Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the first paid article on how to grow your own food! I’m so glad you signed up. Trust me, I’m going to try to do my best to get everyone on the path to have fresh produce harvested by the end of the summer! If you give 90% effort toward your garden, I guarantee you will accomplish your goals and learn so much. At the end of the season, you will know whether gardening is something you enjoy or if you would rather focus your efforts elsewhere.
Growing your own food is the first step in learning how to be self sufficient. My ultimate goal is to help you become more self reliant. Learning how to garden is a big step!
I know gardening can be a daunting task, but once you set up your garden area properly, it’s an easy way to produce fresh food every year. At the end of the day, your goal should be to become more independent and less reliant on big corporations and the government.
Let’s Begin
I’ll start by saying, most real life activities like gardening are easiest learned from real life people. If you know anybody in real life that has gardening experience in your area, call them and see if you can have coffee with them. Bring a notebook with some questions already prepared, and make sure to take notes.
Some questions you could ask them are:
What plants do you grow in the spring, summer, and fall?
How do you prepare your garden soil or do you use raised beds and why?
What date do you plant your first crop for your spring garden?
Do you plant seeds directly in the soil or do you start your plants indoors?
Where do you buy your seeds?
How do you control weeds and pests in your garden?
Do you have any tips and suggestions to someone like me starting a new garden this year?
Would you be interested in helping me prepare my garden area for the spring?
If you don’t know anyone IRL with gardening experience, I would go to the website for the agriculture college in your state and try to find any information you can on what plants grow good in your area. They might even have a sample garden plan and planting dates.
You can also go to farmers market and try to connect with local produce suppliers there. Small hardware shops in your local town probably sell seeds and the old timers usually have gardens, frequenting local seed supply locations around your town, you will bump into someone that would love to give you pointers.
Not to worry to much though, that’s why you signed up here, ur friend farmer is going to help you out!
Step 1
In order for you to grow plants outdoors, you need to know what the last frost date is. To find this, look at the map below and find your location. That will show you your zone, then look up the last frost date for your zone. You can also google the first frost date for your location and maybe find more specific information regarding your area’s last frost date.
Write your area’s last frost date down, this is your target date to get plants or seeds in soil and start growing food.
If you live in zones 9 or 10 or even farther south, you don’t have to worry much about frost, lucky you! You can go ahead and prepare your garden and start planting if you want.
We’ll see you back next Tuesday where we talk about the next step of the process, finding a good spot for your garden.
Have a good week, WAGMI!
Your Friend,
Farmer