Growing an organic garden

[Rawkinlocs]

Greetings all,

My family and I are moving back to Washington (state) in July (YAAAYY!) and my husband and I had discussed growing our own organic garden and quite possibly fruit trees once we have been there about a year and gotten a home, etc.

My question is, when attempting to plant an organic garden, do we HAVE to buy packaged seeds or could we start something from the seeds of foods we eat? Like, could we take the seeds inside of a red bell pepper and plant them? Is there something special we'd have to do TO the seeds first, etc.?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer!

[Ireland]

Hi Rawkinlocs;

I'm far from an expert, but I do know everything I've read points to using organic seed. You want to make sure they're not genetially modified and to me, that would be the only way you COULD make sure.

Just a thought.

Oh, and congratulations on your move, Washington is BEAUTIFUL!!!

[sweetgoddess]

Yah Cherie! This is the BEST gardening environment I have ever lived in.

A lot of hybridized fruits and veggies--their seeds wont grow. And if they did, you might not want them to as they would not produce good plants.
Hybridized means the first generation of a cross between two inbred lines.There are hybrids of ( F1)cross-pollinated as well as of self-pollinated plants. These produce vigorous, high-yielding, pest-resistant plants with high-quality flowers, fruits or roots. The seeds you purchase and plant will produce plants true to type, but their offspring won't. Seeds saved from an F1 hybrid plant will be the next (F2) generation and will very likely produce plants inferior to the parent. Do not waste your time saving the seeds from hybrid
It is recommended to only save seeds from open pollinated varieties of plants.

Personally, I would start out buying organic seeds ( Territorial Seed Company sells seeds that they test in our climate-great place to buy from and lots of organic) and then save the seeds from those establlished plants. So after your first season, you would have your own seeds.

You will need a book on seed-saving because all plants are different and there are guidelines you must follow when planting.
For example, broccoli is cross-pollinated ( as are most cole crops) . If you plant 2 varieties of broccoli within 200 yards of each other, they will cross-pollinate and you will end up with a hybrydized plant. So if you want to save the seeds, you have to plant different varieties of broccoli at least 200 yards apart from each other.

It sounds involved, but its really not. One good book would help you. It's quite easy to figure out--and you can always just plant one variety of any breed and not have to worry about pollination and distance!

Oh, also, seeds that say biodynamic instead of organic are great also.
Seed packets will have codes on them letting you know all this!

Also heres a great link :http://www.seedsave.org/
Beware of the giant slugs haha ! ;)

Warmly
Carmel

[Sparkle]

What a great question and thread. I've lived in WA for 3.5 years. I've had a garden for 2 years and am anxiously waiting to start a new garden. This year I'm trying square foot gardening in raised beds. It will be organic and easy to manage. I can't wait!

I've ordered heirlooms seeds from an online source. With proper storage and using the square foot method that doesn't involve overplanting and thinning - my seeds should last me at least 5 years. That's a pretty good investment.

Good luck on your move and garden!

p.s. I wish I could convince my DH to buy some fruit trees. He just sees the mess involved with leaves and fruit droppings. *pout*

[Rawkinlocs]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions as well as the well-wishes on our upcoming move!

I will "chew on" what you all have said and check out the link provided by SweetGoddess. I can already tell that gardening is gonna be more than a notion and I'm not sure I'm up for it NOW, but hopefully by then, my mindset will be different. I just know that I want my family to eventually eat ALL organically grown vegetation, but it's just too costly to buy for our sized family...so I guess the next best thing is to grow our own, as much as we can.

Thanks again!

[JustMe]

Sparkle,

I just bought a book on square foot gardening! I was wondering if you know it would be just as good to buy plastic containers and divide them instead of building a big square out of wood, etc.? I think it should work just as well. What are your thoughts or the source you use? Thanks!!

[VeganVixen]

I like seeds of change organic seeds,I recently got baby corn ,spinach,and black paste tomatoes-cant wait for them to grow!!!Also my fav. gardening book is ......
Organic Gardening for Dummies (lol,its REALLY good though)

[sweetgoddess]

I love ordering from Seeds of Change also! Wonderful company.

Last year I tried square foot gardening. It was interesting. Not much stays in a squarefoot I discovered, constantly clipping things down to stay in their allotted space.

[VeganVixen]

lol that sounds funny-I can just see you saying "you stay right there" or "dont think about breaking into this square buddy"

[rawpriestess]

My hubby grows many organic gardens, fruit trees, veggies, herbs etc.

Do NOT plant in plastic containers, as the plastic is very bad for plants, if you put worms in plastic they will die, so you can tell it is bad stuff. You can't use metal either as it will leach metals into your food.

The best thing is stone as we use, raise stone gardens, or you can use wood, although you don't want any kind of treated wood, or scent wood, such as pine, or fir, or cedar. Any wood with scented oils can change the taste of your foods, that is why we use stone.

We save seeds from year to year, my hubby also rotates his plants. He actually teaches an organic gardening course, where he tells what to plant the year after you plant any certain kind of plant. It takes four years before he plants the same plant back where it was.

He uses no fertilizers or pesticides, he simply plants crystals under each plant, and that is what makes them grow. And no bugs, no diseases, no pests not even birds at all.

He is a High Priest Wizard, so he knows about alot of nature and plants etc.

[Rawkinlocs]

Ooo, sounds good RawPriestess, thanks! I would be interested in his class once we arrive in WA and get to the point of doing our own gardening!

[RawTruth]

I just bought a book on square foot gardening! I was wondering if you know it would be just as good to buy plastic containers and divide them instead of building a big square out of wood, etc.?

Mel Bartholomew's book is great but quite dated. Check out his website for how he's evolved and modified his original work. I like how he's established a foundation to teach this intensive, highly productive method to farmers in impoverished countries.

I've never before found anyone who hasn't achieved the goals he sets out (sorry, RP!).

The Square Foot Gardening Website

Rawkinlocs, when I bought this house 5-1/2 yrs ago, I decided that, if I was going to plant trees -- which I definitely wanted to do -- it would be a waste for them not to be fruit trees. So, that's what I did. I have fig, peach, apricot, persimmon, and cherry (though I'd lacked a male tree until now), and also planted berry vines, but they haven't fared well. My neighbor has an apple tree which is available for the picking, and my other neighbor has phenomenal white figs -- they're they most succulent fruit ever. Pale green on the outside and pink-to-purple on the inside and big enough to fit into my cupped palm. I say -- definitely plant fruit trees. I know the climate will necessitate different types than down here, but ... there's little more exciting for kids than picking their own food. (Oh, yeah, I forgot the dwarf lemon and orange ... and my husband planted a grape vine.)

[Revvell]

...don't have much space for planting anything ~ that's not overrun with the landlady's stuff (not to mention POOOL!), we are using Earth Boxes which we used last year living in a one-bedroom apartment. One thing I found last year is ~ give cucumbers some room. They take over the EVERYthing!!!


Also, you might check to see if your city offers free composting boxes. Ours does if one takes a 1-hour class. They have one type for folk who live in apartments and another for those who live in houses.

Cherie, best of times for you during and after you move!!!

Injoy ~

Revvell

[Rawkinlocs]

Thanks for this info RawTruth and Revvell! I'll look into those options as well.

I don't know...part of me is like, "Geez, don't feel like I'm really cut out for growing my own." But I feel ike I'll need to do so eventually. I guess I've just gotten spoiled and lazy 'cause this seems like a LOT of work!

[sweetgoddess]

Cherie, if you dont want to grow your own you can join a CSA. ( community supported agriculture) where you purchase a share from a farm. Generally you get a box of produce ( veggies/fruit) every week fresh from the farm gardens, often times delivered to your doorfor around $25 a week. Yum. Just another option.

And this only seems like a lot of work because you are not actually experiencing it yet. It's not! Its just not familiar at this point, thats all. :)