Working In The Garden

I came home in Autumn to find that very few vegetables had grown. It turns out that when I left in early March, the weather was too cool, so most of the in-ground plants died. The other plants were still in the peat pots, waiting for the weather to warm a little. Meanwhile, the weeds, mostly an invasive unknown plant I call froblemacz and a little crabgrass, proliferated and took over the entire garden.. This was after I had spent months digging out these two plants last year.

I found that the garden had continued to get water, even after the weeds outnumbered the vegetables by 20—1 or more. I wanted to rent a rototiller, so I could dig up the whole thing in one day, but renting takes green stuff that I only have when I'm out of town working. (Another reason that I don't recommend moving to the Victor Valley to anyone over the next few years, even if the State of California finally makes the changes that are necessary.)

So I've been going out and digging from time to time, piling up discarded grass and froblemacz plants and trying to prepare the ground for this year's planting.

Reasons To Plant A Garden

The best reason, in my opinion, to plant a garden is because it gives you a very small measure of independence and self-control. Being too dependent upon "the system" means that you are extremely vulnerable to things like price swings, shipping disruptions, and weather events in the far-away places where our food is grown. Not that any of us are going to grow enough food for any kind of "subsistence gardening", but that isn't the point.

Imagine that the price of tomatos hits a new high this Summer, and the small, hard, yellowish fruits in the supermarkets neither taste the way tomatos should, nor are they very nutritious. After all, stores want to buy fruit that will still be sellable after delivery, not fruit that is at the peak of flavor and ready for someone to devour on the spot. This is when doing a little manual labor in your backyard is beneficial, because you can eat tomatos that are soft, red, juicy, and flavorful, right off the vine, the way they should be eaten.

Similarly, you don't have to buy specially grinded "baby carrots", because you can get them right out of the ground.

No, you won't have anywhere near enough to make it through a sustained disruption of the food supply to your area. But a good-sized garden can help your family eat while you are looking for a replacement for your recently-lost job. I'm not growing anything that big, however.

What is involved in the preparation process?

1. Obviously, anyone that actually wants to eat the produce of his garden will start by putting up a little fence. Otherwise, you may find that your dog Boomer isn't just a carnivore. He will pick and gnaw and sometimes eat certain fruits and vegetables. Further, he will use the freshly dug soil as his outhouse, and he will run through the garden. But it isn't just the dog. Cats, children, rabbits, mice, and birds will all take notice of your handiwork and use it for their own purposes. A good fence should prevent rabbits from getting in, while its presence tends to let dogs and children know that you want them to do their activities elsewhere.

2. A weed is any plant that is growing somewhere on your property that you don't want there. There are other definitions, but this one fits our purposes. We need to dig up weeds, including their root systems. Depending upon your philosophy and your community, you may be able to use one of the many herbicides available at your local hardware stores. Otherwise, it is the hoe and the shovel for you. If you use chemical suppressants, please be sure to follow the directions on the label. Now, you aren't finished just because you dug out some weeds. You need to try and do that in early Autumn, so that you can water the ground and trick seeds and root fragments into growing in time for you to dig out more of them.

3. Your soil is probably fertile enough for a season or two, but you'd be better off going ahead and hitting the local "home improvement center" or hardware store. Get yourself some soil amendments to add organic matter, and possibly something like Miracle-Gro to add the actual compounds your plants will need. Again, it depends on your philosophy, whether you decide to use only organic products, or to accept some assistance from chemicals. The thing is, you want to add some more organic matter each Fall and Spring, so that your plants have plenty of the nutrients they need.
   For a reasonable price, you may be able to get a soil test kit. This will give you some idea whether you may need to add special items such as iron sulphate or a trace minerals formula. Whatever you do, be sure to dig your amendments and fertilizers into the ground, so that they'll be available to the roots of your plants.

4. Insects can be our friends, and they can also be our enemies. My first tomatoes, peppers, and potatos, and eggplants, were visited by tomato worms. Over time, pliers and the local bird population have helped to reduce the damage the worms cause.
   We could have, again, we with insecticides—chemicals which disrupt the lifecycles of many insects—to help with the infestation. One may also rely upon natural controls, such as insectivorous insects (e.g., ladybugs and praying mantisses) and naturally-derived pesticides (e.g., pyrethrins).

Wrapping up

There is more to be done. I'm still only partially done with my digging out weeds. We'll continue this discussion another time.

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