Making a Garden Work for You 👩🏻🌾 May 2024
How to maximize your garden this season.
It’s May and if you haven’t started your garden yet, no worries there is still plenty of time.
Many of you may be thinking is a garden really worth it. Won’t I spend more time and money tending to my garden that I will actually harvest food to eat? The quick answer to that may be a yes, but there is more to a garden that harvesting food and if done right you can really maximize your space and amplify your harvest.
Let’s take a look at 5 tips to make your garden worth it this season:
- The benefits of gardening goes beyond the food you’ll produce. Working in the garden exposes you to physical activity, sunshine, and a plethora of new and beneficial bacteria! Working in the dirt exposes our skin (largest organ of the body FYI) and therefore our microbiome (natural “good bacteria” found on/in our bodies. The bigger variety the better) to a whole new set of microbes. One gram of soil contains 108 (That’s 8 zeroes!) microorganisms. Most of which have not been “discovered”. This is boosting your immune system and digestion HUGELY, so get dirty!
- Companion planting saves space and benefits the crops. Many of us start a garden with a container and we decide what to plant in each container, keeping the plants separate. Strawberries in this one and corn in the other, with cucumbers in a third. But what if we planted crops together both to maximize space but also to benefit the plants themselves. Let’s look at tomatoes, they grow up tall on a vine (we keep one main vein and then trim the rest, they get to be above 6’ and produce a tasty tomato) leaving room for many plants to grow under. This allows the more plants to grow but also the plants can benefit each other by repelling insects, attracting insects, adding flavor to the other. Ideas for tomatoes companion planting are garlic, basil, parsley.
- Grow what is most expensive in the stores. We look at the price of items in the store and decide to grow as much of the expensive ones that as we can. Berries are often expensive and a hot commodity in this house, so we grow a lot of strawberries and blueberries. We have two planters dedicated to this year in and year out.
- Grow local, eat local. By growing your own food, you know exactly where it has been. It allows you to track it from start to finish. You will know what it was treated with and when. Plus, it also allows your crops to be picked when ripe, at their peak in flavor and nutrient density. Our food we purchase from the store has traveled a long way, taking days or weeks. Some of it naturally ripened along the way, others are ripened with gas in route. Either way they are not picked at their height in flavor or nutrients.
- Plant crops that produce a lot and store the extras! To maximize your garden’s benefits, you’re going to want to plant more than you can eat during the harvest months. This allows you to store them for when these crops are not bountiful in the stores and will give your nutritious food year-round. There are many easy ways to store (you don’t need to become a canning expert!). Freezing is super simple. Spread out your harvest and freeze in a single layer then add to a freezer safe container for the long haul. This prevents to large clumped together baggies that end up in the bottom of the freezer. Many things can simply be frozen and used later. Other crops can be dehydrated and the frozen or kept in an airtight container.
A spring/summer garden can produce a lot of food in a small space (especially in CA) and the growing season is quite long. So, what are you waiting for, head on down to the local nursery and get started planting your favorites!
