Gardening From Seeds is a Growing Pastime

77 Square ^ | April 24, 2009 | Chris Martell

[Diana in Wisconsin]

It looked like a mad game of Twister in the vegetable seed section at Home Depot on Verona Road last weekend. The arms and legs of strangers criss-crossed as they grabbed seed packets, then paused to read instructions and make decisions.

Among them were Angela and Tim Lucas, of Madison, who gave themselves a roto-tiller for their second wedding anniversary in March.

"We never planted a single thing before, but we think it will be a lot of fun," Angela said. "We love to cook, and we're trying to save money."

It's estimated that for every $100 a homeowner spends on their vegetable garden, they will harvest produce worth between $1,000 and $1,700.

The Lucases got their seed shopping list from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegetable Gardening": artichokes, arugula, asparagus, edamame, eggplant, garlic, herbs, jicama, leeks, lettuce, okra, patty pan squash, poblano chilis, radicchio, Swiss chard, shallots, snow peas, sorrel, specialty potatoes, strawberries, beets, tomatillos, tomatoes.

The gardening business is one of the few bright spots in the economy these days. Major seed companies are seeing major surges in sales of vegetable seeds -- with occasional shortages of certain varieties reported -- as well as gardening paraphernalia.

"There's a renewed interest in vegetable gardening across the board, and seed sales are up substantially," said Karen Johannsen, a co-owner of Johannsen's Greenhouse, of Madison. "We're very optimistic about the spring season."

Johannsen said many customers tell her they've never grown vegetables, and others haven't done it for many years. "Vegetable gardening just fell away for a long time; when I was a kid everyone had a vegetable garden."

In addition to wanting to save money, many are expressing an interest in knowing where their food comes from, and in supporting local businesses like Johannsen's. "People are nesting instead of taking vacations, and gardening is part of that,"

Heirloom vegetables (varieties that are at least 50 years old and not a hybrid) are among the best sellers. "Some hybrids have superior qualities -- they might be larger or disease resistant -- but many of them have also had the flavor bred out of them." They are also looking for organic fertilizers and pesticides. "That's been building for a decade," Johannsen said.

Richard Zondag, president of the Randolph-based Jung Seed Company, said they've sold 3.5 million packages of seeds this year, compared to about 2.75 million last year. Jung's vegetable seed sales are up about 30 percent, while sales of ornamental seeds and bulbs are down at least 15 percent. "Overall, sales are up 20 percent," he said. "We're having a great year. The only time we did this well before was during the Y2K scare when people started growing vegetables because they thought everything in the world was going to pot." In addition to vegetables, Jung's sales are strong for berries and fruit trees.

Both Johannsen and Zondag recommend that newbie vegetable gardeners scale back on their ambitions:

"Start on a smaller scale so you will be success," Johannsen urged.

"Plant about half of what you want to, or you'll get sick of it," Zondag said.

Vegetable gardening tips

• Start small. • Grow your favorites. • Do some research. • Make sure you have room. • Consult other gardeners, especially those who live nearby. • "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegetable Gardening" by Daria Price Bowman and Carl A. Price (Penguin, $16.95) covers just about every aspect of vegetable garden: planning, earth-friendly techniques, soil nourishment, planting seeds and seedlings, growing vegetables, berries, and medicinal herbs, recognizing common plant diseases, identifying and eliminating weeds, pruning and trimming plants, knowing when to harvest, deciding whether to can, dry or freeze. • An excellent website is www.VegetableGardener.com, a sister site to FineCooking.com and developed by the editors of Fine Gardening. Look for advice on how to choose a site, organic gardening and growing specific crops.

You don't need a garden to garden

Anything that can hold a good amount of soil and plants, and allows water to drain out, is suited for container gardening.

Containers can be terra cotta, concrete, plastic, metal, wood, ceramic, wire, watering cans, buckets, old boots -- just about anything. Bigger pots require less watering, while darker colors absorb heat and help plants grow in summer (though warmer containers cause quicker evaporation). A benefit of container gardening is that you can move plants around to see where they do best.

Some herbs, like mint, are invasive and almost impossible to get rid of once they take hold and should only be grown in containers. A windowsill that gets about five or six hours of sunshine a day is a great spot for growing herbs in containers. The best herbs for windowsill gardens are dense an compact: oregano, thyme, mints, rosemary, basil, sage, cilantro, chives, tarragon and lavender all do well in pots. Lettuces also grow well in pots, Bigger vegetables, like squash, do well in large containers like wine barrels, as do strawberries, tomatoes and bell peppers.

Think about what you like to eat before planting. If you like salsa, combine cilantro, garlic, onion, jalapeno and tomatoes in a container. Those who like Italian food can put a tomato plant in the center of a pot and surround it with Italian herbs such as thyme, sage, oregano, parsley and rosemary.

Also suited for containers are edible flowers, like nasturtium, pansies, and marigolds. Medicinal gardens can grow in containers as well: peppermint, Echinacea, calendula, feverfew, St. John's Wort, valerian, dandelion and chamomile.

When watering container gardens, water just enough so that the soil is moist to the touch on the surface and wait to water again until the soil is dry to the touch on the surface, but still moist an inch or so under the surface.

The most efficient way to water a container is to put your containers in a deep dish or tub, fill it up and let the water soak into the plants from the bottom, which will take a few hours. When the soil is moistened thoroughly, pour excess water on the ground. Glass bottle hacks sold at garden stores (glass bulbs with long spikes) are filled with water, then turned upside down so water is released very slowly. You can also use glass bottles from your recycled bin with a set of spikes.

Sources: http://planetgreen.discovery.com; http://home.howstuffworks.com

Getting started

Recommendations for beginning vegetable gardeners:

Bean, Festina: Resistant to Common Bean Mosaic Virus, it's a bushy plant with straight pods about six inches long.

Squash, Park's Straightneck: The slender squash grow about eight inches and have thin skins, with a high yield compared to most other varieties.

Cucumber, Salad Bush Hybrid: These have an improved disease resistance.

Lettuce, Summer Glory Blend: Includes seven heat-tolerant varieties that will produce lettuce most of the growing season.

Basil, Large Leaf Italian: This Genovese-type basil grows 18 to 24 inches high and 12 to 15 inches wide.

Parsley, Italian Plain Leaf: Flat-leafed parsley is much more nutritious than curly. It can been harvested frequently so the plants keep sprouting new stems.

Source: Park Seed Company

Get free plants

Another suggestion for those interested in developing a green thumb and saving money: Get free plants. Check out these sources:

•Freecycle.org, where people often offer excess garden materials, especially if you offer to return a portion of the produce. •Gardening groups who share advice, help and sometimes even plants. •Landscapers: they often know who has extra plants, including vegetables. Ask if you can have plants that would otherwise go to a landfill. •Nurseries: Sometimes they throw away plants that are getting too old or ugly to sell. •Green houses, either commercial or run by schools. Another good place to get throw-aways as they thin out seedlings. •The grocery store: Some vegetables can be started from a portion of the plant itself (potatoes, yams, garlic, ginger, beans, herbs that still have roots). Ask what produce is being throw away and ask to go through it. The same is true of your own kitchen, or those of friends •Compost pile: Seedlings pop up in this fertile material all the time. Relocate them to the garden or containers.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Shameless plug: Dick Zondag is my Boss. He's running the family business his Grandpa started 102 years ago. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

And Karen Johannsen WOULD be my arch-enemy if she wasn’t so darn nice and didn’t know so much, LOL! Our businesses compliment one another very well; we constantly trade customers. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Self-Interest Garden Ping, Please! :)

[Blogger]

I have found those peat pellets are good ways to start the seeds growing. Have some little patio tomato plants started right now.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We sell thousands of those. People really like them for starting tomatoes and peppers. :)

[Arrowhead1952]

Diana, I had to LOL at this:

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening”

Growing up on a farm in the 50’s / 60’s, everyone knew how to grow everything. I’ll never forget the time I stopped by a small nursery on the way home from the farm about three years ago and $.25 (1/2 teaspoon) worth of leaf lettuce seed. We ate lettuce for more than two years.

So far, my best tomatoes are from seeds I harvested from last year’s crop. I have plants with 5 - 8 tomatoes that are quarter sized. Just waiting for the fresh salads.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You’re so far ahead of me! I only have salad greens to appease me for the time being...but all of my seedlings are doing great; I’ll be picking tomatoes by late July. ;)

[newhouse]

Well let me tell you about your nursery catalog- sometimes when my daughter goes to seminars etc I tag along- we have plenty of after meeting time to explore whatever city we are in. But during the day I often wait in the hotel room- early this March I had my Jung catalog with me. I spent a couple days engrossed in reading (every catalog teaches me something new about individual plants so I read alot of them),and planning our warmer weather gardens.

Jung is one of my favorites, both for the quality and the service. And I am rather quick to recommend the company.

[Blogger]

My cucumbers took off too, but I think they may have peaked too soon. The leaves shriveled up. I still have a bit of what looks like a bean sprout, and have put them in pots with rich soil, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope for them.

[USNBandit]

Anybody know how hard it is to grow Asparagus. I just moved to NW Washington, 7 miles off Puget Sound and everthing else here seems to grow with little to no effort.

[girlangler]

Thanks for the ping Diana. I’m adding NellieMae to the ping list (gabz, can you add her?). We had a freeper’s meeting last week and I had the chance to meet her in person.

She even raises her own worms. INTERESTING lady. I, of course, have bragged about Diana and all the gardeners on this list to Nellie Mae. She will love you all.

Gardengirl, my heirloom tomatoes are doing great. I have them planted everywhere (containers, ground, etc.) Also the hybrids are growing in the veggie garden. My garden is BEAUTIFUL so far this year (crossing fingers). And my LIAM is coming up everywhere!!! Hope yours is doing well.

I have lettuce ready to pick, green onions, and some big brocholli I started in the mini greenhouse. While most folks around here are just plowing up their ground, I am harvesting.

I have an idea, a plan to turn my garden into a greenhouse this winter. This is a great article. I have learned (the hard way) most of these lessons.

I have a window box with herbs, and my biggest problem is I just can’t get Thyme to grow!!!!

I owe you mail Grammy, was thinking about you and your grandkids today. I spent the day on the lake (on the pontoon boat) and told hubby I HAVE TO get you and those kids fishing with me this summer.

[girlangler]

I have some asparagus growing.

Like many of the lessons I’ve learned over the years I learned the HARD way not to put out too little. It takes a LONG time to spread.

So I have enough for about one meal, although I planted it three years ago (LOL). I tried to find some sets this year and can’t find it anywhere. Next year I am ordering my seeds and sets from Jungs.

So, my advice would be to order it from Jungs, and LOTS of it.

[leftyontheright]

"Some vegetables can be started from a portion of the plant itself"

Do you know if most grocery stores sell produce from non-hybrid seeds? I am relatively new to gardening and wondering if the potatoes (did I spell that right? having a Dan Quayle moment) that we have growing in our compost will affect our seed potatoes if they pollinate as hybrid corn does.

[Viking2002]

I got tired of the poor soil around these parts, so I went with the Topsy-Turvy planters this year. So far, so good. Got cherry and Bush Goliath tomatoes coming in like crazy already. The squash and zucchini seem to be digging hanging upside-down like bats, too. The peppers are still trying to overcome vertigo. LOL The long-established fruit orchard is kicking, too. The Granny Smith tree is promising another bumper crop of fried apples, apple pie in a jar, applesauce, apple butter, and so on. The Texas muscadines have budded like crazy, as usual. The Chenault strawberry patch is already keeping the grandkid entertained with ripe berries. Last year, I put in a fall gold raspberry plant and two blueberry plants. The raspberry plant already spawned a huge shoot, and the parent plant is over 2' tall and flowering already! The blueberries are taking a growth spurt, too, so blooms won't be a surprise. The wife went on this fruit sherbet kick this year, and I told her it won't be long before she's out picking fresh berries to mix in her bowl.

Yeah, I'm a lifelong gardener. There's something satisfying about growing your own food. It just tastes better.

[Orange1998]

Interesting website. May order soon.

[agrarianlady]

What’s LIAM?

[Red_Devil 232]

Good advice! I started small my first year. Just two raised beds. Last year I discovered the little tiller my Dad had in storage for years actually worked and added three tilled rows to my raised beds. This year I have expanded more.

I will post pictures on my home page in a few days.

[Arrowhead1952]

After church today, I stopped at the local hardware store and got two Jalapeno pepper plants. I got the last two they had at half price. My buddy gave us bags of them last year and he had four plants. Our heirloom tomatoes are doing great this year. I wish I had about five acres for a garden.

[stefanbatory]

wish i wasn’t trapped in the city...sigh...

[Gabz]

GArden Ping...............Especially for Diana, just ‘cause she’s so CUTE........LOL!!!!

Good article, glad to see Diana’s boss getting a plug in for their business.