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I’ve been pleased to hear that many of you are interested in growing some of your own fresh produce, but may have little or no experience and are a bit intimidated. Please don’t be! Growing your own fruits and vegetables can be “chic”, great fun and need not be a terrible chore. In fact, it can become addictive! Growing fruits and vegetables need not be high maintenance, but if you’re looking for a low maintenance approach, then don’t try to tackle certain plants at first. I’ve learned over many years what works best for me, as I have little time to fuss in my own gardens during the growing season. For example, fresh new potatoes are wonderful, but you do need to periodically mound the soil and keep an eye out for potato beetles, so I’ve put potatoes in the higher maintenance column. And most fruit trees really do need to be sprayed regularly if you want a decent crop of fruit. I hate spraying, so I got rid of my dwarf apple and peach trees long ago. So what’s an easy way to get started? Well, as with all plants, you’ll have much better success if you start with good soil. When I laid out my new kitchen garden, I didn’t take the time to test and amend the existing soil – I simply ordered a topsoil/compost mix and started fresh. The soil was lovely, |
well-draining and super easy to work. It also had few weed seeds in it, which made life very easy the first year. Oh, and by the way, you don’t need to grow vegetables and herbs in separate beds – you can mix them in with flowers, shrubs and bulbs, and most do quite well in containers. To save money, I often start from seed, sometimes indoors to get an early start on tomatoes, but some years I wait until I can plant directly outside. All that means is that the plants will bear a little later. Of course you can buy started plants as well, especially if you only want a few.
Vegetables and herbs that I grow from seed and have found to be no maintenance are tomatoes, cucumbers, sugar snaps and bush beans, lettuce & spinach, hot peppers, scallions, basil, dill, chives, cilantro, parsley. I love zucchini, and always grow them from seed. Since the plants always bear much more than I can eat myself, even losing a plant or two prematurely to bugs is no big deal. I’ve also tried things like eggplant, but personally didn’t have much luck.
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Edible Gardening
As for fruit, strawberries and blueberries are fool-proof and haven’t required any attention, except to remove the excess strawberry runners and share with friends – such abundance! Dwarf blueberry shrubs are readily available now if you have modest space, and it’s recommended that two different species be planted for cross-pollination. Ironically, I learned I didn’t need to do a second shrub here because there were so many native blueberry shrubs in the woods nearby! The only extra chore with blueberries is to add some aluminium sulphate when planting to modify the soil pH. Other berries like raspberries and grapes are yummy, but require extra staking and annual pruning, etc. so aren’t a good choice for “low maintenance”. Remember that in gardening there really are no “rules”. What’s important is that you allow yourself to be creative and grow what you like, using methods that make sense to you. Kitchen gardens need not be boring rows that look like dead zones in the winter. Consider a simple layout in the Williamsburg style and include flowers and even small shrubs to attract the good pollinators and bring a smile to your face. See the photo of a simple kitchen garden to get the basic idea. |
