Winter may still be hard upon us, but spring is getting closer with each mild day.
Your task now is to choose your garden plot - or your pots, containers, buckets, or wherever you are going to grow. There are lots of options. Furthermore, small is good: a few big pots or a planting container can make a great garden.
Maybe you already have a place, or maybe you already have a place in mind. Still, it might be worth giving it another think.
By the way, despite the weather, make sure to go out and actually look at the spot while you are thinking about it. It's much easier to visualize things if you are right there. If the spot is still completely buried in snow, it might be a good idea to take a snow shovel or something and clear it a bit, so you can see.
When it comes to choosing a spot, here are the key points, in order of importance:
1. Keep it small! Keep it small! Keep it small!
We're aiming for total manageability, and zero intimidation/procrastination. So how small is small? I suggest trying for something like 1 metre by 1 meter, or maybe 1 metre by 2 metres.
That probably sounds pretty small. But you can actually grow quite a lot in that, and it will be way better to do a small patch successfully than to have trouble keeping up with a larger patch and then get discouraged. Unless you have a lot of time and you are a really good follow-through person, you probably don't need to go any bigger than that your first time around.
But you could go even smaller. One or two deep pots or buckets, or one deep planter, or one sunny corner of your flower bed - a little spot can be fun and easy.
To me, small, intense, organic vegetable gardens are the most beautiful gardens of all, a profound alignment of human thought and effort with the complex natural systems to which we belong.
2. Lots of sun is important.
When you're thinking about where to plant, think about how the sun moves during the day and as the seasons change. (But remember, as you look now, that the sun will be much higher in a few months.)
Most vegetables will do fine as long they get at least 4 or 5 hours of full (unshaded) sun between 10 am and 4 pm. More is better, but that is usually enough. Note that sunshine early or late in the day is not as powerful.
You can get clever with some things: for example, spring greens can be planted early and start growing before the leaves are on the trees, and once established will do fine in a spot that gets somewhat less sun after the leaves come on the trees.
Also remember that on the Toronto street plan, an "east" exposure is really north-east, and so an east balcony won't get very much sun - though people sometimes make it work. A Toronto "west" exposure is really south-west, and will be just fine for growing - but you'll have to keep up on the watering, because it gets very hot on that side: pots and containers in particular will dry out very fast.
3. Grow your garden close at hand.
The best place to grow is somewhere you will see, be in, or pass by often. This has two benefits. Your garden stays present in mind because you see it all the time, so you remember to do the watering, weeding, or whatever needs to be done next. And you also get more pleasure and satisfaction because you notice it more.
It's really, really worth doing a little extra work at the beginning to make this principle work for you. For example, if you are growing on a balcony, try to position the plants so they'll be very visible from where you sit inside. Raise them up on crates or bricks if that helps. If you live in a house, consider planting your vegetables in the front landscaping that you pass by whenever you come and go, instead of in the back garden (if you don't use the back very much). These days, chard in the landscaping is all the rage, so you can be both convenient and stylish that way.
4. Climbing room for vine plants is ideal.
Peas, climbing beans, tomatoes and cucumbers, among others, need to be or do best grown as vines on tall supports. Growing against a south-facing or west-facing wall or tall fence will be great, if you have that option. Otherwise, to grow climbers you will need to provide some structure for them to climb, and it needs to be tall and somewhat strong and stable, so it doesn't fall over in a wind or just from the weight of the plants (which get pretty heavy as they grow).
5. Containers or pots should be deep and wide, and must have drainage holes.
This is one aspect in which bigger is actually better. Soil in bigger containers will dry out much more slowly than small ones, and will go through less extreme heat fluctuations as well. And depth is also important, so that deep-rooted plants have lots of room to expand their root systems. Big, foodsafe plastic buckets are a good size and material, but lots of other things will do fine - commercial pots, or whatever you think is good. (But toxic materials: not so good!)
No matter what you use, drainage holes in the bottom are necessary to avoid drowning or rotting your plants' roots. You will probably need to put your own holes in containers that aren't already meant for growing plants in.
Drainage also means you will need some kind of underlying dish or outer pot to capture runoff, if you need to keep your growing area dry, neat, or picturesque. Actually, an outer pot is good for another reason: it's an extra buffer to reduce extreme summer heat that will stress your plants and dry out the soil fast.
6. Easy Access
Accessibility really matters. I mean, it really matters. You need to be able to reach all parts of the garden without straining too much, or you'll seize up your back, neck, or hips - and that will probably be the end of your garden!
You also need to be able to reach only from the edges without stepping on the dirt. Compacted soil is very poor for growing in, so try never to step on your planting dirt, even out of season.
Typically for garden patches, this means they can't be bigger than 3 or 4 feet in any direction, with access from all sides so you can reach the whole patch easily. In a larger garden area, you put pathways in to make a number of smaller patches. But if you are following principle number 1 above, you are keeping it small, so that won't be necessary.
7. Preparing new ground is the hardest work.
One last issue might be considering the work to prepare new ground. If you're thinking of turning some existing lawn or a heavily overgrown area that hasn't been gardened recently into a garden patch, that's probably going to be some hard work with a shovel.
If you have an easier option, maybe that's better. Still, if you are following principle number 1 and keeping things small, it won't be too bad, as long as you are physically capable of some hard digging - or you have an able and willing helper for that part.
A Note About Soil Quality
Generally, I wouldn't worry too much about soil quality. Gardening books will often talk about soil quality and soil testing. But soil is easy to improve on a small scale - another advantage of keeping it small. (Not so easy on a huge farm.) Using lots of compost is the main thing. I'll talk about a few things that help improve soil, especially in the long term, when we get to the soil preparation step.
However, do make sure your soil is not outright poisonous. Plants are what they eat, too. If you're on old industrial land, this is an important point. Toronto has some very contaminated old industrial areas. If you're in doubt about your location, I recommend growing your vegetables in containers with organic soil you buy. Or get your soil tested in that case, if you want to know for sure.
Summing it all up, in order of importance:
- Keep it small!
- Lots of sun.
- Close at hand.
- Vine plants need climbing room (tomatoes, beans, peas).
- Containers or pots should be deep and wide.
- Easy access to work on all parts of the garden.
- Creating a brand new garden patch is hard shovel work.
So now go ahead and choose your plot.
And remember, most of all, keep it small! If that drives you crazy, I promise to let you have more next year. Fair?
Next week we'll go through choosing your vegetables and planning the layout.
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