1) Choose what you are going to plant
Flowers?
Vegetables?
Herbs?
It is partly your preference and partly what you have to work with as far as the location you have to work with. Remember: if you want to have a garden you can! There are lots of options. You can get yourself a piece of dirt, if you are not sure where is available ask any of the managers. You can grow things in pots, an option that can work for pretty much anything. And there are those "topsy turvy" things that grow a variety of vegetables upside down.
Once you have found your location/method you will need to see how much sun that area gets. 6+ hours of direct sunlight is considered "full sun"; 3-6 hours "partial sun/shade"; less than 3 is "full shade". Different things grow in different amounts of sun; most of your traditional "garden vegetables" like full sun, while things like lettuce need some shade to do well, and some flowers/foliage only grow in "full shade". To find out if a particular plant can grow in the amount of light that you have you can check: the seed packet/plant ID tag, the information given by an online retailer, or a gardening book that has specifics on different plants (I highly recommend "Square Foot Gardening"). All of these will tell you how much sun and how much space your plant will need.
There are some different rules for the different methods you may choose, excellent information can be found on the internet about all of them, what I know is:
In the Ground-- You will pretty much be working with whatever is there, you can try to add things like compost to it to make it better but this gets costly so is not really worth it if you aren't going to be here for a long time. I like using a fertilizer like miracle grow (read more on that below) to compensate for the less than ideal dirt. You will have weeds, so you need to stay on top of that. The nice thing? The dirt is free!
In a raised bed/pots-- You will need about 6" of depth, in that you can plant just about everything, no need for huge 2' deep pots! You control the "dirt" and have the option of weed free; some potting soils are "irradiated" and all the weed seeds have been killed, others are not. You also have the option of mixing your own, a very good choice is "Mel's Mix" (Mel is the creator of "Square Foot Gardening") which is 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite; it is very light weight-allowing the roots to breathe, holds moisture well, virtually weed free, and needs no additional fertilizing. Downside? Costs a bit more to start up. Official website for square foot gardening with a lot more info:http://www.
Topsy Turvy-- I haven't really worked with those but they look like fun. I am not fond of the look, but if you google it you will find instructions to make a variety of functional, and some very attractive upside down planters.
Watering-- No matter where you put it the plants need water and this is where a lot of us run into trouble :) If you watch your plant you will see when they start to droop, and that usually means "I need Water!", you can also stick your finger in the dirt, if it is dry add water! If you can make it a part of your routine: "when I go out to get my mail I will water my plants" it is much more likely to get done. There are also some simple devices you can make, like an upside-down semi-buried soda bottle with a few small holes to slowly drip water near the roots, that you may also fine helpful.
Starting seeds
I like to start seeds before putting them out in the garden (the exception being root crops like carrots) This can be done between wet paper towels: put desired number of 1 variety of seeds between wet (but not dripping!) paper towels, put the whole thing in a ziplock bag and put it on top of your refrigerator for a few days.
You can also use cardboard egg cartons, these work just like the little jiffy pots but they are free! Fill your egg carton with dirt, put your seeds into the dirt (seeds go down into the dirt 2-4x as deep as they are wide). You can use a spray bottle of water to keep them wet, or set all your egg cartons in a shallow pan (cookie sheet works well) and fill pan with water. Until the seeds all come up you will want to keep them constantly wet, once they come up they won't need to be quite so wet. Keep your egg cartons: out in the sun, OR in a sunny window OR under a "full spectrum" light. Some seeds may take up to two weeks to sprout.
If you plant directly in the ground also be sure to keep your seeds wet until they come up and water regularly after that
Planting plants
Whether you choose to buy plants (remember this will usually be less cost effective than seeds) or you have started your own plants, there are a few things to keep in mind when transferring them to the ground or pot/planter.
1) it is best to avoid a sunny, hot day because these conditions often make the "shock" to the plant worse. Either choose a cool, overcast/rainy day or wait until the evening to plant.
2) if you are removing them from a non-plantable pot (anything plastic, cardboard such as egg cartons you can just plant the whole thing) when you GENTLY remove the plant from the pot you may find that it is "root bound" (the roots have grown so much that they have tied themselves up inside the pot) if this is the case you will want to tear or cut that portion away. It will all be on the outside edges and mostly the bottom, you shouldn't need to tear away much more that 1/4". This will allow the roots to spread out and get the nutrients they need
3) If it is a tomato plant (or something similar) you want to plant about 2/3-3/4 of the plant, this will help it to produce more roots and be stronger. Pinch off all but about the top 4 leaves (not exact a few more are ok) dig a trench and plant the plant on its side, bending the top so it is sticking out of the ground upright.
4)WATER! having plenty of water at first will also help keep the plant from going into deep shock (which can kill it). Just a day or two, especially if you avoid the sun and keep it wet at first and you should have some very happy plants!
Fertilizer
There is a series of three numbers on every package of fertilizer, you may need to check the back of the box to find it.
The numbers indicate the amounts of three different nutrients in the fertilizer. What you need to know is:
The first number is for green leaves-grass, lettuce, spinach, herbs, corn
The second number is for root growth, flowers and "fruit" (includes the veggies too)
The last number is for all around good healthy plants
If you want green, leafy things--choose something that has a larger first number
If you want flowers/fruits--choose a larger middle number
Written by: Toni
