Spoiler alert: gardening takes more than just putting seeds in the ground. And it doesn’t start when the sun gets warm. We caught up with SJ Mag resident gardener, Toni Farmer, to get the must-haves for our garden plan for the spring.
Check your sun
It’s time to look (indirectly) at the sun. For gardening. One of the first things you’re going to do before setting up your garden for the season is see which parts of your yard, balcony, terrace – wherever you’ll be growing – get sun and which stay in the shade.
“You don’t want to get your bed set up, your accent pieces installed and your seedlings in the soil, just to realize that section of your yard is in the shade for 80% of the day,” Farmer says. “You want to think about how much sun your crops will need and make sure your garden location can get that.”
Another thing to check before setting up your garden, says Farmer, is your water source. If possible, place your beds near the location of your hose to make watering your crops that much easier.
Check your soil
Everyone needs a support system, even our plants. That’s where our soil comes in. Healthy soil is what gives your plants the nutrients they need to grow big and strong (and delicious). But our soil also needs to be healthy. And you can check that by testing the pH levels of your soil before you start planting, says Farmer.
“When you’re growing food, you want your soil to have a pH between 5.5 and 7.0 – most plants will thrive in that,” she says. “If it’s above or below that range, you’re going to have to do some amending to the soil before you plant.”
This will be something you do at the start of every season, like an annual check-up, so what better time than today to get some practice in?
What you’re gonna eat
Finally, our favorite part. What you’ll be planting in your garden this season. This is the most fun part of gardening. Sit down and make a list of the foods you like to eat a lot. Then, make a list of the foods you hate to eat. And last, make a list of the foods you’d like to try. This will be your guide to planting all year round.
“The point of growing our food is to live sustainably,” says Farmer. “So we want to make sure we’re not wasting the crops that come out of our gardens. And the best way to do that is to plant things that you will actually eat, and don’t plant things you won’t eat.”
How much space you have
We all know the saying: My eyes were bigger than my stomach. Well, sometimes that applies to gardening too. Except instead of our stomachs, it’s our yards.
After you choose what you want to plant, but before you start the planting process, make sure you take into account how much room each of those crops will need to grow – and how much room you have for your garden.
“Some things, like melons, will vine over your beds or take up a lot of room inside them,” Farmer says. “Other things, like peas and tomatoes, need room to climb up and off the ground. We want to make sure we have enough space for the things we’re growing before we start to grow them.”
