Bates Area Civic Association

So you’ve decided you want to grow some vegetables, but you don’t know where to start. If you have some space to stick a few containers, you’re ahead of a lot of aspiring urban gardeners. You have three main options: container gardening, raised beds, or growing directly in the ground. Each have their advantages.

Container gardening

Probably the easiest place to start, container gardening takes little more than a sunny spot, some decent soil, any container that can hold that soil, some seeds or seedlings, and water. Growing a few herbs and a tomato plant or two is quite satisfying and doesn’t take too much effort.

Sun: most fruiting vegetables need a decent amount of sun, but if you only get a little sun or you’re partially shaded by a tree, things like lettuce (and other greens), cucumbers, and radishes will do alright. Generally speaking everything prefers more sun but many crops will tolerate some shade.

Container: Anything that can old soil can be used to grow food, but you want to make sure there are holes on the bottom for drainage. Big plants like tomatoes and root crops like carrots are going to want a pretty big pot, but lettuce and herbs will do fine with a depth of 6-8 inches or so. I try not to spend any money on containers as they’re constantly popping up on freecycle, craigslist, and sidewalks all over. Also, old buckets and small trash cans work, but if you’re not a scavenger like me or want pretty pots, they’re easy enough to find at hardware stores, garden stores, and even Target. Be aware that terracotta pots dry out faster than plastic pots.

Soil: Potting soil is available all over. I buy the cheapest stuff I can find ($2.99 for a 20lb bag at Logan Hardware) because I use a lot of it. It’s not very nice, so I amend it with compost before adding it to a pot. Garden District sells nice stuff for about 6 bucks a bag. If you’re trying to stick to organic principles, stay away from Miracle Gro–their standard stuff includes synthetic fertilizers, and their organic version isn’t cheap.

Seeds and Seedlings: Starting lettuce from seed is easy, but other things like tomatoes and peppers are easier to start from seedlings. They need a lot of time to mature from seed, and if you really want to get a jump start on the season you should already have started many crops inside under lights or on a bright windowsill. It’s still too early for warm-weather crops. Generally, whatever you see out at garden stores or nurseries is likely to be ready for your garden, but ask if you’re unsure. Our frost-free date is around April 15, so a week or two after that everything is fair game.

Water: Container gardens dry out faster than raised beds or in-ground beds, so keep a close eye on them during the heat of the summer. Stick a finger in the soil. If it’s completely dry it could use some water, but if it’s at all moist you can hold off. It’s better to water less often but deeply to encourage healthy root growth. Again, terracotta pots will dry out your soil faster than plastic pots.

Raised beds

Raised beds are popular because they allow you to have complete control over soil content and quality, and because you don’t have to bend over so much they’re often easier to tend. People make raised beds out of all sorts of things, but lumber is most common. Avoid using pressure-treated lumber as the chemicals used to treat it can leach into your soil and can be harmful. For directions on how to build them, just search the internet. I’ve never built raised beds, but there are plenty of resources out there.

In-ground beds

This is the strategy I’m most familiar with, as this is what I decided to do. I loosely followed the directions of Ed Bruske, Columbia Heights urban gardener extraordinaire, found in this video. I highly recommend his video series on how to start an organic vegetable garden and composting basics.

Before you start, it’s very important to have your soil tested. This will give you an idea of your pH level and organic matter content (so you know how to amend your soil), but more importantly this will let you know if you have lead in your soil. City gardens are at high risk for lead contamination, and vegetables grown in lead-contaminated soil will retain the lead. Low lead levels are acceptable–leafy greens will take up lead much more readily than fruiting crops like tomatoes–but the young, elderly, and those with sensitive immune systems should steer clear of anything grown in contaminated soil. Amending your soil with large amounts of organic matter like compost can help reduce lead levels if contamination isn’t that bad, but raised beds or containers are a better idea. The University of Massachusetts provides soil analyses for around $15. Directions and information can be found here.

If you’re digging up your lawn, you can till the whole thing under with a rototiller, or dig out individual beds. I dug beds using the following process:

1. Plan your beds. Locate them in your sunniest spot and mark out their size. They can be as long as you’d like, but the width should be no wider than about 4 feet. You want to be able to comfortably reach the middle from both sides.
2. Dig up the sod. Using a flat-ended garden spade, dig under the grass slide the spade along below the roots. Shake off any extra soil.  If the sod pieces are pulled out cleanly they can be reused elsewhere, otherwise send them to the compost pile.
3. Using a fork spade (like a pitchfork, but smaller and with stronger tines),  loosen the soil. There are many schools of thought when it comes to disturbing the soil–some advocate completely tilling over the soil while others prefer a no-till method, using cover crops to loosen and enrich the soil. I used a hybrid approach: push your fork spade into the soil and rock it back and forth a bit to break up any compacted soil. Pull out as many rocks as you can and break up any large dirt clods with your hands. You want to make the soil nice and pliable so the roots can penetrate it easily.
4. Amend your bed with as much compost as you can find. Leaf mold (composted leaves) and composted manure can be bought in bags from  Garden District, but the cost adds up. DC has a little-known municipal compost pile from annual leaf collection. Residents are welcome to take three 30 gallon cans full, though in my experience, nobody is there to tell you when to stop. It’s not easy to find (2nd and New Jersey SE), but it’s free! Ed Bruske has a good write-up here. You’ll need some empty trash cans or strong bags to haul it away and you’ll probably want to screen it for bottle caps and other undesirables. A simple compost screen can be made out of hardware cloth and a wood frame. I used some salvaged wood and a complete lack of carpentry skills to build mine. It works.
5. Plant!

I’m sure I’m forgetting some things and glossed over other things too quickly, but in my opinion the two big take-away messages are get your soil tested for lead and amend your soil with as much compost as possible. If you have any questions, ask in the comments!