GARDENING 101
Successfully Starting
Your Garden
THE BASICS OF GROWING
These are the topics we’ll cover
• Rows, square foot gardening,
raised beds, and containers
• Location
• Preparing to plant
• Seeds and seedlings
• Caring for your garden
Gardening in Rows
• Traditional method of gardening
• Suitable for large garden areas
• Easier to see plants when they first break
through the soil
• Allows for paths between crops for walking or
cultivators
• Requires good soil. Test your soil and amend
accordingly.
• Weeding is a necessity
• Can you reach all rows with a garden hose?
Square Foot Gardening
• Works on the theory that certain plants go well
together and benefit each other
• Intense and close planting crowds out the weeds
• Allows you to have many plants in a smaller
area- great if your space is limited
• Can be difficult to tell if the first leaves belong to
something you planted- or if it’s a weed!
• Popular for raised beds and can also be used
directly on the ground.
Raised Beds
• Warm up faster than the ground in the spring
• Can be built to the height you prefer
• Four feet wide is typical and allows you to easily reach in
from both sides
• Can easily be made into hoop houses
• Ideal for square foot gardening. Can also be planted in rows.
• Easier to amend the soil and control the soil quality
• A great choice if you don’t wish to deal with rocks, standing
water, or slope.
• Kits are available or you can build your own.
Containers
• Ideal for anywhere you can place a pot
• Can be moved to different locations- if they
aren’t too heavy!
• Drainage is very important- drill more holes
if needed. Don’t rely on shards to improve
the drainage.
• Ideal if you only want a few vegetables, or
only one tomato plant.
• Choose the largest pot that you can handle.
Soil depth is important for plants that are
tall and/or have deep roots.
• Larger pots also hold more moisture in the
soil.
• Easy access
LOCATION
• Watering & weeding won’t happen if the garden is hard to access
• Out of sight can mean out of mind!
• Avoid low spots
• Drainage problems- standing water is bad for roots
• Low spots are slow to warm up, as cold air sinks
• Choose an area that is protected from the wind
• Sun
• Most vegetables need full, unfiltered sunlight (at least six
hours/day)
• Conduct a “sun survey” before you plant or build your raised bed
• Flowers have much more variation in their sunlight needs
PREPARING TO PLANT
• Testing your soil
• Home test kits- very basic- pH, N, P, K
• Comprehensive analysis – send a soil sample to UMO
• Amendments
• Add lime, nutrients, and organic matter as needed
• Compost- it’s a good thing, as long as it’s good compost!
• The Square Foot Gardening recipe (Mel’s Mix)
• 1/3 each vermiculite, peat moss, and compost by volume
• Decide whether you want to be organic or not. There are
many organic amendments available.
• Use potting medium for containers
• Lighter than loam, provides some nutrients, holds moisture
longer
TEST YOUR SOIL!
If you’re not testing, you’re guessing
❖ Home test kits give you a snapshot of your garden’s overall levels, while an in-depth soil
analysis gives you information about what to add and how much
❖ Soil analysis test kits are available through garden centers and your local Cooperative
Extension office. Samples are mailed to Orono.
❖ Test your soil early in the spring or in the fall so that amendments have time to “marinate.”
This allows the amendments to be more bioavailable in the soil.
❖ A soil analysis is recommended every three years, more frequently if you have a particular
problem
❖ Test results can save you money and prevent over-application of fertilizers and other
amendments. This helps prevent run-off that can lead to water pollution.
❖ Home test kits can be used during the off years
❖ In the State of Maine, home and lawn soil analyses also test for the presence of lead
❖ The University of Maine Soil Lab isn’t as busy in the fall
pH Matters Too
Correct pH means more available minerals for your soil
PREPARING TO PLANT
Nutrients
Primary nutrients
• N = Nitrogen: vigorous growth and dark green color
• P = Phosphorous: growth and seed production, blooming
• K = Potassium: essential for many of the plant’s metabolic
processes, strength of the plant
• Problems can develop if there is too much or too little
Secondary nutrients: sulfur, magnesium, calcium
Micronutrients: iron, manganese, zinc, copper, etc.
Temperature
Early crops
• Germinate in cooler soil temps
• Cold crops- peas, spinach, broccoli
• Root crops, such as potatoes
After the danger of frost
• Typically after the full moon near Memorial Day
• Consider the timing
• Too early- seed won’t germinate until the soil reaches a certain
temperature
• Too late- watch the maturity dates- the growing season in
Maine is short!
• Too wet- seeds will rot in the ground and won’t germinate
Seeds and Seedlings
Start with quality seed and seedlings
• Starting seeds inside
• Consider the timing- starting too early can yield spindly plants
• Growing conditions- seeds like to be warm and moist, but not wet
• When to transplant (outside soil temp should be 60-65°)
• Hardening off- transition plants from inside to outside
• Starting seeds outside
• Temperature of soil- different veggies have different preferences,
and these range from 50-70+ degrees
• Length of season- some, like melons, need a long season to
mature
• Starting with purchased seedlings outside
• Examples are broccoli, lettuces, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers
• This is a great way to start with healthy plants
• Can control how many plants you have in your garden
• Some plants, such as peas and beans, don’t transplant well and
need to be started from seed.
Check the growing calendar at www.burpee.com/growingcalendar
Reading the Seed Packet
Seed packets give good – and brief –
information on successfully starting the seeds,
such as:
• Annual, perennial, or herb
• A brief description of the plant
• How much light is needed
• Timing, or when to start the seeds
• How deep and how close together to plant the
seeds
• Care of the seedlings
Caring For Your Garden
• Water…water…water!
• Dry finger test- if it feels dry, it needs water
• Water containers until water flows out from the
bottom (drainage is important!)
• Hot and cold temperatures
• Tender young plants need protection from the frost.
Cover with a sheet or frost cover on cold nights, remove
during the day.
• Bolting- some plants, such as lettuce, will bolt and go
rapidly to seed during hot weather. The taste will change
too, usually becoming bitter.
Caring For Your Garden
• Fertilizer
• Organic vs. chemical- there are
lots of options for each
• Compost as top dressing
• Containers need fertilizer because they quickly use
up their nutrients
• Liquid- use every 2-3 weeks
• Slow release- mixed in with potting medium- good
for 8-10 weeks
• Watch the amount- more is NOT better!
• Lower N is recommended for veggies
• Fish emulsion is good for adding trace elements
Caring For Your Garden
• Pest controls
• Organic vs. chemical- many options are available
• For best results, follow the directions!
• Read the label carefully. To be effective, the control must be
effective FOR your plant, be effective AGAINST the pest, and must
be used in the correct concentration.
• Not all pests are bugs…
• …and not all bugs are pests!
• Weeding is inevitable. Weeding is frequent too.
• Succession planting
• Quick crops followed by slower crops
• Example: Radishes and carrots- by the time the radishes are done, the
carrots are starting.
• Cool season crops followed by warm season crops
• Plant cool season crops in spring and late summer
• Peas, beans, lettuces, cukes
More Info
• http://www.espoma.com/
• http://urbanext.illinois.edu/containergardening/
• http://squarefootgardening.org/square-foot-gardening-
method
• http://umaine.edu/gardening/
• http://www.southernstates.com/articles/garden-
index.aspx
• www.burpee.com
• https://www.almanac.com/gardening