hey guys

so if you haven't already heard about the zine we're planning, the idea is that in order to contribute, you have to learn something new, and the write/draw about in a way that shares what you've learned/did, as well as how you went about learning it. For me, I am doing vegetable gardening for the first time, so that's gonna be my subject. I just started writing a rough draft today, here is what I have so far (I still need to write a few more paragraphs, plus add resources at the end). I also want to do some illustrations to go along with it.

--sarah

Low Budget Urban Home Gardening – Part 1

I’m a city kid who never had access to more than a crack in the pavement to cultivate. So when we moved to a house in Staten Island two years ago with a back yard almost a block long, I started thinking. This past winter I finally had the time, energy, and support from our landlady to really get started on vegetable gardening. I want to share my experience thus far, and hopefully pass on some useful information with it.

The first thing I had to do was secure my own space in the back yard. My landlady offered an area that was totally overgrown with vines at the back of the yard. At first I thought it would be next to impossible to clear, but we were able to get all the vines out in an afternoon in March once they’d died back over the winter. I measured the area using a piece of string so I could estimate how much I could plant. I also got a soil test. It turns out we have great soil – sandy loam with a pH of around 6.8, and tons of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. Make sure you get a soil test at least a few months before you want to plant, because you may need to do some work to improve your soil ahead of time. Also look into composting your food waste to feed your garden. You can even compost indoors using a worm bin.

Deciding what to plant is one of the most fun parts of starting a garden. Browse catalogues, looking at the colorful, mouthwatering photos of crops and imagining seeing, smelling, and tasting them. I got a little carried away myself and will be growing over 20 types of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. I looked at the required spacing for each crop, multiplied that by the number of each crop that I wanted, and was able to calculate the square footage I needed for my garden. In deciding what and when to plant, it’s important to keep in mind your hardiness zone and frost-free dates. In New York City we’re in Zone 6b, meaning we can grow pretty much anything. Our last frost-free date is around April 15th. So that’s the date I count backwards from in I need to sow seeds indoors a certain number of weeks before the last frost-free date. Make sure your order your seeds and supplies in time to have everything ready by the dates specified for your zone. I started some of my seeds in late February. This is how I did it:

I spend quite a bit of time on the Internet pondering various overpriced seeds flats and peat pots and growing systems before I came across this handy little device called the PotMaker. It’s basically a wooden mold that allows you to easily create small pots out of newspaper for sprouting your seeds. It costs around 15 bucks. You can also make pots of various sizes by wrapping newspaper around jars or bottles and securing them with a gluestick. Then I needed trays for my newspaper pots. Rather than buying special seed trays, I just used disposable aluminum baking pans, which are way cheaper. But don’t be cheap when it comes to your growing medium and steal some dirt from the sad-looking tree on your block – get the real thing. I purchased Johnny’s 512 mix from Johnny’s Seeds company. It’s fertile, absorbs water well, and isn’t contaminated with unwanted seeds. Your seedlings will need lots of bright light – more then they’ll probably get on your windowsill -- as soon as they sprout. You’ll come across lots of expensive grow lights, which you don’t need. You can get fluorescent grow bulbs that fit into a standard socket for around $7 apiece. I put these 30W compact fluorescent grow bulbs in some junk lamps I had lying around the house, and they work great. The last thing you’ll need is a seedling heating mat. I thought I could get away without one of these, but my seeds weren’t sprouting without the warm soil temperatures they needed. I got a mat for $25.

Now that you have your seeds and supplies, start planting them at the time recommended for each particular crop. Moisten your seed starting mix, fill the pots, and plant according to directions on the packet. As soon as the seeds start sprouting, give them 16 hours of light a day. Seeing your seedlings poke their heads out after staring at bare soil for days or even weeks is the happiest gardening experience I’ve had so far.