Gardening for resilience
If you’ve ever tried to grow a garden, you’ll know that your first efforts are seldom as successful as you’d hope. Conditions are seldom ideal, no matter how carefully you plan. You will mess up seemingly simple things; even experts do. However, there are ways to approach gardening that will improve your ability to weather those mistakes.
We’ve learned a lot from failures since we started our farm. Going into the garden with a sense of patience and humility is crucial. And in that spirit of humility, let me tell you about the biggest things we’ve messed up, and how I would do things differently.
Good soil is crucial
Dirt is dirt, right? Sadly, no. Our farm is on a southward facing slope, which is great for getting sun exposure, but it’s also a nightmare for holding onto water and nutrients. The soil was as impermeable to water as asphalt when we started. If I had it to do over again, I’d have spent that first year amending the heck out of the soil.
Healthy soil makes the difference between having plants that struggle and suffer or having ones that can shrug off a little drought or pest and disease pressure. Plants need soil with adequate nutrients. You can buy compost and soil for raised beds/container gardens, or you can gather cheap/free local resources to make your own soil amendments.
Our favorite ways to get organic matter is from arborists’ wood chips (not bark mulch!), autumn leaves from our neighbors’ yards, used coffee grounds and well-aged manure from local farms. Chipdrop and NextDoor are the sites where we got connected with the soil amendments that saved our sanity.
Choose some plants for quick wins
When we first started, we tried to do everything all at once, as if our plants were all going to be productive in the first year. Oh, we were so innocent and hopeful then! With that magical time-machine that would allow me to re-do our first season, I’d also plant a few things that would be productive right away.
Grab something quick like an herb garden, a planted lettuce bowl, or a strawberry planter from your local gardening center, so you can get those first nibbles right away. There’s a psychological factor to getting an immediate reward that will help you be more resilient in the face of inevitable garden setbacks.
Look for what grows well in your area
Not all plants grow well everywhere. Some of the things that struggle in your climate might surprise you. It certainly did me! Like most people, we assumed that all the things that were for sale at our local garden centers grew well in our area, and were suitable to plant as soon as they are available for sale.
Find an expert via your area’s Master Gardener program. They have learned through experience what works well in your area, and when it’s safe to start planting. This will require some planning ahead; certain plants that are considered Spring plants may need to be planted in Fall.
Employ strategic laziness
Gardening is a lot of work. Some of that work is enjoyable and even meditative; some of it is unnecessary and occasionally soul-crushing. It’s entirely possible to shift the work such that you have more time for the enjoyable parts. Enlist plants and animals to help you do your job.
If you want to save seeds from year to year, choose open-pollinated seeds that will breed true, rather than hybrid varieties. Ask your local expert which crops will self-sow in your area, so you don’t have to plant them each year. And as a bonus, each new self-sown generation will become more acclimated to the specific conditions within your garden.
Use 4–6" thick layers of organic mulch — such as wood chips or straw — to maintain soil moisture, minimize weeds and keep soil temperatures more moderate. Consider ways to water more easily and efficiently such as drip irrigation, furrow irrigation, soaker hoses, or ollas.
Encourage wildlife that eats pests, such as predatory insects, frogs, snakes, lizards, and birds. Innoculate your soil with mycelium by using arborists’ wood chips. Keep deer and other herbivores at bay by interplanting with things that have a strong smell, such as herbs, garlic or onions.
Be sure to include long-lived crops such as trees, shrubs, and perennial vegetables that will live for many years. These types of plants only need to be planted once, they get more productive each year, and they typically require less water than annuals.
Grow plants you love to eat
I know it seems obvious to grow things you will actually eat, but there’s more to it than that. Grow things that you love so much that you’ll be excited to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a couple of months a year. Many plants put out their entire harvest within a few weeks a year, so you’ll have a glut of that item followed by many months of waiting before you can enjoy it again.
To even out this ebb and flow, you’re going to want to get good at a couple or more preservation methods. That can include freezing (yes, this is a skill), canning, dehydrating, or fermenting. If you don’t get good at preserving, you will end up wasting most of what you grow.
Even with preserving, you may still end up with too much of some items. I have more zucchini stored in my freezer than I could possibly use in a year. The solution to this is to share the wealth. Most food banks gladly accept donations from gardeners. Please ask before dropping off packages of food with your neighbors, as they may have food allergies or just not want a massive pile of summer squash.
Many cities also have “gleaning projects” (https://nationalgleaningproject.org/gleaning-map/) where a team of volunteers will come to pick the fruit from mature trees. Teams keep a small percentage of the harvest (which is still many, many pounds!) set aside for the homeowner and volunteers, then they donate the rest to food banks.
Whatever happens with our current crisis, I hope that more people take up gardening as a means of self-care and as a way to help improve our environment. I also hope that if this sort of advice can help make early gardening experiences more enjoyable, more people will take this on as a long-term hobby or lifestyle change rather than a stop-gap measure. I want you to love working with plants as much as I do!
