Dr Holly’s Grow Your Own Food Tips Sept 2nd, 2020
Last Update: September 2, 2020 at 12:09 pm
Dr Holly’s Grow Your Own Food Tips Sept 2nd, 2020
by Dr Holly
heard Wednesdays at Noon PST on News for the Soul
There are a lot of really good sites for growing vegetable & berry gardens, fruit trees,
herbs etc. you can plug in how to grow – almost any vegetable and find a number of
sites. Whether to grow in a yard, raised bed, container, hothouse, inside – any season
of the year. Start out with the easy grow ones and develop your garden. But make use
of all the sites online. Just be attentive to watch for the area – northern vs southern
hemisphere. Warmer versus cooler climates. Rainy versus drought areas, etc. each has
their benefits and different foods obviously grow better in different environments.
https://www.westcoastseeds.com/
https://www.westcoastseeds.com/blogs/garden-wisdom/seeds-to-sow-mid-august
www.awaytogarden.com
www.yougrowgirl.com
www.smartgardener.com
www.thetastefulgarden.com
www.gardeningknowhow.com
www.rodalesorganiclife.com : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnOVgo5FW-
WBYLGcmYjy38w
www.betterhomes&gardens.com : www.bhg.com/gardening
What we will look at:
1) How to prepare soils
2) What to grow when and where
3) What likes to grow with what – or not
4) What to spray and when to protect and nourish the gardens
5) When to prune and how
6) How to harvest produce
7) How to collect seeds for next year
Preparing and understanding soils:
Always look online to see what kind of soils your plants require. Think about it. When we
talk about our bodies and health – the environment is hugely important. Whether we are
looking at the pH (alkalinity or acidity); whether we are looking at the nutrient availability
– to support the immune system or to produce flowers, produce and seeds; whether we
are looking at the elimination aka drainage for plants; etc. Well the same is true for
plants. Different plants require different types of environments. So we are not going to
get into great depth but lets look at the basics.
6 types of soils: clay, sandy, silt, peaty, chalky, and loamy
1) Clay: sticky when wet, hard when dry, poor drainage capacity – add well rotted
organic material in the fall and peat in the spring
a. Great for perennials and shrubs: aster, bergamot, fruit trees, ornamentals
2) Sandy: drains easily, dries out fast, warms up quickly in the spring, but requires
organic material for growth – add compost, manure, organic muscles like straw,
dried grass, deciduous leaves
a. Great for bulbs: tulips, hibiscus and vegetable crops like carrots, parsnips,
potatoes, lettuce, strawberries, peppers, corn, squash, tomatoes
3) Silty: feels soft and soapy; holds moisture, rich in nutrients; great if drainage
provided; mix in organic matter to improve drainage
a. Great for shrubs, grasses and perennials and most fruit and vegetables
4) Peaty : darker feels damp and spongy; higher level of acidity which slows down
decomposition – leads to fewer nutrients; heats up quickly during spring; great when
blended with organic matter
a. Great for heather, which hazel, camellia, rhodos, and vegetables like
brassicas (broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens,
kale and turnips) legumes, root crops, and salad crops
5) Chalky: looks like a larger grain with more rocks in it; great for drainage; more
alkaline – can lead to stunted growth or make leaves more yellow looking – which
can be resolved with adding humus or acidity to the soils and a lot of bulky organic
matter
a. great for lilacs, pinks, mock oranges and vegetables like spinach, beets,
sweet corn, cabbage
6) loamy soil: good mix of sand, silt, and clay; fine textured and damp although good
drainage; full of nutrients; warms up quickly in the spring but retains moisture so
doesn’t dry out but needs organic matter regularly
a. great for climbers,
bamboos, perennials, and vegetable and berry crops like
but make sure you rotate crops
Notes to remember:
Most plants want a rick sandy loam – a mixture of all three
Make soils more alkaline by adding lime versus sulfurs make them more acidic
For more nutrients – rather than artificial fertilizers – find an organic farm; or one that
has free run organic chickens, or grass fed cows, or rabbits, or even organically fed
horses – they all provide great nutrients for the vegetables
In the fall, replenish your soils with legumes, buckwheat, or clover – which help to
“fix” nitrogen into the soil – these are called cover crops. They go to seed and break
down quickly
If you compost your left overs from the kitchen, in the fall lay a layer of composting,
then a layer of leaves from the fall droppings; then a layer of organic manure – each
layer helps the prior layer to compost effectively for the spring
I make a chart of what I plant where each year – crop rotation is great for soils and
particularly important for some vegetables like cabbage
One thing I do periodically is dissolve Himalayan salt or sea salt in water (1 tbsp to 1
gallon of water) and then sprinkle it in the garden – salts can dehydrate plants; but
the minerals are great for the soils if used sparingly. In addition, if too much it can kill
helpful bacteria and microbes.
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/know-your-garden-soil-how-to-make-the-most-of-your-soil-type/