Another great organic fertilizer to use is a “green manure.” These are various kinds of fall and winter cover crops that you spread over the garden once all your vegetables are done for the year. In the spring, BEFORE IT GOES TO SEED, till this crop right into the soil at least 3-4 weeks before planting. The decomposing cover crop adds a lot of nutrients to the soil. Since vegetables are very demanding of nutrients, you may find the second year’s yeild disappointing if you don’t add more fertilizer. But work a green manure into each fall/winter season and you won’t need to buy another bag of fertilizer. You can compare prices and coverages at several sites online.

Then there are chickens, if you want to go REALLY organic. My family got two hens one year – with a little “coop”. Someone was always around during the day (pretty much a prerequisite unless you build a very protective compound) so we didn’t need much more protection than we had around the coop. The chickens ate all the bugs, fertilized the ground and delivered fresh eggs to boot. You won’t need a rooster – there are “lay pellets” to make the hens produce an (infertile) egg. You’ll just never have chicks! One warning, don’t assume that the lack of a rooster will mean crow-less mornings. One of the hens will become dominant and take over the job! Our neighbors decided the chicken experiment would not have a second season.

In the early spring, interplant your lettuce with something that can take more heat. Later on, as the lettuce goes to seed, cut it off at ground level and let the other plant have the room and provide some shade. (Let the soil keep the roots. If they grow back, good. If not, also good.)

On my blog I have pages devoted to slug control and raised bed gardening. You are welcome to browse them if you wish. I am working on two more planting guides which should be ready by Friday.

The blog is sort of sparse right now, but the plan is to flesh it out over the winter.

Tomatoes are easy; but plan on keeping the soil moist. A heavy mulch and frequent watering can make the difference between gorgeous fruits and ugly, split orbs with black on the blossom end.

TIP: when planting tomatoes or peppers, put a couple calcium tablets in the ground for each plant, too. The black spot is a calcium deficiency. Just get the cheapest variety of nutritional supplement at the cheapest local store. Don’t dissolve them first, let the soil moisture do that slowly … in tune with the plants’ need for it.

I personally ordered the Library CD which has *every* book, even those not in .pdf format, for $70. Also ordered the Garden Wizard which is planning software for $13. Those are bargains.

You may find that tomatoes and green beans are good starter plants for brown thumbs like us (it’s my first time, too!). I’m only going to focus on tomatoes since they’re good cash crops and seem to be easy, according to what I’ve been reading. Start easy, get encouraged by what you find and then branch out into the harder stuff like lettuce, carrots and strawberries.

Oh, and do us a favor and track your hours+expenses, take pictures and give us your candid opinion so that the world can benefit. Do you have a blog? If not, you can set up a free one on BlogSpot

Also, what you might enjoy the taste of may vary quite a bit from what we enjoy. Beans and tomatoes will grow almost anywhere and are easy to begin with. If you are in a hot climate you might plant lettuces in the shadier spots, in a cooler climate you might choose to put them in full sun.

Location, location, location!

Best bet? Ask around and find a local gardener, preferably an organic gardener (but don’t be too fussy at first) … start somewhere and move ahead as you are able.

I also am a complete novice, but it appears that the Mittleider method may be even better than SFG. I am eager to try it next year and blog my results. Look just two posts above on the links about Mittleider.

If you’re not sure, try both side-by-side and see which gets better results.

I think that you are selling yourself short.

Our grapes are in 24 linear feet of space, about 4 feet wide. The caneberries have a similar run.

Our berries and vegetables share about 625 square feet of space, of which 500 square feet belongs to the veggies.

2.) While we’re not going to grow *mostly* bang-for-buck crops, we’re well-aware of them. Our year-end summary (which Kris and I have already begun to write) will stress this aspect of gardening heavily. Bang-for-buck crops and crops you enjoy — that’s what gardeners should focus on.

3.) I don’t know about GrowFood.com, but I’ll look it up!

On point 3, I replied:
I haven’t seen any direct comparisons to Square Foot Gardening but one of your blog readers said the SFG author learned from Dr. Jacob Mittleider. From what I’ve seen, it’s far better than SFG. I definitely want to try it soon.

Two short summaries:
http://foodforeveryone.org/vegetable_gardening/22/how-is-this-method-different
http://foodforeveryone.org/vegetable_gardening/23/is-the-mittleider-method-for-me

Can’t wait to read your final article for the GRS garden project!

1.) How big is your garden?
2.) Have you considered growing mostly bang-for-buck crops like
tomatoes and herbs?
3.) What do you know about GrowFood.com?

1. Some fruits and vegetables can easily support being “seeded” — that is, having the seeds prepped for next year’s planting. In some cases, this doesn’t work (like with hybrid tomatoes). Some research is required.

2. Consider giving up “organic” as a goal. Yes, it tastes better. No, it’s not necessarily better for the environment, and there’s no real evidence that it’s better for health either. Organic pesticides, for example, are very expensive and not biodegradable — modern pesticides are all biodegradable; and if care is taken to wash the vegetables before ingestion, harmless. Organic fertilizers are not much more expensive, and IMO contribute to better-tasting yields. I’m not aware of any problems with using them either.

I also noted that some of your costs this year were either one-time costs, or at least costs that can be spread over multiple seasons. The starter-pots and the soaker hose, for example, will work again next year.

While driving the back way home from the store a few weeks ago, I noticed a “free manure” sign at a riding academy. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of that next year and seeing if it boosts output.

DEDRA, here’s a great place to investigate seed companies, the Garden Watchdog: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/

As far as frugality goes–do y’all compost? Because if you do, I hear Starbucks gives out free coffee grounds to add to your pile. I haven’t tried this myself, being apartment-bound, but coffee is supposed to be pretty good for some plants.

We use fedco seeds (www.fedcoseeds.com) — good quality and they’re the least expensive source. They do their trials in Maine, so the seeds work well for our new england climate. They have the funkiest catalog as well. Johnnies selected seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com) is the new england source with the best quality seeds, but they are pricier. High mowing seeds (www.highmowingseeds.com) is one we look at occasionally, but it tends to be a specialty organic supplier with relatively small selection. Fedco has a much better choice for organic growers. These are all local new england companies, outside of NE, there are probably other suppliers with plants appropriate for your climate. I hear good things about Parks, but I don’t usually buy from them. Burpee seeds are good, but frightfully expensive. My parents buy seeds from them, but save seeds from year to year.

I’m no horticulturist, but I remember a lecture from an entrepreneurship class:

A wine maker was trying to increase the quality of his product so he could charge more and move into a different sphere of competition. A consultant looked at his operation and spoke to the manager of the grape growing about the grapes. The man said he was paid by the pound, so he allowed the grapes to ripen past peak. The grapes would get juicier on the vine and while the flavor would suffer he would have heavier grapes and a more profitable harvest. I don’t know if that has as much to do with rain as time but it is a tidbit I always found interesting both about grapes and knowing the process of your product and people’s motivations.

Maybe doing some form of tracking would be a good tool for her to use.. however, a lot of the reward is pride and joy of eating something that shes grown.. how do you put a value on that?

2. You can pick your tomatoes green if you’d like, if there’s a risk of freezing or similar (I’m in Michigan, not Oregon) and put them in a paper grocery sack. Fold it over a few times, and in a few days they’ll be red as ripe can be. Not as amazing as red off the vine, but palatable in sauces and the like and no waste.

Mom made and my wife and daughter make elderberry jelly. Mmmm.

Dad warned about elderberry wine. Said its tasty and will leave you drunk fast. No personal experience here.

I, too, have been enjoying the gardening series. I canned ketchup with our harvest this year and look forward to doing more next year.