Garden Skills We Need To Learn And Teach
I have some garden skills we need to learn and teach others. I have had a garden my entire life. Sometimes the garden produces so much food we are posting on Facebook to come to our home and get some free vegetables. Then some years we can’t grow zucchini. Come on, Linda everyone can grow zucchini. I haven’t been able to for the last two years. As you may know, I live in Southern Utah and we have the worst soil, it’s called rock-hard red clay. After a couple of years of planting stuff in large oversized pots, I finally invested in some raised garden beds. Here’s the deal, it took me forever to find some acceptable, not too expensive 18-inch raised beds. You need your soil tilled or loamy at least 18 inches deep to grow tomatoes. Mark and I had to put them together, which was easy. I wish now I had invested in some spikes that will hold the pieces of wood in place that are safe to use for gardening. Live and learn.
If I were to build my dream garden, I would build the beds two feet tall by 12 feet long. Did you notice I said beds, as in plural? I am way past the farmer or homesteading life by owning 5 acres or even one acre. I wouldn’t mind a 1/2 acre plot, we have had a 1/2 acre yard before and it’s just the right size for Mark and me.
Garden Skills
Soil:
Have your soil analyzed if possible then you will learn what additives should be added to make your soil produce the best possible fruits and vegetables.
Prepare your soil correctly, these are some garden skills for my area I learned at a local nursery. Our soil needs a lot of additives such as Azomite, Coco Coir Block, Worm Casings, Organic Bone Meal, Organic compost, and Vermiculite. I have learned I can’t add a lot of coffee grinds (free from your local coffee shop) because it produces too much nitrogen. Use sparingly, I learned that after I tried to keep the stray cats in the neighborhood from using my garden as kitty litter every day. You can buy most of these at your local big box stores as well.
My favorite items for my soil:
Azomite Micronized Bag, 44 lb
FibreDust Coco Coir Block
Unco Industries Wiggle Worm Soil Builder Earthworm Castings Organic Fertilizer, 15-Pound
Miracle-Gro Nature’s Care Organic Bone Meal, 3 lb.
Espoma VM8 8-Quart Organic Vermiculite
Save Seeds:
Buy only Heirloom Non-GMO seeds that you can save and use year after year. Let’s strive to keep Monsanto out of our gardens. Every seed you save from the best plants holds a connection to both the future and the past generations. This is why the tomatoes we buy at the local grocery stores no longer taste like tomatoes. They are genetically modified organisms, in most cases. No flavor and they are sprayed with chemicals to ripen in unnatural ways. If you buy organic food at TRUE organic stores or farmer’s markets they should be good.
We need to go back to saving seeds so we can hand them down from our generation to the next generation. We need to take control of our food and learn and teach our communities how to grow a garden. Once you feel the earth in your hands you will be hooked, I promise. There is nothing better than a freshly picked tomato that is not genetically modified.
I highly recommend buying seeds from this company: SEED SAVERS We must save our seeds while we can because Monsanto is distributing seeds to so many companies where we can not save the seeds because they are only good for ONE PLANTING. Please watch the Netflix show “GMO-OMG, Is this the end of real food”, it tells the story about GMO foods we are eating. It will be worth your time.
Only buy the seeds that say: USDA/Organic from a reputable company. Seeds are cheaper than buying plants.
Tomato Cages:
The winds where I live can pick up unexpectedly and I wanted to have really good tomato cages, so I got the cages shown above called Sturdy Cages from a gardening center in the Salt Lake City area. You can get some good sturdy Lifetime Tomato Cages, Heavy Gauge, Set of 4
on Amazon for a pretty good price. I purchased my “Sturdy Tomato Cages” at Glover Nursery in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have always said: “buy right the first time.”
Water:
Set up a watering drip system, if possible, to save on water and keep from over watering the plants. Mark and I purchased the black flexible tubing from our local nursery with 360-degree spray nozzles with a slow drip.
If you have kids or grandkids they will love to help you plant the seeds, watch them sprout, and then grow the vegetables during the growing season. If you want to see a fun face check out how the glow when it’s time to harvest! Make sure the kids get a chance to pick the vegetables so they can learn the blessing of harvest time.
Once you get your garden to mature hopefully you’ll harvest enough to dehydrate or can for future meal prep. Nothing like serving meals that came from your homegrown efforts. No wonder our ancestors made it their focus. It meant life or death for them, in many cases. You’ll also sleep better at night knowing what you’ve accomplished and that the food is more healthy for you since you know what went into the soil. This can become a worthwhile hobby or neighborhood project if planned out and done right.
We must learn and teach garden skills to our kids and grandkids to make our families self-reliant. Thanks again for being prepared for the unexpected. May God bless you and your family.
Earth Easy website (one of my favorite websites)
Gardening is one of the most important skills a person can learn. I love when my garden is ready, and I can graze for my dinner. We grow, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, beans, peas, peppers, squash, and more I can’t remember. I know what is in my food, when I eat from the garden. Like you, I use heirloom seeds. Luckily, my nephew has a garden shop, that also uses heirloom seeds.
Hi Janet, I had no idea how bad GMO seeds are, and the whole not being able to save seeds until I did a little research. WOW, who would have guessed a company such as Monsanto could put a patent on seeds and spray them with round-up and other stuff and then that food grown is fed to the animals we all eat. All I can say is wow, unbelievable. So glad your nephew sells heirloom seeds. Linda
One thing I forgot. In the spring and the fall, if you buy lettuce, take the core and stick it in the soil and it will grow more lettuce. The same happens with green onions, just take the end off, and put it in the soil. How is that for recycling?
Janet, oh my gosh, I have got to try this!!! I have done it in bowls of water. I’m on it! Linda
I live in Ga and have hard red clay, i wish i could post a picture here of my soil now. I heavly mended 60×130 ft of soil it took almost four years. I no longer deep plow but on occasion and when i do, i use a double bottom plow so it wont hard pan. it took three years of cover crops (wheat and white clovet), two truck loads of horse manure, 3 6′ bails of hay. About a ton of chicken maure an bedding from our coops and the clean out of the goat barn. 6 bags of lime to eat all that hay up and of course time to let all the weed seeds and hay sprount before mowen them suckers down. Allready have zucchini and peppers to pick. Stuff is growing so well that we cut the garden into beds and leave grass walkways inbetween. Havent had to plow it in 2yrs now just till it up and plant. Sounds daunting but defeating red clay is very satisfying.
Hi, Dean, oh my gosh, this gives me hope! You have rocked your soil to produce food! I love hearing the tips you mentioned. I am saving money to make a bigger garden! Your comment is my inspiration that I can fix this soil! THANK YOU! Linda
If one buy heirloom non-GMO seeds is it still necessary to save seeds?
Hi Hessie, only if you say you’re down to your last tomato, then you would save those heirloom non-GMO seeds. We just need to have a stash we can plant year after year. The other seeds can only be planted ONCE so the seeds in the GMO packets will only produce one season. That’s why we need to buy the right seeds. Good question, Linda
I saw the show you referred to & was totally shocked about what is happening to seeds & Monsanto. Thank you for making people aware.
Clara Hagan
Hi Clara, there are more Netflix documentaries that I wish people would take the time to watch. It’s an eye opener for sure. I have been guilty of just following the government and thinking all was well. I am so grateful you watched the documentary. All is not well in our country and it’s very scary the direction we are going. Money and greed and paying for advertising to brainwash the people are not right, but my little voice cannot change the $$$$ exchanged. May God bless this country to wake up and really do the research about what is going on with our government entities. Thanks for watching it, you are one more step to knowing the truth about what is happening now. Linda
Hi Linda,
You’re so right: My son loves to plant and put out the seeds. He is just as impatient as I am and always asks: “When can I see the flowers?”
One thing I really need to learn is to can vegetables and fruits – this needs a lot of effort, because I generally don’t like canned food. Frozen, I can live with and enjoy, but the canned … I should try to can soup, because I love soup!
Thank you for your article!
Yours, Izabella
Hi Izabella, oh how I love your name! There is a difference in home canned green beans and the cans of beans you buy at the store. BUT, fresh or frozen taste better, I hear you on that one. It was a blessing for my family to learn to plant vegetables, weed, harvest, and preserve it. I love soup!! Linda
Oh Linda, you are sweet 🙂
The name is Hungarian!
Yeah, I really don’t enjoy canned anything from stores: I don’t like the sugar and the other, undefinable stuff they put in them! Yuck!
And I don’t like jam, either. I probably just need a recipe that tastes good 🙂 Izabella
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