The Goal is to grow your own food. The Goal is to relax in the Garden.

The Goal is to grow your own food

The Goal is to relax in the Garden

The Goal is to enjoy how it looks

Get creative

Annuals are okayIt is fun to have silly flowers

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN AHEAD

•Understand your site•Lifestyle•Needs•What food has value for you•Reality•Cycles of crops

Understand your site

• Do a site Map• Learn what your soil is and what has been

applied to the soil• Chemical applications ie: roundup, Preen, Crossbow

• Know where animals interact and use the yard• Dogs• Cats • Squirrels• Chickens

SITE ANALYSIS• Sun /shade• Wind• Soil • Hardscapes• Trees • Neighbor ‘s trees • Flow: access pointsTo harvest

Do a soils test

• Learn what type of soil you are dealing with• What it needs to be feed

• Calcium/lime

GENERAL RULES#1 COMPOST, COMPOST, COMPOST#2 ORGANIC FERTILIZER

KEY STEPS TO GOOD SOIL PREP

• AMEND SOILS WITH CLEAN COMPOST

• GOOD SOIL INTERGRATION• SHEET MULCHING for Bed

preparation = Less labor

SHEET MULCHING

Bed Prep with Lasagna Gardening

• Here are the layers• Ground layer• Cut pieces 3”-8” long lay on top• Then apply a straw layer 2”-3” thick• Soil or compost 1” thick• Repeat step 2-4 one more time• Then apply coffee bean bags, weed fabric

or straw to protect the soil.• Or plant winter crops right on it.• Notes:• If applying winter crop sprinkle the seed

as even as possible on top of soil and layer straw as the erosion control

• If planting starts plant right into the layers.• DONOT put blackberry cuttings or Ivy in

Lasagna gardening.

Lifestyle and Needs

• Do you travel a lot• Do you entertain alot• Do you need an irrigation system• Do you need a garden coach/ assistant • Lawn space• Patio or Deck• Animal corridors

Lifestyle and Needs

Lifestyle and needs

What food has value to you& the reality of growing it

• What foods do you eat a lot of

• How long does it take for that edible to get to harvest

• Do you have space for all the food you want to grow

• Make a list of what you want to grow and seeding

BED CARE

MULCH,MULCH,MULCH

• MULCH

• MULCH

•MULCH

•MULCH

•MULCH

USE YOUR LEAVES AS MULCH

• Is it a weed• Is it a slug• Is it a bug• Is it a worm• Is it a pathogen/disease

KNOW THY PEST

KNOW THY WEED

HAIRY BITTERCRESS/ WINTERCRESS• Annual weed• Flowers in the winter

with seed heads at the same time, YIKES

• Does have a tap root• Edible• Hand weed• Sheet mulch

Annie Bamberger

[email protected]