Get Growing: Where to put your garden

If you don’t already have your garden spot picked out, here are some things to consider.

Plant Considerations

6-8 hours of sunlight a day - Most of the plants we eat need a full day’s worth of sun. What’s the sunniest spot in your yard?

Water - How will you water the garden? Is there a faucet? Do you have a hose? 

Soil - Does your soil drain well? Your dirt is made up sand, silt, clay and organic matter. How much of each you have determines how well your soil drains or holds water. Sandy soils drain fast. Clay soils don’t. Ideally, we have a good balance, but rarely is anything ideal. If you have soil that doesn’t drain, you can add compost or build raised beds.

Human Considerations

Your habits - What parts of your yard do you spend time in or pass every day? Gardens in areas you frequent will get more attention and are more likely to thrive.

Who else uses your yard? Do you have children or pets? How will you keep the dogs out of the garden? 

Utilities & septic systems - Know where you’re digging. Don’t put a garden on a septic leach field.

Rentals & HOAs - Are there rules that might affect what and where you grow things? This might be a good year to work to change your HOA rules in favor of food production or ask forgiveness instead of permission - if it doesn’t jeopardize your housing, of course. If you rent and don’t think you can dig up the yard, you could consider containers (think beyond flower pots to plastic pools or even buckets) or things like grow bags which can be easily moved.

Other things to think about

Lead - Was your house built before 1970? Are you near one of our freeways? Old houses generally have lead in the soil in areas near the house because of lead paint. Houses near the freeways have lead in the soil because of leaded gasoline. If you can’t get a soil test, plant away from the house or as far away from the freeway as possible. 

Garden location matters! These garden beds are between the office and the chicken coop. Since we pass by them every day to feed chickens (and because they are accessible to more of our garden programs), the beds get much more attention than the big brick beds.