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(Stephen doesn’t like olives or mushrooms, but will pretty much eat anything else.)
The first time I planted a garden I lost some plants before they went into the ground, my tomatoes didn’t ripen before the winter frost, and I killed some of my plants by over fertilizing. I also had fun, learned a ton, and had some successes as well. I will never forget how awesome it was to have fresh cantaloupe for those few months and being able to cook with fresh basil.
Why Grow Your Own Food
One of our biggest chains to the grid is our dependence on large agribusiness for our food. As we all know large agribusiness as a whole isn’t using sustainable farming techniques, and adds chemical fertilizers and pesticides to your food. The best way to reduce your global impact on deteriorating farmland and get clean food is to grow it yourself. Planting a garden is the first step to learning how to grow your own food.
This series of posts will help you design, plant, and harvest your first garden. Follow the table of contents below and click on the headings you need to learn about.
- What to Plant
- Easy Plants
- Choosing Crops for Storage
- Fruit and Nut Tree basics
- My Favorite Varieties (coming soon)
- Where to Plant
- Growing in Shady Spots (coming soon)
- Soil, “The answer is in the soil.”
- Designing Your Garden (coming soon)
- How to Redesign Your Yard
- Roof Top Gardens
- Container Gardening
- Raised Beds
- Square Foot Gardening
- Space Saving Techniques
- Preparing the Land
- Making & Sizing Your Beds
- When to Plant (coming soon)
- Planning Your Garden
- Starting Plants Early Indoors
- Extending Your Season into Fall/Winter
- How to Plant (coming soon)
- Seeds
- Seedlings
- Transplanting
- Trees
- Seeds (coming soon)
- Hybrid and Heirloom Seeds
- Why save seeds?
- Collecting and Preserving Seeds
- Storing Seeds
- Testing Seeds
- Trees from seed and grafting
- Watering (coming soon)
- Trenches
- Plumbing & Timers
- Garden Care (coming soon)
- Supporting Your Plants
- Pruning Basics
- More on pruning
- Weeds
- Pests (coming soon)
- How to Identify Pests
- Good and Bad Insects
- Understanding Your Pests
- Dealing with Pests
- Trouble Shooting (coming soon)
- Fruit Trees
- Nut Trees
- Grasses, Grains & Canes
- Garden Vegetables
- Legumes
- Vines
- Bushes
- Harvesting (coming soon)
- Preparing for storage
- Root cellars
- Preserving
- Water-bath Canning
- Pressure-cooker Canning
- Drying Food
- Pickling
- Freezing
- Maple Sugaring
