Comments on: How to Plant a Modern Organic Garden

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:23:23 +0000

Great tips everyone!

By: allotment blogger

allotment blogger — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:51:23 +0000

Tips from our new allotment holders include:

Work with a friend or group of friends so that you have people to chat to and share the work with.

Think about having fun – we have a ‘book club eating’ garden where people are planting everything mentioned in Alice In Wonderland and other children’s books; it’s a brilliant way to try out new foods.

When you’ve saved seeds, organise a seed swap with other gardeners.

By: Dropstone Farms » links for 2009-03-30

Dropstone Farms » links for 2009-03-30 — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:02:28 +0000

[...] How to Plant a Modern Organic Garden | Bifurcated Carrots Notes on what sorts of things you need to do to get a garden started. (tags: reference garden-planning) [...]

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:10:32 +0000

Hi Pat & Step. Something important to consider, yet often overlooked, is the position of the sun in relation to the garden, how does it move across the sky each day & how is it’s path different at different times of the year. Will your garden get no sun in the afternoon because a tree, shrub or building is in the way? Those bare trees of spring aren’t the same when adorned with leaves. Even if the garden is alone in the middle of a field larger plants within the garden may still shade shorter ones. This shading of one plant of another can be helpful..but it may not be. I am every year amazed anew at how those tiny seedlings get so big! Thanks again for your interesting blog!

By: Jo

Jo — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:10:32 +0000

That business of growing at different times is really important. I was pretty clueless myself even though I’ve gardened for years. It wasn’t so apparent when my garden was 20 square ft. Even 100 square feet it wasn’t clear. But when you get a whole acre to do your hearts desires in, THAT was when I started to wise up and really read the backs of the seed packets and google “plant this” and “plant that”. That is how I found “Celeriac Secrets”!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:09:51 +0000

Thanks OG, these are all really important things to think about too.

By: Ottawa Gardener

Ottawa Gardener — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:38:48 +0000

Informative post and helpful for the new masses of veggie growers out there! Welcome, glad to have you aboard. One piece of advice that is always thrown about is that you should plant what you like to eat BUT I have started eating lots of veggies only after I had grown them in my garen first often because I could not buy them in the grocery store anyhow. So I’d encourage even new growers to try your hand a new veggie just for fun every now and again.

Also some tips on soil that really would have helped me as a newbie:

1) Most roots require soil that is easy to penetrate without too many rocks, hard clumps or too much clay. So if you are planning to grow carrots or parsnips and don’t have ideal soil, then dig a trench or crowbar a hole and put in good soil followed by the seeds on top. There are also stubby varieties of most root crops out there for challenging soils.
2) Mulch can be a great help with some soils and soil problems, it also cuts back on weeding and increases the organic matter in the soil. Once your head stops spinning after all your garden planning then consider mulch.

Timing and Gardening

As a newbie I didn’t realize that:

1) Veggies like to be planted and grow at different times: some in the spring, some in the summer and some in the fall (even some in the winter in mild areas). Gardens can be planned temporally as well as spatially.