Organic Gardening–My Family’s New Hobby March 22, 2010

One garden plot

My husband was so excited by our tiny little vegetable garden last summer, that he was inspired to think bigger. He came up with the idea, and gently coaxed me to get on board with a larger organic garden.  I’m very proud of  his idea and it makes me giggle a bit, mostly because I’m the Naturopathic Doctor and usually think more “organically”.  One of the main reasons for growing our own food is a goal of eating “clean and more nutrient-rich” food.  Surprisingly, the Pacific Northwest has pretty poor soil, so we have to do a lot of extra work to make the soil ready to produce nutrient-rich food.  Becuase of the abundance of rain in the NW, this tends to wash away all of the nutrients in the soil.  The food we are going to produce is technically organic (not certifiable yet) and should be better than the vegetables you can pick up from a local grocery store.  Here’s some reasons to eat out of your own garden:  Fresh fruits and vegetables, no trasnport time, more nutrient-rich, and the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve grown your own food!

In 2009, our garden produced small pumpkins, cucumbers, sunflowers, and about 10 pieces of good lettuce. This year, we are adding potatoes, green beans, arugula, carrots, scallions, romaine, broccoli, dill, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, celery, garlic, zucchini, squash, and Walla Walla onions.

Last September, we did a load of back-breaking work to create 8 garden plots measuring 8 feet by 4 feet. Our yard has very poor soil, or should I say clay. In order to have garden plots that would produce good vegetables, we had to dig out all of the clay and rocks and replace it with garden soil, compost, and nutrients. Trust me when I tell you that it was HARD work!

Our 8 garden plots

At our current stage in the process, we’ve started some vegetable seeds in peat pots in our garage. Seeds need a specific temperature/environment in order to sprout and then be transplanted into the ground.  We intend to transplant those pots after the last frost (according to the almanac, it’s April 15th).  Starting vegetables inside before the frost has the main purpose of giving some vegetables extra time to grow. For example, celery needs 110 days to grow after being trasnplanted outside.  The vegetables that don’t need to be started indoors include pumpkins, cucumbers, potatoes, garlic, onions, sunflowers, and herbs.

Our starter pots in the garage

My goal is to blog about the steps involved and our progress on the garden.  If you have any questions, comments, or tips, please don’t hesitate to speak up.  Don’t be surprised if you see our “extra” vegetables being sold in the office this summer!  YUM!

My boys--preparing a part of the garden