Day 2-Grow Your Own Food in 100 Days or Less

Thank you for joining us for Day 2 of our series Grow Your Own Food in 100 Days or Less at Mary's Heirloom Seeds.

Yesterday we jumped in and planted seeds.  On our homestead we already have quite a few established raised beds ready for planting.  If you're just getting started you'll need to do a bit of planning first.  Let's get planning!

Here's our video to get you started on Day 2!

First decide if you're planting in the ground, in Raised Beds or in Containers.  You can plant in a combination of the 3 if you have lots of garden space.

In Ground
Planting in the ground sometimes requires less "extras" if the soil is fertile.  If you have hard clay or sandy soil you'll want to amend your soil with compost, manure and even coconut coir.  Some people use a no-till method of planting and others prefer tilling the soil each season.  Whichever you choose, find a spot for your garden and measure it out.

Raised Beds
Planting in Raised beds is a great way to avoid certain garden pests such as gophers, rabbits and squirrels.  Raised beds also help keep out weeds and usually use less water.  If you decide to plant in a raised beds, check out our tutorial to Build Your Own Raised Beds.  You can purchase kits but building your own is usually less expensive.

To FILL you're raised beds, If you're buying soil, you'll need to figure out how many cubic yards or dirt you'll need.  *We always add nutrients, compost and "fluff" like coconut coir to our raised bed soil*

Raised Bed Sizes in feet, at a height of of 12 inches with Soil Requirements
2x2 = 0.15 cu. yards
4x4 = 0.59 cu. yards
4x8 = 1.19 cu. yards


Containers
If you're limited on time, space and resources then container gardening is a great option.  Be aware that containers tend to dry out much faster so you need to watch them closely.  A few years ago we started a Bucket Garden Project to show how easy and inexpensive it is to grow using recycled buckets.  You'll need "potting soil" instead of of "topsoil" and a well drained container.  You can grow herbs in smaller containers and larger plants like squash and tomatoes in a 5 or 8 gallon container.

Heirloom Radish is an easy, fast maturing crop


Plant Spacing
Most plant spacing charts are just a guide.  You can plant closer together or farther apart and experiment with what works.  Especially if you are in a humid climate, air flow is very important to deter plant diseases like powdery mildew.  We have to charts to help you map out your garden

Plant Spacing Chart for Veggies

Square Foot Garden Plant Spacing Chart

Plant What you Like
Especially if you are limited on space, it is important to plant what you know you like or that your family will eat.  If you intend to preserve or can some of your crops, plan ahead and plant more of those varieties.  You might find our article Feeding a Family from the Garden useful in planning your garden.


I hope you enjoyed another educational article. If you have additional questions, please comment below or send an email to mary@marysheirloomseeds.com