THE FARM - HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

 

In the uprising of homesteads all across the country (I live in the US) as well as elsewhere in the world, people are making choices. They are choosing to make use of the acreage, yard, or balcony they have or joining the land-grab of the 2020s. A number of homesteaders who have been vlogging on You Tube for years have become the new virtual rockstars and are pouring out content like mad. They host or appear at one of the handful of national homestead conferences and many regional ones. Some of them are moving, buying larger properties, with dreams to be able to accommodate larger or more farm animals and perhaps even eke out a life as family farmers. And through the miracle of the internet, they are taking us with them - teaching us, inspiring us.

Global governments and corporations look for ways to shut this movement down by paying farmers outright to not grow crops for a year (yes, it happened in my county), culling poultry flocks, declaring it illegal in some cities and suburbs to grow food (and fining people who do), and preventing online teaching of livestock farming skills. But their nefarious ways of creating a "vision" of food shortages and thus availability ONLY through government and corporate production and provision are motivating more and more people to look for land and ways to ensure food security for their families.

As the big names in the homestead movement grew to inspire millions of viewers, hundreds of "little guys" were already online sharing recipes, food preservation methods, and gardens. Gardens everywhere, in every state and country.

The garden has become a hot commodity.

Gardens of every variety and food growing on every type of land, in every climate, in all types of containers are the new "in" thing to research as people realize history may have something to teach us about the opposition of governments and self-determination. In the search for gardening inspiration and advice, I found dozens of types of gardens to meet the variety of needs concerning the gardener's climate, landscape, soil type, food philosophies, and land availability.

• thrift garden
• herb garden
• kitchen garden
• victory garden
• medicinal garden
• crop garden
  
• hugelkultur garden
• Ruth Stout no-till garden
• balcony garden
• winter hoop tunnel garden
• raised bed garden
• container garden
• permaculture garden
• food forest garden
• forage garden
• cottage garden
• flower garden
• hydroponics garden
• indoor garden
• greenhouse garden
• community garden
• vegetable garden
• xeriscape garden
• vertical garden
• tea garden
• school garden
• windowsill garden
• and - the orchard
  

 

Thrift and victory gardens can be located firmly in the 1930s and 40s. These were devised and promoted by governments and county extension offices to address farm closures, food shortages, rationing, unemployment, and homelessness.

The kitchen, herb, and vegetable gardens are generally what most people recognize for growing food and most of the other terms simply describe where or by what technique that food is grown. 

The crop garden is really the most ambitious of the home garden, implying a step toward producing all or nearly all of the family's produce needs. The crop garden is generally tilled into a larger area of land or planted into a built-up area, soil amended and prepped with compost and made rich and ready for planting. 

The Turkish rocket center leaf was eaten away by snails. The collar, made from a 1 litre plastic bottle has saved my garden.

 

I am considered a plant killer in my family. When a housemate gave me a houseplant for my birthday several years ago, my daughter shamelessly laughed out loud.  

The last three years of gardening cultivated, traditional foods were disastrous. And expensive. And unproductive. And frustrating. Mostly I despise that it was so wasteful. Where was all this glorious food? Seeds, sun (sort of - we're rather wooded), water, soil. Check, check, check, check. Bugs, snails, weeds....Check, check, check.

What I love about the list of garden types above is as it turns gardening into a kaleidoscope of possibilities. I was gardening the right way but not for my trash land, full of rock, and not enough sun. Now I can point to my garden areas and name them. That's the medicinal and native prairie wildflower garden. There are all the roots and tubers in the hugelkultur mounds and beds. Along those fences are the berry bushes. Under those trees are patches of spreading wild edible plants, like nettle and hoary cress, ramps and wild ginger. And in the fenced area here are the starts, complete with DIY snail collars because that's the only sunny (enough) area we have and the only way I'm going to keep them alive long enough for them to grow up and fulfill their destinies. That was the hardest one to figure out. Part conventional garden and part wild edibles, it serves as the nursery as well as the garden. 

 Permaculture/food forest garden

How does my garden grow? I have a mish-mash of herb, kitchen, medicinal, forage, food forest, raised beds, vertical, no-till, and winter hoop tunnel gardens. It's about "How can I?" rather than throwing in the towel screaming "It can't be done!". It's a bit wild and a bit normal and a lot of that's okay as long as we eat. And I think that's where any garden is supposed to take us.

How does your garden grow?