Practical Gardening Series; Overview.

In this, the first of many discussions that we are going to have concerning gardening and doing it on a practical level.

As we begin this series I feel like we need to focus on the one area that I talked about in a recent essay and video that I did for application in an aromatherapy school class. What I presented there is really a core basic that applies equally in this series as well. Please keep in mind that the material presented here applies to herb production and of course the production of plants that are donor plants for essential oil production are right here in the thick of this stuff. Since we really can’t do much due to it being winter and at this point the selection process of seeds is an area where we really need to be focusing our planning. So here goes;

One of the first things that we need to look at is the selection of the seeds we plan to plant. One area to consider is this; What do I like to eat? Tomatoes are one of the most widely selected plants. The vast majority of people love tomatoes. But there are some that would rather not “feast” on them. There is nothing wrong with this. Anyway, one of the most widely planted plants and the largest volume producer is Tomatoes. So this will help you to see why the topic of tomatoes comes around. The next most popular is Cucumbers. I am sure that many of you have heard of the saying, “An apple a day will keep the doctor away”. Well, maybe this isn’t as true as many might think as far as keeping the doctor away, but one plant/fruit, technically speaking, is Cucumbers. cucumbers can be a very prolific producing plant. Cucumbers can be used in many ways, so this is one that is a choice for many people.Plus, with cucumbers, well, they really are the plant that keeps the doctor away when looking at it from a single plant angle. However, if a person consumes several different plants each day, one can get to the same place as well.

Another approach is to select a theme. For example; You might like Salsa. So with this type of a theme, one might make a selection of plants that produce ingredients used in Salsa. So when it comes to selecting a theme, one may not be able to plant everything used in Salsa, but you might be able to produce many of the ingredients needed. So within this idea, the possible range of plants that you could select is almost without end. One can apply the principles here across many themed production possibilities.

Type of seed/plants selected becomes much more than an emotional feel good event. At this point we begin the journey of going down the path of technicalities. IE; we get into a very technical area. Many times it won’t really be noticed by the beginning gardener. Well, that may not be totally true. This is an area where many beginner gardeners will get tripped up and likely will ultimately contribute to complete discouragement and even abandonment of the whole idea of small scale production. The following discussion is what I am talking about really starts to look like.Keep in mind that once the technical stuff is out of the way, the best thing for us to do is step back and let nature do what nature does best, that is to allow miracles take place.

In your seed selection it is very important to read the label or at least some description of the plant/seed. There are 3 general categories, one being a type of seed called open pollination or open pollinator. Another is Hybrid. This is generally a natural cross bred type. In this concept, it is a cross pollination (mating), through a natural process. The last type is the GMO, or the new name is Bio-Engineered. Normally, the home/small scale gardener will not likely encounter these types.These types are a hybrid of sorts, well really a hybrid in every sense of the term. But that process is not done naturally, but rather carried out in a laboratory setting.This process can only happen with manual stimulation/inserting of some type of code into the DNA string of the plant’s DNA. But as mentioned, we will likely not deal with this idea a whole lot as it is generally outside of the production aspect of what most of you are doing. Most Bio-Engineered seeds/plants are geared towards use among the large scale commercial producers.

Another area that we will cover within the seed/plant selection is the whole concept of how the fertilization and growing conditions are different for Open Pollinated vs. Hybrid type of plants. IE; you do not treat both categories the same. Their requirements are different. Basically you cannot treat the open pollination type plants like you do Hybrids nor can you treat the Hybrids as you would Open Pollination types. For most people it is much easier for them to buy all open pollination types of plants or only hybrids. But if you want to use both types, that is perfectly fine.We will spend some time understanding this whole idea.

Another area of concern is to consider where you live and the growing conditions the plants will be growing under. In this area we need to look at the type of plant we have. In the world, the estimates are that 90% of the plants are what they call C-3 types. About 7% of the plants are C-4 plants and 3% are CAM type of plants. These terms have everything to do with plant respiration. With C-3 plants they thrive in conditions up to about the upper 80’s as to soil temperature. When the soil temperatures get above that mid to upper 80 degree point, the plant reverses respiration and actually exhales CO2 and takes in Oxygen. This causes the plant to go into dormancy. The C-4 plants really don’t even start to grow and even thrive until the soil temperatures go above that mid 80 degree point. They don’t reverse respiration and they just keep growing, the warmer it gets and as long as they have food to consume. The CAM type of plants are the ones that usually will be seen growing in hot desert situations. With these types of plants the stomata only opens in the dark, when it cools down and they do this to conserve moisture. Normally, most won’t be dealing with these plants. Usually C-3 plants do better under cooler conditions. The C-4 plants do better under warm conditions and the CAM plants are the ones for extremely hot climates, for the most part, in deserts.

Another area that we must deal with is the pH factor. This has a major contribution to everything the plant does, how it grows and produces, is centered around and based on pH. The electrical charge of the workings of the nutrients in the plant and the charge levels, everything is based on this one aspect.In addition, we will look at the whole Organic thing as it best fits in here. Basically, the more true description of Organic and Inorganic has everything to do with chemistry.. What makes something organic or inorganic really comes down to one point. If no Carbon molecule is attached, then it is Inorganic. Then when a Carbon molecule is attached to it, it becomes, drum roll please…Organic. Technically speaking, ALL plants are ORGANIC, because that is what plants do, they take inorganic matter and make it organic by attaching a carbon molecule. Normally this is only done through a plant. But under certain conditions, this attachment can occur within the gut of certain types of animals, if certain conditions are present. However, simply put, normally, we do not see those conditions in humans. So humans have to follow the plant model of carbon attachment.  We can’t utilize an inorganic matter until a carbon molecule is attached, making it organic,in making it organic, we can then gain nutrition from it. The more proper term for this Organic movement stuff is really maybe Naturally Grown or Naturally produced or some term that clearly points out the absence of unnatural or man made substances used in the production. So we will look at the deep, dark aspects of this whole deal. It does make a difference, it really does on this stuff.

Perhaps one of the most important parts of this whole gardening thing is that you really should be doing your soil preparation, like last month at the latest. Soil preparation in the spring is likely the least effective time of the year to do it. It really should be done in the fall. I will go into the rationale as to why it should be done at a certain time. I will discuss how the “feeding” of the soil is best done at a certain time. We will also discuss feeding methods that should take place at other times throughout the growing season. Part of all of this aspect includes the tools necessary and even the water and how we can look at the watering of the garden.

So why do we do this and why should we? Hopefully you can see the miracles that can take place in your life and in the lives of others as you participate in the plant's life from birth to the finished products from these plants. Plus it gives you some control over your life and up the quality of your nutrition. That should be one of the greatest motivators, right? I look forward to working with all of you in the future. Thank you for your time. I hope to see you in our removing of roadblocks in allowing our gardening miracles to take place.

KK