Becoming a better gardener

I'm thinking again about what you really need to know to become a better gardener (and maybe what I mean is a good garden steward). I love learning more about plants and gardening (that's what makes it fun) and the images with Thomas Jefferson's quote at the end of my wildlife gardening talks reflect that (hmm, notice the rabbit!)


I mused about this some months ago, largely because one of our local extension offices was offering a class for the public on 'home horticulture' that was a less-intensive version of our SC Master Gardener program.

But I had a significant 'stirring-the-pot' experience this morning looking over Ann Lovejoy's excellent book 'Organic Garden Design School' -- she wonderfully describes what my gardening companion and I have bumbled into doing in our formerly large grassy expanse.

We've created our garden landscape not from a horticultural perspective but an ecological one, and our garden landscape has been inspired by admiration of natural landscapes and a keen interest in mimicking their best attributes. Lovejoy writes about creating successful gardens by understanding what thrives there (a mix of natives and well-adapted non-natives), and not trying to grow plants that won't. There's a significant European gardening trend to mimic natural landscapes (from all over the world) to create sustainable garden designs. A fabulous city garden landscape (the Lurie Garden) in Chicago was envisioned by a Dutch garden designer (Piet Oudolf) based on North American prairie landscapes.

So, what we know about plant life histories, reproductive strategies, plant adaptations, pollinator behavior, native plant communities, as well as all sorts of stuff about botany in general (from many years of study) has actually been the underpinning to a home garden that pleases us a great deal.

So, I'm trying to think again about what is it that someone really needs to know to become a better gardener as I think about how best I can encourage folks in our Garden classes to learn about plants and gardening.

I'm coming back to the idea that it's really about understanding plants, where they come from (that is, what part of the world and what sort of habitat), why you're growing them, and whether they're suited to where you want to grow them. Vegetables need something quite different than prairie wildflowers like purple coneflower (Echinacea), rattlesnake master (Eryngium), and blazing star (Liatris), but it's still about learning about plants.

I'd welcome your thoughts!

Starting a vegetable garden

Ed, from Slow Cook, asked bloggers to post about starting a vegetable garden recently, in a post forwarded to me by a gardening friend (CEN).

This is a topic I'm totally keen on. At the Garden where I work, we're having an event next weekend to promote vegetable gardening, with the tagline of 'Building Community, Growing Vegetables.' Those of us who enjoy growing vegetables know the joy of harvesting and eating from the garden, whether it's a couple of tomato plants or a series of raised beds or an expansive 'kitchen garden' -- and we're keen on promoting it to others.

The first season in my 'main' vegetable garden

My first vegetable garden as an 'adult' was modest. We'd just put in a fence (for our old boy, our dog Chessie), who wasn't prone to roam, anyway, but we sprung for picket fence in the most visible areas.

I planted snow peas -- and this was just the beginning.

My previous forays involved trying to plant onions in the caliche soil of the Texas Hill Country as a teenager, taking on WAY too much space as a young researcher in a field station community garden (and being overwhelmed by weeds), and planting apple, peach, and nectarine trees in a shady Southeast Georgia backyard (I harvested some tasty Golden Delicious apples in the last summer we spent there).

But, our soil here is clayey, but our older house has many years' worth of thatch-rich soil below the scruffy lawn, so it's not too bad, with continuous amending.

I started small and used Square-Foot gardening and intensive gardening methods as my inspiration. Some years later, I'm talking about vegetable gardening to groups.

So, what's my advice about starting a vegetable garden?

First: Start small.

Second: Make it close to the house.

Third: Place your beds close to a water source (within reasonable hose length).

Fourth: Grow what you (and your family) like to eat (and don't plant too much).

Fifth: Garden through the year (as much as you can). Spring, summer, fall (and winter) work for us in the SE US.

Sixth: Remember vegetables are pampered annuals (nutrient and water hogs) and need both rich soil with added (preferably) organic fertilizer and water to be optimally productive.

Seventh: Harvest frequently (daily in prime season for beans, tomatoes, etc.).

Eighth: Keep it fun!

Here are a few kitchen gardening tips from a short video clip (where I somehow was the featured weekly blogger on a local TV station recently).

What does a beginning gardener need to know?

I think this is maybe the question that I really had in mind (in my post yesterday).

A question like that, though, makes it seem like all you need is the short list of topics or the top Ten list.

Isn't learning about plants, gardening and the natural world (anything you're interested in, for that matter) a lifetime (or continuing) pursuit?

I like to end presentations about wildlife gardening, or gardening with native plants, or vegetable gardening with this quote from Thomas Jefferson. It's often quoted, as it deserves to be.