Organic Vegetable Gardening 101: How To Start an Organic Vegetable Garden

My gardening plans for 2014 have already begun. The boys and I have started a tray of seeds, ordered more, and I’m now in the process of sketching out my garden plans for the year. It looks like I’ll be adding a bed or two and this incredible vertical wooden box planter to my urban homestead this year. I’d like to plant mesclun lettuce, herbs, and maybe even radishes in these vertical planters.

You can find the design for this planter at The Owner Builder Network. Once I finish my garden plans I’ll make sure to share them with you. I enjoy being able to reflect on them over the years.

One of the things I enjoy most about organic gardening is that it brings such peace and serenity. I especially enjoy pursuing this hobby with my children. If you take a look at my organic gardening archives you’ll see that they’ve been helping me in the gardens since they were itty bitties. It brings me such joy to share this passion with them and I especially love that by them being a part of growing their own food it has helped them appreciate and enjoy their vegetables.

As I busily work on my garden plans for the year, I tend to forget that there are still many people that need a crash course on how to start their first organic vegetable garden. I’ve heard this especially from the great folks over at our 25 Day Grace Filled Journey to Real Food facebook group. If you haven’t joined our group, I’d encourage you to. There’s a lot of gardening chat going on.

So, for all of you that are eager to grow your own food and reap from the fruits of your labor, I wanted to share with you my Gardening 101 series that I started many years ago. I plan on continuing in this series this year, so make sure to sign up for my email subscription below this post or if you’re a newbie seeking to know more about real food, sign up for my 25 Day Grace Filled Journey to Real Food email list here. You’ll get all of my email updates on organic gardening as well.

Organic Vegetable Gardening 101

One thing I always encourage new gardeners is to start simple. Pick a few plants you’d like to grow and focus on them. The following year, add a few more plants. This way, you won’t be overwhelmed and give up.

Part 1: Ordering Seed Catalogs

It’s not too late to order seeds and start them at home. This post has links on ordering seed catalogs.

Part 2: Understanding the differences between Heirloom, Hybrid, GMO, and Organic Seeds 

Confused about all the different types of seeds you can buy? This post will help you understand the differences.

Part 3: Planting Zones, Frost Dates, and Planting Calendars

It’s crucial to understand what planting zone your in and your frost dates. This should help you what seeds you can plant and when to get them in the ground.

Part 4. Understanding Succession Planting

It’s not wise to plant all of your seeds at once. You’ll have more than you can eat at one time. This post will share with you how to stagger your sowing to harvest continually through the season.

Part 5. Spring Time is Near!  It’s Time to Start Those Seedlings! 

This post will show you how how to start your seedlings that are sure to lead to germination.

Part 6. Growing Seeds Indoors Under Supplemental Lighting

This is my diy post on how to build your own frugal light setup to grow your seedlings indoors.

Part 7. Tending your seedlings

Now that you’ve started your seeds indoors and they’ve germinated it’s time to tend to them. This post shares with you a bit about watering, fertilization, temperature, and avoiding mold.

Part 8. Methods of Urban Gardening (square foot, raised beds, container)

Once the weather warms up, it’s time to sow and plant! This post will share with you different methods of urban gardening to get you on your way to growing your own food!

Part 9. Thinning Your Seedlings

This post will share with you why it’s so important to thin your seedlings!

This organic gardening series should get you on your way to growing your own food. Keep in mind that this year I plan on continuing with this series. I plan on sharing a post on edible landscaping, a thorough post on planting tomatoes, a post about fungus and disease, rain barrels, composting, and more. If you’d like to stay updated on this series sign up for my email updates below this post.

Are you new to organic vegetable gardening? What kind of plants would you like to start growing? Are you a seasoned gardener? Please share your garden plans with us!

Jovial Online Coupon Code

To all of you Jovial fans… great news! Jovial foods has extended their online coupon for all My Humble Kitchen readers! You have until June 1, 2014 to get 10% off all your orders PLUS FREE SHIPPING! Visit the Jovial online store here and use the coupon code… HumbleK.