolds. I love those flowers and they will be the first to go in.
I really enjoy reading all your posts.
Thanks for sharing and wish me luck.
anir
Thanks for your kind words, Anir, and good luck with your garden. You can get alot into a 4 ft by 4 ft. plot .. If you like radishes you might want to try them and intersperse then with your carrots. They will come up first and then your carrots will follow as a later and longer time grower.
Happy planting and weeding.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Having my coffee looking out over my potential garden. Can’t grow a thing in Oklahoma, had a wonderful garden in Idaho. I am going to try again this year! I have such a hard time getting my tomato plants to bear fruit, they get really large as plants, but the fruit just drops off way before maturity.
Thanks you for your posts!
A new fan!
Jen
Why not try container gardening. It is easier to maintain and just about anything can be a container such as old or new oval galvanized watering tanks that you bash holes in the bottom for draining, large 5 gal. paint cans, or even decorative planters. These you can fill with the kind of dirt each plant needs. They are easier to weed, not much bending over and not as time consuming.. As to your tomatoe plants just make sure you buy the ones that are for your zone and trim the leaves down so they do not get as large and the energy goes into the fruit. When they drop off before maturity just bring them inside and let them ripen on a window ledge. Green tomatoes will get ripe off the vine.
Thank you so much! My son has some watering tanks on his place just sititng and rusting. They will be perfect. I love the idea of containers as I really hate the idea of grass everywhere but the lawn.
Thanks for being there!
Remember to punch some drain holes in the bottom. If they are deep you may want to fill up with some rocks or aluminum cans about 1/3 of the way up in the event you are buying dirt.
Let me know how it goes.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Love this….living in concrete city, I can only wait until I have a place with land again.
Dr. She,
If you have a balcony why not try some colorful geraniums on your window ledge. They are so charming. I am sure, now a days one cannot have window boxes in a US city, but whenever I travel in Europe or the Mediterranean I just love the cities full of colorful window boxes and I love creating paintings of those streets as you can see by clicking here.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Great paintings…I love that style of work…what do you call it? (I’m sorry, just clueless about the finer things of life). I agree with you about balcony gardens. I’ve had great ones in the past. Unfortunately, I live in a great 11th floor apartment in the middle of a business center (offices on the bottom floors, apartments on the upper floors). Many people never think about apartments being here because all the buildings look like office buildings. This is because of strict guidelines about what can and can’t be on the balconies and the windows….must not disturb the over all professional look. No worries though, eventually I’ll have a cottage home with a wrap around porch, and great, albeit small gardens. I just have to get through this season of my life first. Thanks again for the chance to view the art. I loved it.
Dr. She,
I call them simply a Mediterranean series done in a Contemporary style. Oh well, don’t forget to buy yourself a bunch of flowers now and then or even a flowering plant for your dining table or living room.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Am in the process of planning/planting organic garden with friend I’ll be co-habitating with starting in June (I’ll be in her "garden apartment" while she’ll be upstairs in her own space). Been a few years since I’ve attempted a garden (7 years ago grasshoppers devoured the entire thing when I lived in TX), so excited to get lots of ideas & support.
Sue/IL
Good luck with your new endeavors in gardening and life.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
You have inspired me to give it another try this year. Last spring I had a 4 x 8 box made and placed in my back yard. Unfortunately, the trees above were bare… and when they got their leaves I didn’t get as much direct sun light as I needed. Hardly any thing produced. Bummer. but I am going to call someone to cut the branches back TODAY! and try again. One question though….I had beetles on the cucumbers and these sluggy grubs on the squash. How can I be pro-active this year. My husband is leaving me and I need to do something that doesn’t make me feel like a failure again!
Marty
Good for you! Instead of cutting the branches, can you not move the box out into the sunlight?
As to the beetles and grubs, pick them off by hand and put them into a plastic bag and seal it up before throwing them away. Or spray with some organic spay specifically for these types of varmints.
As for your husband leaving you why do you consider yourself a failure? Perhaps he is the failure because he could not keep up his end of the bargain. It is easier to leave then solve a problem.
Sit down and write a list of all the things you have accomplished so far in your life time.. such things as learning to read, write, ride a bike etc,,, they may seem mundane or insignificant, but they are indeed accomplishments. I did this one time and filled up 12 sheets of a legal pad.. I was amazed.
Then sit down and write a “someday I’ll” list.. This list is a list of all the things you want to do. Now figure out if they are do-able and in the event they are, just start working towards doing it. As you do each one, cross them off you list as an accomplishment. Often you will be surpised to find that something you wanted to do today will not be what you want to do when you review your list a few years later.
No one ever fails, they are just practicing the art of living. Failures, if one must call them that, are life’s little lessons.
Edison said he never failed. He just knew over a 1000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
I live in Oklahoma City and my front porch has a planter box made of stone across the front 2/3rds of the porch, but the porch is covered and the hedge in front of the porch makes sure I don’t get any sun to speak of there. However, I LOVE flowers and bright colors! Is there anything bright colored that would grow in the shade?
Thanks!
If your box receives more than 6 hours of sun a day it is considered a sunny area. If not then perhaps some of these colorful perennials would work for you. You just have to consider the height of them.
Actaea spp. (Bugbane)
Alchemilla mollis (Lady’s Mantle)
Astilbe
Aquilegia (Columbine)
Begonia grandis (Hardy Begonia)
Bergenia (Pigsqueak)
Brunnera (Bugloss)
Dicentra (Bleeding Heart)
Epimedium (Bishop’s Hat)
Helleborus (Hellebore)
Hosta
Iris cristata (Crested Iris)
Lamium maculatum (Spotted Deadnettle)
Phlox divaricata (Woodland Phlox)
Primula (Primrose)
Pulmonaria (Leadwort)
Tiarella (Foam Flower)
Tricyrtis (Toad Lily)
Viola (Violet)
Also these is Heuchera
Annual flowers that do well in part shade to shade and bloom all summer include:
Impatiens
Begonia — including tuberous, angel wing and fibrous rooted begonias
Nicotiana (Flowering Tobacco)
Torenia (Wishbone Flower)
Viola
And make sure you buy the plants or seeds for your zone.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Used to live in Norman; recently TX & now IL.
Anybody ever hear of straw bale gardening? http://strawbalegardens.com/
Sounds fascinating & if anybody lives in MN/N. WI, he’s got lots of workshops. Wish I could attend, but will have to settle for buying his book I guess.
yes and it works. I love growing potatoes in straw.. No dirt on them and they grow like crazy. The lettuce works well by just leaving the bale and sprinkling a little potting soil on top and then some seeds and the next thing you know you have lettuce.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Arlene, I am smiling ear to ear… thank you for such a detailed notation of gardening.. I am a bit late getting my pepper plant seedlings started..just recouping still from some surgery in Dec….the heirloom pepper plants I will have to buy this year…this weekend I am getting my potting soil and seeds ready for my heirloom tomatoes, I have saved seeds year to year for the last 35 years, (who knows how long my husbands grandmother saved them before me)… some onion seeds, herbs, kohlarabi seeds, etc.. .. How fun it is to have ones own garden, I can not wait to play in the dirt.
It is just my husband and I left at home, we have downsized a bit, we average about 30 x 75 feet of garden now. I have a separate herb garden for basil (for pesto), parsley, garlic, oregano, dill, chives, french tarragon, etc…I can or freeze most of our harvest, neighbors help themselves at times. I make food baskets for our children at Christmas time.
Last year instead of butternut squash my neighbor got quite a surprise, the local feedmills seed turned out to be cushaw squash, averaging 15 to 30 lb squash. I made creamed cushaw squash soup with them. I am having a really tough time finding cushaw seeds to plant this year for our garden. I did not save seed, fearful that they were a possible hybrid seed, I didn’t want to end up having a garden full of gourds.
You mentioned a good dehydrated cow manure, it is good to purchase through a store for this, as using cow manure from a farm can hold ecoli. Happy gardening to you Arlene.
You are correct about the cow manure and I love all your great efforts in your garden.
They delivered all our straw bales this afternoon and I will set them where I want them and water them down for about 10 days thus avoiding have to use 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day. At this age anything that saves bending over or being on my knees is wonderful. You can get two different types of cushaw squash seeds at this company.
Hope this helps.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
P.S.here is the link to the second cushaw squash seed this company sells. This one is the big green one. and the other one is the classic old strain with Gold stripes and a green ‘base’.