Gardening Advice: Practical & Inspirational

We've had a beautiful amount of water come down from the sky these past few weeks in Southern California. As spring approaches, I'm considering making some time to plant and care for a little something...something small is better than nothing at all! Last night, The Boy and I attended a "Grow Where You Are" lecture at the Road Less Traveled Store in Santa Ana. Eugene Cooke was a moving lecturer, and shared many useful tips about gardening. Below are my notes from the event, as verbatim as I can remember...

(Photo from Gebsite)

• Plant your garden in a place where you have to walk past it every day. Then make it beautiful so that you want to be there. The only thing that will make your plants grow is your presence. Plant flowers that you like, and herbs that you use all the time, so that you're constantly out there harvesting, noticing things and nurturing the plants.
• To thrive, gardens need variety. They need flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. Don't let the perception of a tree turn you away from this vision--it can be a little dwarf citrus tree or a small blueberry shrub.
• Gardens also need cross pollination. It's important to attract pollinators to your garden (bees, butterflies, humming birds, bats, etc).
• Companion planting is key for healthy gardens and for optimizing the use of garden space. The best example is Mayan milpa agriculture where you dig a hole and plant a corn seed, bean seed and squash seed. The corn stalk grows up tall, the bean vine twists around it and the squash stays low, keeping the bottom of the plants shaded and moist.
• In urban areas, plant vertically as much as possible. For example, re-using old tires, lay one horizontally on the ground and fill with dirt. Plant potato seeds. As the vines grow, tie them together and put them through a second tire. Fill the second tire with dirt and the vine will continue to produce roots (which are the potatoes). Continue stacking tires and dirt until you're ready to harvest. Pull out the vine and you'll have loads of potatoes inside the stack of tires.
• Infestation is a given. Expect about 10% of your garden to have it. If you see a plant or two that is infested--leave it alone. If you remove it, the bugs will go on to the next weakest plant. By leaving it you keep the bugs occupied. If the infestation grows to over 10% of your garden, it's a sign that you have root problems, in which case you need to take care of it...otherwise, let it be.
  
• Harvesting is essential to healthy gardens. Plants want to produce. By harvesting vegetables and fruits, you show the plant that you want what they have to offer and they'll produce more for you. Pick even the little ones you're unsure of at the beginning of the season--the plants will produce better for you after knowing that you're interested in what they're doing/offering.
• Share your harvest when it's too much for you to eat. Consider sourcing a community of local growers to form a co-op so that you don't have to grow everything yourself, and instead you trade. Whatever you do, don't let the fruits and vegetables go to waste. Don't let them rot--if they do, that karma's on you!