Homegrown Harvest

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HOMEGROWN HARVEST: A BE GINNERS GUIDE TO SMALL-SCALE EDIBLE GARDENING BY MALLIKA NAIR A Thesis Submitted to the Division of Environmental Studies New College of Florida in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Bachelor of Arts Under the sponsorship of Dr. Elzie McCord, Jr. Sarasota, Florida February, 2011 i

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Dedicated to all the gardeners at the New College Old Caples Garden, past, present and future! ii

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Acknowledgements Utmost thanks to my family and friends for being there for me through my thesis journey, I am so grateful for your incr edible love and support. Many thanks to my baccalaureate committee, Dr. Elzie McCord Jr, for his all his edits and for sponsoring my thesis, to Dr. Carl Shaw for his support of the gardening tutorial over the last few semesters and for his encouragement for this thesis, and to Dr. Erin Dean for her insightful comments and thoughtful perspective. Thanks to the Sides family and the Lords Acre community for taking me in and teaching me so much about gardening, community, and the good life. And thanks to the Caples gardeners for all the fun, and learning we have shared. Thanks to all my yoga teachers with out whom I may not have made it through the stress of thesising. Finally, thanks to the soil, the sun and the rain, for all they have taught me and provided for me. iii

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Table of Contents page Dedication ii Acknowledgments iii Table of Contents iv List of Figures.......... vi List of Tables viii List of Websites. ix Abstract.. x Chapter 1. Introduction: Small Scale Gardening: A Growing Movement for Healthier Environments, Economies, and People .. 1 Getting Started With the Basics Chapter 2: Compost .......................................... 10 Top 10 Reasons to Start Your Own Compost System. 10 IN DEPTH: The Science Behind Composing........... 13 Factors that Affect the Rate and Success of Your Compost Pile 14 What to Compost and Where to Find it .. 15 What Not to Compost. 16 Methods for Obtaining Black Gold 18 Directions to Build an Open Pile 18 Closed and Contained Piles 19 Purchasing Compost... 19 Comparison of Various Compost Systems 22 Vermicomposting What is Vermicomposting? ................................................... 31 Why Vermicompost?...................... 32 How to Set Up a Home Vermicomposting System. 33 Bokashi. 38 How to Compost at Home Using Bokashi 38 Tips for Maintenance 41 Chapter 3: Seeds and Starts 42 Growing from Seeds .. 44 Seed Starting and Potting Mix 46 How to Plant Seeds to Grow Transplants. 47 How to Care for Seedlings.. 49 Growing from Starts 50 How to Transplant 50 Chapter 4: Effective Watering .. 52 Watering at the Roots 52 Overhead Watering 55 How Much to Water 55 IN DEPTH: The Science Behind Transpiration 58 Very Small Spaces: Techniques for Balcony, Terrace and Window Gardening Chapter 5: Container Gardening 59 Traditional Containers 61 Collapsible Planters 63 Self-Watering Containers..64 iv

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IN DEPTH: The Science of Capillary Action 65 DIY (Do It Yourself) Self-Watering Containers .. 71 Chapter 6: Vertical Gardening .. 73 Trellises Other Ways to Grow Vertically. 81 Edible Gardening Chapter 7: Community Gardening 1 Benefits of Community Gardening 93 Types of Community Gardens. 96 Chapter 8: Designing and Laying Out Your Garden 97 Chapter 9: Backyard Gardening Methods 101 The Question of Tillage 101 IN DEPTH: The Science Behind Over-tilling 104 Tilling the Garden............................ 106 Where and Why to Till 106 When to Till ... 106 Mechanical or Manual Tilling 107 The WORD Method.. 109 Double Digging .. 110 NoTill Gardening 112 Benefits of No-Till Gardening.. 112 Lasagna Gardening/Sheet Mulch 113 Raised Beds and SFG 118 Managing the Garden Chapter 10: Garden Fertility 124 Soil Types, Tests, and Amendments..... 124 Crop Rotations 129 Cover Crops and Green Manures... 131 Chapter 11: Weeds, Diseases, and Insects 133 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) 133 Prevention First ... 137 Companion Planting...... 137 When Pests Attack How to Identify Your Pest Problem 148 Controlling Weeds .151 Tips for Weeding By Hand.. 152 Mulch ................... 153 How to Compost Weeds.. 155 Chapter 12: Understanding and Extending the Seasons .. 156 Find Your Extension Agent 156 Zone Maps 156 Season Extenders 158 Sources for More Information 160 References 163 v

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List of Figures Figure # Description Page 3.1 True Leaves on a Tomato seedling 51 4.1 Drip Irrigation 53 4.2 a-b Irrigation with a soaker hose .. 53 4.3 Hose attachments for Effective Watering 54 4.4 Watering Method 57 4.5 Illustration of the Second Shine .. 58 5.1 Wheelbarrow container garden 59 5.2 Edibles in a pot 60 5.3 a-e Container Gardening Ideas and Examples 62 5.4 Collapsible planters: Meadow by WoollyPockets .. 63 5.5 Collapsible planters: Grow Bags .. 63 5.6 Self-watering planters: Grobal .. 65 5.7 Self-watering planters: A diagram of an Earthbox 67 5.85.10 Self-watering planters: Pictures of planted Earthboxes 68-69 5.11 Self-watering planters: A Garden Patch 69 5.12 Self-watering planters: Ceramic self-watering pot. 70 5.13 Self-Watering planters and convertible water reservoirs 70 5.14 A homemade Earthbox 71 5.15 Easy Homemade SIP made with recyclables 71 5.16 Converted SIP Planter 72 5.17 Global Buckets 72 6.1 Trellises 75-80 a. Vining gourds .. 75 bd. Some basic trellis styles 75 e. Illustrations of trellises and crops 76 f. Garden skyscraper trellis .. 77 gh. Fence trellis 78 i. Squash arbor trellis 78 j. Square Foot Garden trellis 78 km. Teepee trellises .. 79-80 6 .2 Stacking Planters 81 a c. Nancy Jane Planters .. 81 d e. AgroTower 81 f. Modular wooden stacking planter 81 g h. Verti-gro 82 6 .3 Hanging Planters 83 a. Hanging Basket ... 83 b. Seederman Hanging Planter 83 c. Upside down tomato container 83 d. Topsy Turvy hot pepper planter 83 e. Homemade upside down planter 2 L soda container 83 f. Homemade upside down planter 5 gallon bucket .. 83 g. Topsy Turvy tomato planter .. 84 vi

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h. Window Farms 85 i. Images of Window Farms 86 6 .4 a-b Plants on Shelves 87 6 .5 Plants Mounted on Walls 88 a. Tin plate vertical garden 88 b. Hanging shoe organizer garden .. 88 c. An urban vertical garden .. 88 d. An unusual vertical garden made of mounted shoes ... 88 e. Vertical garden made from rain gutters .. 89 f h. Woollypockets Wallys 89 6 .6 a-c. Combinations of Vertical and Traditional Elements .. 90 8.1 Space saved by planting in wide beds versus narrow rows 97 8 .2 Living Mulch .. 97 8 .3 Sample Garden Map ... 99 8 .4 Curved Garden Bed 100 8 .5 String and Stakes to lay out a bed .... 100 8 .6 Mulched paths and wide beds ... 100 9.1 The Decline of Organic Matter .. 104 9.2 Flowchart: Find your best edible gardening method .. 105 9.3 Ideal soil moisture for tilling 107 9.4 Use of a Broadfork .. 108 9.5 Depth of root growth 109 9.6 Beds prepared by tilling .. 110 9.7 Directions for Double Digging 111 9.8 The Ultimate Sheet Mulch .. 116 9.9 Square Foot garden bed 118 9.10 Productive Raised Bed garden .. 119 9.11 Raised Bed on a hard surface ... 121 9.12 Plant spacing in a SFG .. 123 10.1 Soil Hydrometer Test .. 126 10.2 The USDA Soil Textural Triangle .. 127 10.3 Sample Crop Rotations ... 131 10.4 Cover Crop Flowering 131 11.1 Beauveria b assania ... 142 12.1 Climate Zone Map 157 12.2 A Cold Frame ... 158 12.3 A Greenhouse .. 159 vii

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List of Tables Table # Title page 2.1 Green and Brown Compost Materials .. 15 2.2 What Not to Compost 16 2.3 Carbon to Nitrogen (C:N) Ratios in Common Mulch Materials.. 17 2.4 Selected Commercially Available Composts 20-1 2.5 Comparison of Various Composting System 22-30 3.1 Pros and Cons of Seeds vs. Starts 42-43 6.1 Positive and Negative Aspects of Vertical Gardening 74 9.1 Mulch Guide .. 115 9. 2 Crop Spacing In a Square Foot Garden 122 10.1 Selected Vegetables and their Preferred pH Ranges 125 10.2 Plant Nutrients for Optimal Plant Growth ..... 129 10.3 Vegetable Plant Familie s 130 10.4 Green Manures 132 11.1 Organic Controls for Garden Pests 147 11. 2 Weed Killing Inorganic Mulches Compared 155 viii

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List of Websites Description Page Purchase Effective Microorganisms for Bokashi composting 39 http://www.emamerica.com/effective-microorganism-products/em1-lawn-a-gardenandmultiuse Find your local Extension Agent 45 http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/ Accelerated Propagation Systems (self-watering seed starting trays) .. 48 http://www.gardeners.com/APS/APS_Cat,default,sc.html Find an place to buy an Eartbox self-watering planter near you 67 http://www.earthbox.com/dealers/dlr/locator/ Information on Biotop self-watering containers (sold in Canada). 69 http://www.biotopcanada.com/ Make a homemade self-watering container ............................................................ 71 http://www.homegrownevolution.com/2007/01/self-watering-containers.html http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2009/09/univers al-subirrigation-planterconstruction.html The Garden Skyscraper (A vertical growing system) .............................................. 77 http://www.gardenartisans.us/skyscrapergarden.aspx Windowfarms 86 To purchase kits for homes: http://www.windowfarms.org/kits Very detailed DIY instructions: http://our.windowfarms.org/instructions/ A broadfork to manually till, avail able from Johnnys Selected Seeds .................... 108 http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5484-johnnys-520-broadfork.aspx Information on the Square Foot Gardening method 123 http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ Sticky traps available from 145 http://www.contech-inc.com/products/tangletrap/ http://www.seabrightlabs.com/stikem.htm http://www.contech-inc.com/products/whiteflytrap/ Help with identifying pests ...................................................................................... 1 48 http://vegipm.tamu.edu/ http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/SearchPestsDiseases Find your extension agent listed by state 156 http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/ ix

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x HOMEGROWN HARVEST: A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO SMA LL-SCALE EDIBLE GARDENING Mallika Nair New College of Florida, 2011 ABSTRACT Small-scale edible gardening is a multifaceted solution to many of the environmental, dietary, social and economic issues of our time. This guide provides information on small scale organic growing me thods with the intention of helping new gardeners grow food at home or in a commun ity plot. I used information from new and classic gardening books, websites, magazines, blogs, and scientific articles. I drew from my experience gardening as well as from conversations with other gardeners. This guide consists of ideas, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) in structions, and reviews of products for gardening in small spaces such as balconies, terraces and windows. Methods for growing food in a backyard plot or community gard en are also discussed. Explanations of essential gardening processes such as compos ting, starting seeds, watering and biological pest control is included. This thesis will be made available to the public as a free e-book. For now, it is online at: https://si tes.google.com/site/gardenforfood/. __________________ Dr. Elzie McCord Jr. Division of Natural Sciences

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