Plan a Kitchen Garden

March's Sustainable Living Tip

Plan a kitchen garden to grow fresh, organic food to feed your family and share with neighbors. Roger Doiron, founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, reported that in one year on 1/25th of an acre in suburban Scarborough, Maine, his family grew 834 pounds of organic food worth more than $2,000.

Kitchen Gardening Facts

1. If you're new to kitchen gardening, a great little book to get you started is Grow Your Own Food Made Easy.
   
2. You can connect with a community of 20,000 kitchen gardeners from over 100 countries through Kitchen Gardeners International, a non-profit organization founded in Maine. It's free to register for their web site and email list.
   
3. Free gardening advice is available year round from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
   
4. In addition to providing information and publications, University of Maine Cooperative Extension offers a Master Gardener Volunteer horticultural education program to all interested Maine residents.
   
5. You don't need a large garden to grow good food. You can sow seeds in containers for lettuce, greens and fresh herbs, or even put plants on a sunny window sill indoors. For best results, give your plants 16 hours of light each day, using a fluorescent lamp as necessary.
   
6. Memorial Day is the traditional date to start planting outdoors in New England. However, the last frost date has been occurring earlier, and your microclimate (exposure to sun and wind) may allow you to plant sooner.
7. As soon as the ground can be worked in early spring, you can plant seeds for endives, lettuce, peas, radishes, and turnips. In case of a late killing frost, protect seedlings by covering them with a plastic milk jug or soda bottle cut in half. For a quick overview and a timing chart for what to plant when in Maine, see Vegetable Gardening: Are You in a Box?
   
8. You can extend your season with hoop houses (bars bent over garden rows covered with clear plastic) or cold frames (boxes covered in glass or clear plastic). These work especially well over raised beds, which allow the soil to warm up more quickly.
   
9. Essential ingredients for kitchen garden success are healthy soil, full sun (or grow lights) and adequate water.
   
10. It can take years to build healthy soil. You can buy an inexpensive home test kit to check your soil's pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, or you can carefully observe which plants are already growing well. You may want to get started by buying a load of good loamy soil and finished compost.
11. An effective and easy way to convert a patch of grass to a garden is to put down cardboard and then bring in new soil on top of the cardboard to form a raised bed. The cardboard will prevent grass and weeds from coming up, then slowly decompose in place. There's no need to till, dig up or pull out grass if you can put new soil on top of it.
    
12. Every year you'll need to feed your soil with composted organic material. Your plants may need fertilizer as well. It's best to use organic fertilizers that contain micronutrients as well as the three macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Compared to synthetic fertilizers which provide immediate results, a slow-release natural fertilizer will deliver long-term benefits and is less likely to dissolve in water and run off to pollute local rivers and lakes.
    
13. It's easy to make your own compost from kitchen scraps. There's no better way to handle food waste than to turn it into healthy garden soil!
    
14. Don't be afraid to grow more food than your family can eat. According to the USDA, 10% of Maine households (141,000 people) are "food insecure." You can help alleviate this problem by planting an extra row of produce each year and donating the surplus to local soup kitchens and food pantries. Now is a good time to contact them and find out what fresh vegetables they want that you could grow.
15. The "Plant A Row for the Hungry" program for Maine is open to all interested gardeners and is coordinated through University of Maine Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Volunteer program. For more information contact Barbara Murphy at 743-6329, 1-800-287-1482 (toll free in Maine) or e-mail, bmurphy@umext.maine.edu.
    
16. If your yard doesn't have a sunny spot for a traditional garden, think about planting in containers on your porch, patio or along sidewalks. A fun way to grow tomatoes and strawberries is in an "upside down" planter that you can hang from a balcony or post. Not only is it easier to pick fruit this way, but when plants are up off the ground it's easier to control insects and slugs without resorting to toxic chemicals.
17. A rain barrel is a great way to keep water on hand, especially for watering pots and containers. Put your barrel up on blocks so you can fill a watering can from the spigot at the bottom of the barrel.
    
18. Growing plants from seeds is rewarding and affordable. Choosing open pollinated varieties instead of hybrids allows you to save seeds that will breed true. You may find it more interesting to grow rare and heirloom varieties than conventional mass-market hybrids. Plus, you'll be helping to preserve the diversity of our food supply.
19. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds are a controversial new practice. Genes from unrelated species, typically bacteria, are spliced into the plant genome. Among other things, this allows scientists to design plants that produce insecticidal toxins in their tissues, reducing the need to spray pesticides. In effect, a field of genetically engineered plants becomes a pesticide factory. This puts selective pressure on local insect populations, resulting in resistant strains of pests that can no longer be controlled by conventional pesticide use. GMO and GE seeds with patented genes are an intriguing new prospect for investors in seed companies, because they allow companies to earn larger profits and constantly introduce new types of seeds that express new types of pesticides as existing pesticides become ineffective. While this approach provides clear financial benefit to large corporations with the capital to develop and market genetically engineered seeds, it provides little or no benefit to gardeners or society as a whole. When you buy seeds or plants, carefully consider whether you want to support businesses that are exploiting this technology.
20. Controlling insects, weeds and disease without the use of synthetic chemicals or genetic engineering requires knowledge, common sense, and close inspection. Consult books or gardeners in your community to learn which plants to put together to thwart insects and fungi. Rotate your crops to break the cycle of disease transmission. Mulch to smother weeds after they emerge. Provide the sun, soil and water your plants need to be healthy.
21. Above all, enjoy the satisfaction of eating and sharing fresh, delicious, and nutritious food you have grown yourself!