13 April 2009
Starting Your Own Garden, Part II
Posted by admin under: Gardening; Healthy Eating; Locally Grown; Organic .
Author’s Note: In Part I of this series, we looked at finding your planting zone and what kind of garden to plant. In this post, we’ll look at some places to buy seed and what size of garden to plant.
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Now that you know what type of seed you want to plant, it’s time to actually buy some seed!
Where to Buy Seed
I only buy seed from a store if I need the seed right away. Otherwise, I typically buy as much as I can from Jere Gettle at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds because I like the fact that he’s built the business from the ground up, selects the seed himself, has great prices, and its a family-owned business.
If they don’t have what I need, I then check the Seed Saver’s Exchange. They were originally started in the 70’s as a co-op where members could exchange heirloom seeds that they had saved. They have some great seeds too.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds carries a mix of conventional and organic seeds, but their prices seem to be a bit higher than most. However, they are a reputable company that has a stated goal of being 100% employee-owned by 2015 (I believe they’re around 30% now). They are where I would shop if my first two choices weren’t available.
Another good company is the Territorial Seed Company. They also carry a mix of organic and conventional seed.
Most of these places also carry gardening tools and supplies.
What Size of Garden?
A lot of what you plant will be defined by how much space you have, and how much space you have will likewise dictate what you want to plant. Things like melons, cucumbers, and squashes (including pumpkins) take quite a bit of space while things like salad plants, onions, tomatoes, and peppers don’t.
If you want to stay small, a 3′ X 6′ is about the smallest I would recommend. Gardener’s Supply Company has a nifty little web-based tool that lets you plan a raised-bed garden that size. It includes tips, ideas, and directions, but the coolest feature is that it lets you drag icons of the plants you want to a diagram of the bed, and it shows you how much space each plant needs. That’s handy. The only downside to this tool is that 3′ X 6′ is the only size available. I just use a sheet of graph paper. A lot of seed packets will tell you how much space each plant requires, or you can Google the plant name. In a larger garden, leave about 2′ between each row/section so you can move around the plants.
In Part III, we’ll talk about what kind of supplies you will need (beyond seeds, that is!) and how to control pests in your garden.
