Animals are an important part of a healthy ecosystem
Gardens

Every garden is unique.
There is no one way to garden.
Be observant.
Experience different gardening ideas and cultural traditions by reading, visiting gardens, attending workshops, and talking to gardeners.

The more ideas you experience, the easier
it will be to create the gardens you want.
Learn from the experience of others.
Its fun and exciting to watch your garden grow
and change as you learn.

• The New Organic Grower, Four Season Harvest, The Winter Harvest Handbook, Eliot Coleman, (also online videos)
• Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, Rodale Instituts
• Rodale press books, ACRES USA magazine and bookstore
• Seed catalogs are excellent sources of planting information:
FEDCO, Johnny’s, Seed Savers…
• Visit gardens, farms, the MOGFA Country Fair and workshops…
• There are online videos on any topic.
Simple tools are all you need:
shovel, spading fork, trowel, rake, hoe, and wheelbarrow.
Living an hour from the ocean, I collect seaweed on the shore for mulching and adding to the compost pile. Seaweed adds vital trace minerals to the soil and food for microorganisms to eat.
Suggestions to make gardening enjoyable with minimal work.

Mimic nature. To increase soil fertility, keep soil covered with mulch or plants.
• Keeps soil temperature and moisture consistent.
• Feeds soil microorganisms, increases soil fertility, and keeps weeds from growing.
• Use straw, leaves, seaweed, or compost for mulching beds.
• Prepare (mulch) your beds in the fall, so they are ready to plant in the spring.
• Do not use herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, fungicides or commercial fertilizers (NPK).

Make permanent beds for plants, and paths for walking.
Do not walk on the soil where you grow plants.
• Do not plow or rototil soil. This turns up new weed seeds, disturbs soil structure and microorganisms, and destroys organic matter.
• Aerate soil with a spading fork or broad fork to eliminate soil compaction.
• Start new beds in fall using a thick mulch (straw or leaves) to eliminate existing plants.
• For areas with poor soil, use a heavy mulch and compost, or double dig to speed-up building soil fertility.
• Test your soil pH and add lime if needed. Rock powders add slow release trace minerals; Azomite, greensand, rock phosphate, granite dust, etc.
Materials for mulching or making compost are available: leaves, stable residue, mulch hay, pine needles, unsprayed grass clippings, etc. Some transfer stations even have compost available.
Make a smaller, efficient garden with
multi-use growing areas.
• A well-tended smaller garden can produce abundant food. A large, weedy out-of-control garden is not fun. Photos and accounts of traditional cultures show intensively planted areas that are very productive.
• Make successional plantings throughout the season for a continuous supply of food. Plants have different growing needs and times which help spread gardening work over the entire season.
• Create more planting areas throughout the season as you need them.