Sierra Club

When we buy vegetables and fruits from supermarkets, we often do so because of the convenience and the low cost of the produce.  What we fail to take into account is the hidden cost of that produce: the fertilizer and pesticides that are used to grow them and that end up in the environment and can contaminate drinking water; the fuel consumed and pollutants cast into the air by the trucks that travel across the country (and the planes that bring that produce across continents in the “off season”).

One way to combat those hidden costs is to patronize our local farmers’ markets, but another is to grow as much of our own fruits and vegetables as we are able.  One of the first, and often loudest, “yeah buts” to this proposition is that we don’t have the know-how; the second usually goes a little like this: “I don’t have a yard.”  While there’s a more detailed answer further down in the article, to answer the first concern—we have the internet, and there is no dearth of people willing to advise and assist (not to mention the folks at our friendly, local nurseries).  The second one is also fairly simple to answer as well: We don’t need huge plots of land—container gardening is a great way to get your proverbial gardening toes wet.

You need to begin with a plan.  Margo True (of Sunset Magazine) offers tips on getting started:

• Start simple: Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, pole beans, squash, and herbs are all easy to grow--great for beginner gardeners.
• Think small:  Don't have a yard the size of an antebellum farmer?  Don't worry, Sunset has suggestions for the best crops to grow in pots and instructions for building a small-space salad box.
• Save money: "For pure economy, crops that can be preserved are the way to go, since they're more expensive and not at all local in winter," says True. Tomatoes, green beans, and fruit can be frozen, preserved, or pickled. Here's how.

The Sierra Club also has some suggestions on types of plants that are not-quite-so-green-thumb friendly.

If you like herbs, you might consider growing something like rosemary.  With virtually no effort, you can keep the perennial rosemary bush flourishing in your yard or in a container.  The plant seems to do well in the very sandy soil of Columbia, and, once it has become established, doesn’t seem to need a great deal of water.  The beauty of it is, because it grows year round, you’ll have rosemary at your culinary and olfactory disposal even in the middle of January.  (As a quick aside, if you are looking for rosemary and are coming to the Columbia area, give me a day’s notice, and I can supply all you need and more!  We have two bushes—that were never touched with pesticides—growing beyond our ability to harvest them).

Another herb that will grow year round and doesn’t require too much attention is Chive.  Admittedly, this is often referred to as a tender perennial, so depending on what part of the state and what weather conditions occur, it might not come back.  In Columbia, ours has been returning since we first planted it in 2002.

Container gardens can be a great way to grow your own vegetables if your home is spatially challenged.  You can use simple plastic or terra-cotta pots (though they will require more attention in the hotter, arid months because the pots, which are surrounding by moisture-leaching air, cannot hold water as well as the ground).  Another solution is a container like the Earthbox that is designed to keep water in a reservoir that encourages the roots to grow deep.

These (often) recyclable containers are designed so that you need to do little upkeep work once you work through the setup process—they have instructions on what mixture of soil to use and what, if any, fertilizer you add prior to planting.  Once you’ve set up the box and planted your plants, you just need to worry about water and eating your home-grown foods.

You can grow just about anything in a container if you take proper care of it—even trees.  A couple of years ago, Paul James (the Gardener Guy) had a segment in his show devoted to growing citrus and apple trees in containers.  Container gardening just requires that you be a little more vigilant about water and mulch because of the ever-present threat of evaporation.  The nice thing about many fruits that we consume is they come readily equipped with seeds that you can use to grow your own (granted, in the case of trees, be they avocado, apple, fig or orange, it will take years to bring them to a point where they can actually grow fruit).  Many years ago, I ate a particularly good white grapefruit and managed to get its seeds to grow into tiny saplings—I’d probably be enjoying grapefruit today if the poor thing had survived the trip from New Jersey. . .

For information on wildlife friendly gardens and tips, see this Wildlife Conservation article

Want to create a nature preserve in your backyard, the Sierra Club’s Green Life offers some tips.

If you are going to grow anything in your yard, bear in mind that insects and other critters are going to be very interested in the fruits of your labor.  There are safer ways to address a pest problem then pesticides.  Once again, the Green Life offers some tips.

The National Wildlife Federation has an article on attracting birds to your yard, which are a great way to control unwanted pests. Though you might end up sharing some of your fruit with them.