Up Your Gardening Game in 2022
Cross off two of your new year goals by growing your own organic food. You can make the world greener by reducing pesticide use, fuel for transportation and food waste (who could throw away something you’ve grown) while improving your health and wellbeing by spending more time outside connecting with the earth, eating super fresh vegetables, and feeling a sense of pride and wonder as you nurture growth.
No matter how you garden now, even if it’s no gardening at all, there are ways to up your game this year.
-Pot it. A simple pot of herbs or greens on your deck or patio could be your gateway to growing your own food. Start with organic potting soil and seeds, a sunny location and a simple irrigation system made from an upside-down bottle with a small hole in the cap.
-Start your own seedlings. Peruse the organic seed catalogs (choose catalogs from your geographic area for seeds already acclimated to your growing conditions) for varieties that you can’t find at local plant centers.
-Grow it up. Increase production space in your garden by trellising vining plants up instead of along the ground. From beans to cucumbers to winter squash many plants can be vertically.
-Feed your soil. Get your soil tested and investigate cover crops and composting to increase the life of your soil and the nutrition of your vegetables.
-And if you can’t wait until spring, grow some micro greens on your windowsill or immerse the root end of a scallion or leek in water and watch it grow.
Shameless Plug: Volunteering in Judea Garden offers the same gardening benefits as above with the added bonus of increased happiness, less stress and better health that helping others can bring.
