Organic Gardens for Everyone

by CaliKim March 2024 book

Synopsis

• Finished the book on 3/15/2024 at 18:00.  The book was an excellent tool for a NEW gardener.  Though, the book didn’t show an example of planting a seed and checking in the plant during growth.  Was a little disappointed ☹.  It did talk about insect prevention oils, (peppermint, neem oil) using drip watering irrigation (sparked my attention), and some basic facts about lettuce (between 40-75 degreess F).  The plant glossary was a neat addition (p.152).  There were a couple stats that were included that are nice to know:  Cotyledones:   is Baby leaves or first leaves.  There are two types of tomatoes:
• Determinate:  ripes all at once
• Indeterminate:  ripens all season long  P. 130  easier to produce

I give this book a 4 smiley face rating (out if 5)  needed more examples but hey I never checked out her links she included.

Notes:

• Organic Gardening for Everyone Organic Gardening for Everyone Downloaded 2/12/24 @ 11:0
• Chapter 1: Why I Grow My Own Food and Why You Should
• Introduction:
• Everything is beautiful and full, mint and veg. are in aroma
• You know where the food comes from
• Go organic veggies
• Limit the pesticides
• Hese veeggies are fresh
• Will show how to get the garden started
• Turn you dream into reality
• You’ll feel some self confid3ents
• Chapter 1
• Garden task seems endless A family that gardens together stay together
• Effect of processed food
• Tasteless store bought food
• Issues:
• 1- too busy
• 2-limited or one income family
• 3-limited knowledge
• 4- no yard so no room for garden
• Gardening starts with desire (get hands in soil), got roto iller
• It’s all about the feeling of pride
• Quick simple videos on utube
• Why grow your ow food
o Price
o Whats in soil
o Knowing what you are eating
o Loving the outdoors
o It’s like garden therapy p. 15
o Harvest at peak time P.15
o Need garden to table
• Variety
• Cost why not spend on seed that you like to eat
• Grow with organic not pesticides
• Garden therapy
o Feel of soil in hands
o Color of the plants
o It is pleasurable to eat tings you grow
o It’s pure magic
• Garden fresh fruits/veggies
• Chapter 2 Start Simple and Expand Later
• Just get started
• Plant veggies in the right season
• Growing right veggie in the right season is key
• Lettice likes cold weather
• Beans like hot weather
• Make it easier for you when planting
• Warm weather vegetables
o Taste your own tomatoes
o Plant after frost date p. 23
o Warm weather wait ubtil 2 eeks after last frost p. 24
o Use winter cover p. 24
o A tomato takes around 60-90 days before harvest p.25
• The Magic of Gardening
• You start to feel alive! P. 25
• Chapter 3 secrets of Gardening on a budget
• Start seeds indoors
• Grow veggies that won’t break the bank
• Lots of questions
• Cost of [plants are “pennies”
• Gardening Goals
• Always have something to harvest
• Plant salad greens every couple of weeks
• Plant 4 weeks before last frost
• Start simple don’t get overwhelmed
• Organic gardening use compost, chemical free
o Use peat pellet; no muss, no fuss
o Use 3 inch pellet size
• Steps (peat pellets)
• Put peat pellets in a tray, cover pellets with warm water
• Once pellets are dark brown use a pencil to open top of netting
• Drop two to three seeds in each peller
• Mist the top of the pe;llets lightly with a spray bottle
• See\ds should germinate in 2 to 14 days
• Larger seeds us soil and containers
• Make sure to label you pellets and/or containers
• When seeds do not get enough overhead light the stems stretch (getting tall and thin) these are refereed to as leggy (leggy seed is a week plant) p.39 Could be stnted
• Use grow lights
• lumens and Kelvin
• Lumens are to light between 1500 and 3000 lumens (want higher it’s better)
• Kelvin is the color temperature
• 4 quick methods
• Clamp light
• Grow light
• Shop light fixture check seedlings daily
• Tabletop growlight
• Seeds should be no more than 1 to 2 inches from the light
• Once germinated leave on for 18 hours
• Mistake
• To far away from light
• Not enough light
• On 18/off 6
• Automate the lighting (timmer)
• Water/fertilizer
• Needs consistent water and fertuilizer
• Variable (temperature)
• Growing medium
• Clue 1 is color
• Clue 2 is weight (water content)
• Mist seeds with aa spray bottle
• Bottom water
• Watering Pete pellets (watch out for root rot
• Easy does it: over fertilizing plants will burn them out. If liquid, use about a quarter recommended) p. 52
• Transplanting and transitioning indoor seedling to the great outdoors
o Clue:
• need two or three leaves to transplant
• look for/roots growing around pot.
• Look for root circling around the pellets
• 25 to 40% larger than your plant
• Netting restricts the roots
• Don’t pull seedling by the stem p.58
• Tomatoes will grow roots where it touches the soil
• Repotting adds nutrients to the plant
• Day 7 put them outside
• Harden off seedlings
• Check frost date
• Choose spot for hardening, for an hour or two, after hour or two bring inside under grow light
• Lengthewn the seedling hardening then put under glow light
• Day 3 – 7 put seeds]lings outside for an hour or two each day
• Placement of the seedlings
• How to Prep: Placement of your garden
 Water beds
 Sun prep balance of sunshine
o 6 hours of sunshine doesn’t need to be consecutive
• Make compost for your garden (purchase best tytpe o soil
• To start out a ground arden will let you save one and start garden
• Disadvantage:
o Time to set up
o Issue with weeds
• Raised beds can be put almost over anything
• Helps with kneeling or bending
• Disadvantages
• Cost of soil
• Containers
• Expand your growing space
• Its vercitility all types of material and shape
• It also makes it mobal
• Cost is a disadvantage of a container garden
• In container the soil drys out quicker
• Watering is the key to a productive garden
• How much water does my garden need
• When should you water:
• Not at the hottest part of the day
• Keep leaves dry.
• Frequency of weather determines if you need to water.
• Use you finger to see if the soil fewels wet.
• Water slowly and “deep”_ water.
o Mulch when you plant a garden, its organic, it brings in worms
o Maybe water with drip irrigation system
o 6 benefits of drip irrigation
• Get water tom the roots
• Saves water and money
• Versatility (drip up for the job)
• Reduces disease
• Saves time
• Quick, easy, inexpensive installation
• Start with a drip irrigation system
• How to install:
• Conect timer
• Use screen filter
• 25ls per square inchcut tubing ½ inch
• Use goof plug
• How often should I use drip emitter
• Run water for
• about a half hour
• Keep checking your garden
• Set it and forget it
• Use timer for your system
• Protects against needed watering
• Feed plants nutrients for more production, worm tea
• Veggies like warm soil
• Tomato’s are sun loving
• Container need holes for drainage
• Steps to plant a tomato
• Step 1:
• a hole twice the depth and depth as the pellet or starter container
• In a garden bed: 1. Add compost ¼ cup
• In a container ¼ cup of worm casting to 5 gallon container
• ½-1 cup for 60-120 gallon
• Step 2
• Tomatoes will grow roots wherever it touches ground
• Step 3
• Add worm tea or liquid fertilizer high in nitrogen
• Give tall stake to support tomato plant tomatoes much space. Need airflow. Wet leaves needs to be protective
• Tomato cage is the best for plants
• Use wire fencing to create a wire cage
• Peppers:
• Grow great in containers or garbage bins
• How to plant
• Step 1 a hole deeper, add worm castings
• Water with worm tea (helps with root deployment
• Pepper plants need support (like a tomato cage)
• Cucumbers get into a lot of stress p. 101
• Harvest often
• Grows great in container
• Dilute liquid fertilizer (they are concentrated)
• Growing vertically help promote air flow p. 102
• Summer and winter squash p. 107
• add worm casting 1.4 cup
• prevent bolting of veggies (cover if over 80 degrees F)
• lettuce is the gateway vegetable
• plant when temp is at least 75 degrees F.
• mix compost and use worm casting
• Growing Peas P. 113
• Temp is 75 degrees F$
• Steps
• Prepare garden mix inch of compost, add castings p. 113
• Poke hole in soil
• Water with worm tea
• Plant seeds 4 to six inches apart
• Plant your own grocery store
• to save space, tuck seeds in between plants
• Prevention is the best cure, tip:
• Check your plants
• Health soil leads to healthy plants (more organbic plants) kicked shredded leaves
• Use barriers to protect plants
o Stop the weeds spread mulch that will snother out weeds
o Check garden daily…have a plan needs to continue with oorganic plansa:
• Steps to follow: Use hose with water (spray every two weeks)
• Water
• Soap with water p. 120 measure 2-4 teaspoons of dishsoap and put it in a gallon of water (pour in a spray bottle). If the bugs are still there after 24 ours, spray again
• Neem oil and peppermint oil P. 121
• Spray when it’s cool ofd the day.
• Test on leaves a couple day before overall sprayng
o Peppermint is a natural pest repellant
o It’s ok for bees, stop bugs reproduction Formula on p.121
o When to spray P.122-3
• Prune diseased leaves and use milk spray for powdey mildew
• Disease spread in humidity. Do not use milder in mulch
• Use milk pray for prevention (1-2 weeks)
• Use more compost tio protect from high temperature
• Always plant back-ups Don’t give up.
• Chapter 9 arvessting veggies like a pro
• Ultimate reward is harvesting
• Ripe veggies invite thieves of little critters
• Two types of tomatoes
• Determinate: ripes all at once
• Indeterminate: ripens all season long P. 130 easier to produce
• When harvest doesn’t leave when its to ripe. Brings in pests
• They produce ethylene gas for faster
• Picked tomatoes is plastic bags
• Put in freezer bag
• Yellow Brandywine for tomatoes
• Pepper are ready to harvest 60 to 90 days after transplanting,
• Book talks about how the harvest:
• Tomatoes
• peppers
• Peas (next to lettuce about being so easy)
• Cucumbers
• Squash
o Summer
o Winter
• Lettuce (crisp reen, about 4 to 6 weeks after planting
• Loose leaf 6-8 mon
• See P. 140 for harvesting lettuce (different types)
• Beets
• Beans
• Broccoli
• brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Chard
• Corn
• Kale P. 143
• Lettuce radish
• Spinach
• Chapter 10 the garden gives ack
• When you grow youre own garden
• Reward is the gardening community (like the book club!) we are all in this together
• We like to share our gardening skills
• Rewards come from sharing!
• The more you share the better you feel.
• It also become therapy the garden gives back
• The garden gives back socially by sharing!
• Check out appendix (gives step by step instruction about planting veggies.
• Cool weather veggies
• Lettuce p.151
• How to start seed indoors
• 40-75 is best growing temp
• Seed to table 4 to 6 seek
• Discuss peas P. 151
• Seed to table 6-10 weeks
• Has glossary P. 152
• Mulch is like wood chips prevent erosion
• Rootbound plant could be stunted
• Cotyledones: Baby leaves
• Look at good-diret.com
• Have plant label
• Drip timmer