Resources

Books (my favorites):

• Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte
• You Grow Girl by Gayla Trail
• The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch
• The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith

Online:

• Sunset Magazine - great ideas and tips for the region
• Portland Nursery - located here in PDX on Stark
• You Grow Girl Blog - yes, the book is also a blog!
• Metro - your tax dollars pay for them, use them!
• Mother Earth News - magazine as well, they are a bit more "homestead" focused but still great
• Territorial Seed Company - local seed company that has a wonderful selection of seeds that you know will survive in Oregon

Extreme sources:

• Path to Freedom Journal - this family is "urban homesteading" in Pasadena, CA. Fascinating but very might at the far end of the spectrum.

Size Does Matter

This has taken me years to figure out how to plan the size of the garden right, I hope this year I get it right.

Here is what I have learned:
1. Do NOT be fooled by the baby plants, they are all thriving monsters that will grow in places you never imagined.

2. When the seed packet says "plant 12-16 inches apart", listen to them.

3. It is okay to thin out the seeds. Typically you may plant three seeds in one spot and then thin out the "weaker ones". The breaks my heart but if it isn't done none of them will survive and then you just have a weak pathetic garden and that isn't any good.

4. DO NOT underestimate vines in the NW. My zucchini last year was 15 feet long, the green beans grew 10 feet off the ground (hard for picking at 5'4'' tall), and my cucumbers were about 5 feet tall. Make sure you have room for them because if you don't they will just grow wherever they want and then you might have a problem on your hands.

5. Tomatoes are huge, I think most people who grow around here can attest to this. Be prepared for them to be at least 3 feet wide and 5-6 feet tall. They require a lot of room and lots of trellising to keep them upright. They will also produce a ton of fruit if the weather is warm so be ready to harvest 2olbs of tomatoes a day once they start coming in. One year I planted 20 tomato plants; I didn't have a plan for them when they started to ripen and at least half of them went right back into the compost bin before they could get used. The next year I planted 5 plants.

6. If you have a small area to garden find things you can rotate based on season and grow plants that you will love to eat. There is nothing better than walking outside and cutting off a bunch of lettuce from your garden to eat with dinner. Grow your garden the way you would want to eat from it.

7. If you have a huge area and want to grow enough to get you through the winter then plan more strategically. Do you buy a can of tomatoes every week? If so, grow 30 tomato plants and plan on canning the majority of them. Economies of scale can be a great way to plan your garden. Shallots are expensive and easy to grow so they might be worth growing to keep for the year but potatoes are cheap and available year round so they might be worth skipping. This really depends on what foods you eat a lot and how easy they are to come by, preferably from another local source.

8. Lastly, do not forget to plant flowers. Zinnias are my favorite because they are easy and they make great bouquets all summer. It is easy to plant some flowers among your vegetables, especially tall plants like sunflowers. They add a happy colorful face to the otherwise green garden.

Site Conditions

Your garden site will be the success or demise of all of your diligent planning and planting!

SOIL
I am a BIG fan of the raised bed for this reason (and many others) because soil is almost a "non-issue". You can buy a 3-way potting soil for $30.00 a yard at Mt. Scott Fuel Co. and your garden is up and running gangbusters with very little effort on your part (other than building the beds and hauling soil into them).

You can also start a garden right on the ground. There are about a thousand suggestions of how to go about starting this, some say to take a year to get the soil ready (probably the right way) and others can get you up and running in a weekend. If you plant directly into the ground it is advisable to get a soil test to find out what is lacking in your soil that you might want to add. If nothing else add a truckload of compost and your garden will love you.

Then there are pots which you can have all around your house. These work great for plants such as fennel that show up on the companion planting list with no one that likes to be near them. They also work for plants like peppers that need a ton of sun but not a lot of space. Down side of pots is the constant watering they require which can be mitigated if you put in a drip irrigation system or hire a garden gnome to work in your yard.

Don't expect to go to the nursery and buy some tomatoes, dig a hole in the ground, and have them grow. They need love just like the rest of us and with some love they will reward you ten times over.

Rent or Own?

Do you rent or do you own?

If you rent:

1. Pots are fantastic for having a garden - they take up little room and can grow more than you would expect. The downside to pots is the need watering, a lot of watering, so if you go out of town for the weekend plan to have a back up or move them in the shade so they don't wilt.

2. Ask your landlord if you can plant a garden - I have many a friends who rent and have their own little plot of land that they were allowed to garden on, it is Portland after all.

3. Work with the city - Portland Parks and Recreation has community gardens all over the city that you can rent a plot of land in. Be warned though, they are popular and often full so put your name on the list now rather than later. More information here.

If you own:

1. Decide how much time you have and want to invest in gardening - an hour a week or an hour a day can make a big difference in what type of garden you design

2. What kind of garden do you want? Directly on the ground or in raised beds and pots? Of course this also begs the question - do you plan to be in your house for awhile or just a few years? There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that can go into building a garden so if you plan to move in a few years I wouldn't start your urban homestead until you are ready to stay put. I have no idea how a garden affects the saleability of a house but it is something to keep in mind.

3. Watch your yard for awhile. Does a certain area get sun all day and other areas none at all? Does your dog have a special spot they like to go in the yard? How about kids - do you want them in the garden or do they need to be kept out? There are creative ways to work with all types of spaces and lifestyles you just need to think about them first and design for what suits your needs best.

4. How much money do you want to invest? Gardens are lovely and fill our tummies with unbelievably good food all year if you plant them right but they aren't free. They take time and money to keep running.

Companion Planting

Companion planting can be the success of your garden and your ability to use no chemicals for pest control.

Once you know where you are going to plant your garden and what light & soil qualities you have the planning can begin.

Put the plants that need the most sun in the sunniest spot and then work around them. Oregon has too short of a summer to ask the sun lovers to be "part-shade".

I usually graph this out on paper. Create the size of your garden area and then draw out what space a FULL grown plant will need. They are deceivingly small when you plant them as babies, don't be lurred into planting them closer together so your garden bed looks more full it will only plague you in the summer.

Use this spreadsheet as a starter (most of this is from Carrots Love Tomatoes)

Plant Selection

Start with your garden "wish list" and add a few things you have never tried before too!

Here is my wish list this year:

acorn squash

artichokes

arugula

asparagus

beets

broccoli

brussel sprouts

butternut squash

carrots

cascade hops

chard

corn

cucumbers

dry shelling beans

edamame

green beans

howden pumpkins (carving)

kale

leeks

lettuce

onions

peppers

radishes

sml sugar pumpkins

spinach

sugar snap peas

sweet potatoes

tomatoes

zucchini

Seeds vs. Starts

This is extremely dependent on your level of time, commitment and interest. I cannot tell you what is best but I can tell you the pros and cons for you to figure out what might work out best in your circumstance.

Seeds
Pro:

• Inexpensive
• Easy to come by
• Many varieties available that you might not find at your local nursery as a start
• Fun - very rewarding to start a plant from seed and eat from it 4 months later

Con:

• They take up a lot of room in seed trays to get started (at least 1'x2' each)
  
• Need warmth and sun - these are non-negotiables
  
• Require planning; need to start seeds 3-4 weeks before you plan to put them in the ground
• Come in absurd numbers; you might not be planning on planting 100 cucumber plants this year and seeds only store a year or two under good conditions so it might be more wasteful than beneficial

Starts
Pro:

• Already started!
• Usually can go right in the garden when you get them home and with a little TLC and lots of regular watering they will start growing immediately
• Allows smaller purchase quantities; if you only want one basil plant it is a lot easier to get a start than to labor over three seeds for one plant.

Con:

• Expensive. A seed packet of 100 seeds may cost you $2.50. One start will also likely cost about $2.50. Again your garden size matters here more than anything.
• Limited; your nursery will have maybe 4-10 different varieties so your options are fewer than with seeds.