Start your own garden
Creating your own productive and beautiful garden is a way of not only reducing your negative impact but a way of making the world a better place, to be a positive force, literally! If you have access to a garden or lawn where you live then congratulations, but you should not have to own land to feel a sense of responsibility and entitlement to it. Wherever you live you can find a way to garden! To take public lawns and unutilized areas and turn them into something beautiful and useful is probably the easiest and most effective way we as individuals can change the course of society in a sustainable direction! So how do you do it? Here is how and it's not hard if you let nature do its thing…
Step by step...
Observe and plan...
A good way to begin your path as a gardener is to make a plan of your coming garden. How will it look when it is finished? How big will it be at the beginning? What and how much material will you need? What plants do you want?Where does the wind com from? How does the sun move? Don't be afraid to start quite big if possible. A common advice is to start small, and while that can be smart it is also much more rewarding to get a full box of carrots or a couple of jars of tomato sauce from your harvest rather than slicing your one tomato in small pieces to share. Start as big as you can manage! When planting your annuals you can experiment a bit but if you want to plant perennials like trees or bushes you should consider their placing a bit more in you design.
Aerate the soil...
In this suggestion of how to create the growing beds, step one is to aerate the soil with a fork. This is an easy way of preparing the soil without to much work and without killing the microlife in the soil by digging around with a shovel.Just stomp the fork into the ground an "puff up" the soil without turning it!
Fertilize?
Spread some manure on the ground if you have any. If you don't have any you can create a fertile soil over time. A great way is to invest in a Bokashi compost. With it you can easily compost kitchen “waste” through a process of fermentation and create beautiful soil! You will never consider kitchen scraps as waste again!
Cardboard?
Next is to cover the ground with cardboard or newspapers.This is to kill of weeds in the soil. You don't necessarily need this step if you do the next step properly and the ground isn't to infested with powerful plants.
Cover the soil with mulch...
Now you must cover the area with organic materials, like leaves, cut grass, straw or hay. This step is very important, the layer of mulch will minimize the weeds in your garden, keep the soil moist so you can water less, keep the soil at a steady temperature, create a nice home for good bacteria and worms and create new fertile soil as it breaks down.
Sow, Plant and Enjoy!
What you have done so far is to create a nice enviroment for the life in the soil, Worms and bacteria will be multiplying, Fungi will thrive and so will your plants! One could argue that as a gardener you dont grow food but rather you create good soil, the enviroment for food to happen. From March to June you can precultivate your plants and just put them into the ground when the risk for frost is gone. Move the mulch a bit and then cover up the ground around your plants again. This will keep their roots moist and at a steady temparature. And do not forget to enjoy you harvest, there is nothing like it!