Comic Book Guide to Growing Food

Source: My personal notes on The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food: Step-by-Step Vegetable Gardening for Everyone: Tychonievich, Joseph, Kozik, Liz Anna: 9781984857262: Books - Amazon.ca

1 Location

• Planting methods are diverse:

  • Containers
    • Small plants: herbs, dwarf plants
    • Greens: kale, swiss chard
  • Raised beds
  • Rows

• Sunlight

  • Rule of thumb: 6 hours direct sunlight a day, check direction of sun
    • Hot locations like desert can do with less
    • Cool climates need more
    • Some vegetables and herbs can tolerate shade
  • Mark out the garden and check the sunlight at different times of day

• Start small, have fun? then make it bigger, too much work, make it smaller

• Other ideas: community, shared, or friends’ gardens

2 Deciding What to Grow

• Choose your favourites but easy and good for the climate - check resources
  • Example easy to grow: green beans, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, kale, swiss chard, cucumbers
• Always add herbs and flowers to support bees, butterflies for pollination and decoration
  • Herbs: parsley, thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, chives, mint

3 When to do What

• Check planting time due to climate like sun and frost
• Check local spring frost date and cold tolerance for planting times - see online planting calendars

4 Soil Testing and Fertilizing

• Test soil to determine fertilizer use, also check for lead in older land
  • Choose fertilizer close to the nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium ration recommended by the soil test and/or use a fertilizer calculator
• If there is an issue, grow in shared garden or containers or plant flowers
• Check soil every 3-5 years, apply fertilizer before planting

5 Preparing the Space

• Drainage:
  • Gravel mixed with soil
• Raised bed and containers advantages
  • Clean soil, prevent weeds, good drainage
  • Build wood planks, metal braces, soil, mulch to cover beds, gravel (cover garden paths) and cardboard (cover existing ground)
  • Mulch conserves water, stops weeds, keeps soil cool, and keeps dirt off plants
    • Types of mulch vary from wheat, shredded leaves, bark, wood chips, and mixed

6 Getting Plans

• When getting plants, due to root growth the plant should be about the same size as the pot it is growing in
• Best to choose specialty garden stores, other options on big box stores, farmers markets, and online
• Avoid:
  • Diseased leaves
  • Insects
  • Weeds
  • Long stem growth
• Check which plants are better to transplant and which are better to grow as seeds

7 Planting

Planting:

• Spacing: Leave room between plants for when plant matures
• Proper depth
• Prune roots so they can grow out, especially if too many roots visible, don’t leave them in the potted state
• Watering: water with light spray after planting to settle plant

Seed planting:

• Pull mulch off soil
• Small hole with depth per seed information
• Plant multiple ones in case some don’t germinate
• Water
• Wait 1-2 weeks
• Remove extra leaves from extra germinated seeds
• Restore mulch around base of seedling

8 Maintaining and Troubleshooting

• Inspect for insects, check if good or bad, inspect leaves for damage
  • Image search or check pest of “name of plant”
• Watering:
  • Test soil with finger 1-2 inches deep
    • If dry - water
    • If damp
      • Water if not recently watered in last week
      • Water if in plant container
      • Do not water if plant not in container
    • If wet - do not water
• Weeding
  • Weeds should be growing in areas outside of planting rows and rest of garden area, pull those
  • Mulch back exposed areas
• Remove diseased or dying plants

9 Harvesting

Check schedules and look of plants

10 Celebration

• Eat vegetables or use flowers
• Freeze, pickle, or share extras with others
  • Freezing herbs and vegetables can last up to a year. Defrost overnight and use next day.