+ starting your own kitchen garden (may calendar download) +

Last summer my significant other and I took our first baby steps towards growing our own produce. Over a year - and a little experience - later I thought there is enough to share with fellow enthusiasts. Adam's family has quite a big piece of plot pretty close to where we live, so during the winter of 2012 we thought to ourselves: why not try and grow something to give purpose to the idle land? The idea agreed with our newfound desire for living a simpler, more natural life.

Knowing what the fruits and veggies go through before harvest time was one of our main reasons to start the project. We wanted to remain as clean as possible. Learning and trying something new was also part of our motivation. We were never the ones to sit on our bums all day - except at work - so we thought the physical activity gardening entails would be the best workout for our summer days. More than anything, though, we wanted to grow. Grow like the sprouts we plant. From the inside out. We wanted to somehow excel and set an example to our peers and youngsters. Show them how beneficial it can be to go back to our roots. With that in mind, I'd like to share my experiences from the test phase last year.

Here are the most important things you'll need for your own garden:

land

Obviously. You can, of course, start out with growing your own produce by planting a few tomato seedlings in pots at home. The intention of this article is to list the very basics for a fairly little kitchen garden. Ours was a 10 m x 10 m area, and we utilized only about 70% at first. I highly recommend that you start small to avoid being overwhelmed. Make sure, however, that your piece of earth receives enough sunshine throughout the summer and drains well. One thing you don't have much influence on is the overall composition of your soil. Fret not! You can still add minerals and other naturally occurring substances your little plants might need. Also, you can always try to roughly analyze what's given, and make decisions based on that. Different species like different conditions and you can always find the ones that feel best in the space your created. Location is another thing to consider. Ideally, your garden will be in your backyard. We do live in an apartment building, so we have to travel about 10 minutes, which is easily manageable. It is best if you find a place a way away from civilization. 

time

This is the most difficult part to manage. I dream of a utopistic world where everyone is self-sufficient and no one has to sit inside all day while beautiful things happen outside. Sadly, reality could not be further from that. However, if you choose to grow veg, you'll have to find time for all the work it requires. Luckily, when your average working hours are over, you still have a couple of hours until sundown around summer. As I mentioned, picking a location relatively close to home will save you a lot of time. You'll have the weekends to do the majority of the work, the rest of it can be managed on weekdays, like watering or weeding. By the time you work the soil and plant everything you wanted, the hard part will have been over.

tenacity

Until you get all that over with, I'm not going to lie, it is tough grind. It does count as workout though! I've had many a days feeling from hoeing and walking uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill...As you can see a few rows up, our garden is a quite steep slope. Don't worry, you'll grow stronger by the day and get used to it in no time.

tools

You don't need very many of these, just the ones you'd expect in a garden. First and foremost, you'll need good protective gear: heavy duty shoes for when you use heavy tools or operate machinery, quality gloves that are quite thick and fit right. For the actual labor a spade, a hoe, and a rake are essential. Make sure they're not too heavy or long for you. Miniature versions of these also come in handy for when you work directly with or between the plants. Pruning shears will allow you to get rid of thicker weeds or cut smaller branches. These bad boys, though, will help you big time: 

• a rotary hoe: It will save you sweat and valuable hours if you start preparing your ground with it. Unused soil can be quite a tough nut
• a weed whacker: Great to have to clear the paths you walk on between the seedbeds

seeds

Our aim was to stay as chemical free as possible. It was easy, except for the part where we had to buy seeds. I am not familiar with all the local restrictions, but as far as I know organic produce can be grown from non-organic seeds if  all other requirements are met and unless organic seeds are available. Based on that, the veggies and fruit we grow can be considered organic. Even if all that's not correct, I'm happy with the way we grow them. One thing you need to make sure when buying seeds is that the amount you buy is enough for the size of the bed you imagined for them.  Non-organic seeds usually come very cheap, so it will not be a financial burden to get everything you want. I usually go crazy and want to try to sow a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Whenever I see something special, I have to get my hands on it. You can find basic guidelines for each plant online or on the packaging. Your garden may not be the best place for each of them, but you will be able to find out which ones thrive under the conditions you provide. I highly recommend that you experiment with at least two or three kinds of fruit - buy trees or bushes. They are the most undemanding and will give you a sense of achievement. So far we planted: peas (lots!), corn, spinach, sorrel, mixed baby greens, dill, oregano, cilantro, parsley, watercress, garden cress, basil, lemon balm, lavender, sage, chives, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, onions, rhubarb and radish.  We got two goji berry bushes, two blueberry bushes, one mulberry tree, a fig tree and a hazelnut bush. We were blessed to inherit two cherry trees, two rows of blackberry bushes and two walnut trees too. Next up in the calendar are: cucumber, zucchini, leafy kale - and more.

water

If you don't have access to tap water where your garden is, it will be quite easy to collect rain water. Adam designed a very effective system consisting of a platform where we catch the water, drainpipes, a small filter and a 1000 litre tank to which we attached a hose with a timer and a sprinkler at the end. The slope helps build water pressure at the point where we actually need it, the only thing quite laborious was digging a huge hole for the tank, because we needed the top of it at the same level as the end of the pipe that guides the rain into it. One big shower fills the tank almost all the way up. 

compost/fertilizer

I highly recommend that you "supplement" in the first round. As I mentioned in my post about recycling, we collect biodegradable waste at home that we take up to the hill for later use. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time for it to become usable, so last year we decided to use just a tiny bit of sheep manure as fertilizer - from a reliable source of course. It was worth it, because the other conditions in our test round were not ideal, but we still managed to harvest quite a lot of produce. 

helping hands

Sometimes, it is nice to have helpers around if you have bigger tasks to overcome. As a woman, I would never have been able to do all the tougher work that we needed to do. Using the bigger tools will definitely need a man around. When summer offers a lot of rain, it is much easier to weed with four or six hands than two. The upside of all the work is that you get to be together and talk. You can thank everyone by throwing a party where you eat the produce you grew, or you can have a picnic kind of thing on the spot. 

My last pieces of advice are:

• plan ahead: This is very important. You want to start thinking about the initial tasks in the winter. You can also start working th soil in the preceding fall. You can make a calendar for all the plants that you buy seeds for, so you know when to plant what. 
• be patient: As you can see, it will be difficult at times. You may not succeed in all your pursuits, - you will probably fail at one or two points - but at least you'll learn a lesson. 
• there will be bugs and other creatures: If you can't stand the thought of them crawling on you, this may not be your calling. If you still decide to dive into it, be prepared for a few screams and scares. 

This project was one of the best decisions we made. It made me appreciate nature much more. I almost feel like I was synced with mother nature and I see more of her now than ever before. I just love when everything smells sort of...GREEN in the spring, do you know what I mean? Everything becomes so alive and juicy.  I enjoy the smell of the wet earth, getting dirty and walking barefoot. Not sure it makes sense for anyone else but me, though. 

Spending time up on the hill has brought more peace into my life. Working there turns off the negative thoughts immediately and puts me in a meditative state that I'd love to be able to do consciously. I will truly miss this wherever the wind blows us in the future.  

P.S.: Download my free May calendar featuring our beautiful kale flowers here, if you haven't done so! Alternatively, you can click on the freebies option in the menu bar.