Do I have to do organic gardening?
Not at all. I prefer it after a ton of research on the natural biome on soil. Tilling and chemicals can really destroy the bacteria there. This directly affects the nutritional quality of the food.
However, growing your own food can still save some cash especially if you plan to preserve as much as possible, so I say go for it!
Why does organic matter?
Well….That’s bit of a long story to throughly understand. I’ve written a full blog to explain it but the short story is that tilling and chemical slowly make the soil lack good bacteria. This ruins the natural condition or biome of the soil. The natural condition feeds plants well and makes them happen. The healthier the plant, the better the nutrient for you!
Check out my blog that goes into more depth about soil quality and how it all ties to together
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I live in an apartment, can I still do this?
YES! Obviously it will be on a smaller scale than someone with a back yard, but as long as you have sunny windows or wall space for shelving and grow lights, you can absolutely put together a fantastic little garden. Every little bit help so I say go over it!
Plus the plants being all around you in the small space, I believe, truly feeds the soul.
How often should I supplement when organic gardening?
If you are staring a new garden id say a few times before planting to ensure the soil starts to team with that good bacteria. Then you can slow down to a couple of times a season.
At the end of the growing season is also a great time to do major supplementing. The compost and /or fertilizers can’t burn your plants and then the underground environment can sit and stew over the winter. It will be in great shape next spring!
What should I grow?
This really depending on your space. Example: I absolutely LOVE artichoke. However, it takes up a huge amount of space in the garden (6’ x 4’) for a very small harvest. So, as sad as it makes me, I don’t grow artichoke.
Since I’m on a small city lot with lots of utilities preventing me from turning the entire back yard into a garden, I try to grow things that are “cut and come again” all season. These are things such as tomatoes, peppers, beans, green beans, squash, cucumbers, etc. Some take up more space than others but I get to harvest repeatedly and preserve a large amount of each!
If you have little yard or no yard at all, I would focus on things that will make the biggest health impact. Micros, sprouts, herbs, etc. These can all be done either in a window on on shelving with grow lights. If you have the space and/or heart to give up more floor space, you can also add in tomatoes and green beans! Again, all of these take up little space and can be preserved.
Basically, grow as much as you can that will have the largest impact for your efforts.
What are growing zones?
These are large areas stretching meteorically across the US that divide the country into area by temperature. It is showing the lowest average temps in a given area. This is a great resource and you need to know roughly what you zone is. A lot of resources will use this as a reference of plant, harvest and prune plants.
If planting outdoors, container or in ground, this is something you should look into and research for you area.
Here is a link to the usda.gov page showing the most recent version of this map.
https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov
Do growing zones matter if I’m growing in doors?
Nope. The only thing that you will need to keep in mind is that an air-conditioning unit blowing directly on plants can dry them out. AC units by design remove moisture from the air, so you may need to mist them to help them retain more moisture in the stems and leaves.