Taking care of tiny hands, mouths, noses, ears and eyes

Gardens are magical, fun, and always full of surprises!

TOUCH Hands in the dirtUse healthy organic soil free of chemical fertilizersWorms are not just slimy, they are garden friendsAdd texture with different feeling leaves and shapedrocks, pebbles, stepping stones and mulch

TASTE Eating is the best gift a garden can givePicking and eating directly from the garden develops a greater appreciation of fresh and healthy foodUse organic growing techniques like pairing flowers with vegetables to control pests instead of using harmful pesticides Easy to grow plants: Basil, Strawberries, Peas, Tomatoes

LISTEN Incorporate the sense of sound into your garden Plant species that attract beneficial insects and listen to their noises (buzzing pollinators love sunflowers)Rustling tree leaves and flowing water add another dimension to the garden

SMELL Herbs are wonderful at sharing their scentsScented plants will help deter unwanted critters Companion plant two species to lure pests away fromthe more desirable plants (e.g. cucumbers and nasturtium)Easy to grow: Lavender, Lemon Balm, Mint

SEE Select plants with vibrant colours Add birdfeeders or berry trees and watch birds “taste” from the garden Easy to grow: Marigolds, Nasturtium and Morning Glories

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Organic Gardening with Children and the 5 Senses

Children learn from growing things… Provide children with a garden of their own to initiate a culture of care, love and respect through the use of the five senses

Engage children in each stage of the garden’s growth to witness the ever-changing life cycles of nature (prepping, sprouting, planting, stewarding, harvesting)

Children who are involved in growing food are more likely to engage in healthy eating habits

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Organic gardening works with nature to grow plants

without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.

Instead, organic gardeners feed the soil with organic

matter, and use techniques such as crop rotation and

plant selection to promote healthy growth. Using an

organic approach maintains healthy soil, water and air

naturally, providing a healthy environment for plants,

animals and people.

Planning the GardenNo matter how big or small your space, start with a garden visioning session to get the creative juices flowing. This step is about brainstorming possibilities, and then matching them up with the realities of your garden space, local growing conditions, and your own time constraints.

A Note on DesignDesign your beds to maximize the number of plants you can grow. A wide, raised bed can hold significantly more plants than a long and narrow bed. For example, a 1 x 4 foot bed may hold a single row of beets, while a bed measuring 2 x 2 feet has room for several shorter rows and will allow for staggered positioning. Although both beds take four square feet of garden space, the wide-bed design holds three times as many plants.

Building the Soil: Start from the Ground UpGreat organic gardens start with great soil that can retain essential nutrients and water. Soil testing kits are readily available at hardware stores and garden centres, and don’t require any specialized skills. Don’t panic if your soil’s pH varies from the optimal range, or if the texture is unbalanced. You’ll simply need to choose your plants carefully and perhaps use some soil amendments to create better growing conditions. The best way to restore balance to any soil is to add organic matter (compost).

ORGANIC FOOD GARDENING A Guide to Green City Living

Three Ways to Build Great SoilFeed it with compost: Add finished compost or ”compost tea” (made by mixing finished compost with water and letting it sit for a couple of days) to your soil before planting and around each individual plant.

Sheet mulch over the winter: Put your garden “to bed” after the harvest by covering it in a thick layer of mulch. The mulch will decompose, adding nutrients and preparing the soil for spring planting.

Grow a green manure crop: Grow one crop that can later be dug into the soil to add nitrogen. Plants that work well are those that are able to “fix nitrogen” (turn atmospheric nitrogen into a useable form for soil and plants) such as clover or alfalfa. Cut the crop when it is three or four inches tall, and use a digging fork to turn the plants and their roots completely into the soil. Cover the newly dug bed with a blanket of organic mulch until planting time.

Preparing the BedIf you’re starting from scratch, the first step is to get rid of the turf grass (and weeds) covering your would-be garden. There are several ways to do this:

Sheet Mulching: A “no-dig” gardening method that allows planting directly into or on top of the ground. Cover the planting space (lawn, weeds, open ground) with several layers of varying organic material, ending up with a “sheet mulch” of at least 12–18 inches. Sheet mulching is best done in the fall to allow time for the organic matter to break down before spring sowing.

Double Digging: A fast (though labour-intensive) method of creating permanent raised beds with relatively good drainage and fertility.Loosen the soil more than 12 inches down in two separate layers; switch the lower layer of “subsoil” with the top layer (also known as “topsoil”). Organic matter gets mixed throughout.

Raised Bed: A mound of loose, well-prepared soil that is generally about 6–8 inches high. Adding edgings of brick, boards or stones for permanent beds, or re-form them each year. They are ideal if you’re working with heavy soils with poor drainage, contaminated soils, or if you are limited by space or mobility issues.

Did You Know?A year’s supply of vegetables and fruit for one person can be produced on an area as small as 100 square feet.

It’s Time to Plant!Some crops can be seeded directly into your garden, while others are best transplanted as seedlings. Seedlings need to acclimatize or ”harden off” before being planted—place them outdoors during the day, in a partially sunny spot, for one week before transplanting.

Succession Planting takes advantage of the fact that some vegetables grow more quickly than others. For example, if you plant spinach seeds in between your rows of carrots, the spinach will be ready for picking in six weeks, while the carrots will continue to develop.

Inter-Planting combines specific plants to avoid negative interaction, such as competition for space or light. For example, onions, carrots and lettuce have different leaf forms, light requirements and rooting depths. When grown together, the three plants all have access to sun, and their roots don’t compete for space.

Companion Planting matches up mutually-beneficial plants to attract pollinators, improve soil, and protect crops from pests and disease. For example, the Three Sisters—pole beans, corn and squash—are traditionally planted together. Corn acts as a support for the beans, while the squash serves as mulch, preventing moisture loss and suppressing weeds, and the beans ‘fix’ nitrogen in the soil.

Planting in Tough SpotsGenerally speaking, most edible plants do best in full sun and well drained soils. If you’re stuck with sub-optimal garden conditions, here are some recommendations:

Depleted Soil Shady Spots(4–6 hours direct sunlight)

Soggy Soil (Poor drainage)

High heat, Dry Soil

Arugula Blackberry Angelica AmaranthBlackberry Chives Bee Balm DillBronze Fennel Currant

(black or red)Lemongrass Garlic chives

Dill Kale Mint Hot pepperLemon Balm Leafy greens Watercress Jerusalem ArtichokeNasturtium Mint (in a pot) LavenderOregano Parsley OkraRadish Peas OreganoSage Rhubarb Prickly pear cactusMexican Sour Gherkin

Spinach Purslane

Tip:Once the season is in full swing, visit the garden often, and get to know your plants. Start a garden journal where you can record things like weather, what and when you planted, when certain pests emerged and how much you harvested.

Mulch is Magic• Straw is excellent for veggies—apply a 4–6 inch layer that will last

throughout the season, leaving a small mulch-free circle around the base of each plant to discourage rodents. Other mulch types include pine needles, leaves, newspaper and wood chips.

• At the end of the season, apply a layer of mulch over the entire garden so it can break down and add valuable nutrients to your soil for the following spring. When it’s time to plant, either remove the mulch that remains, or work it into your soil to boost the organic matter.

Want to Know More?1) You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening. Gayla Trail.

Simon and Schuster. 2005.

2) How to Grow More Vegetables than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land than You Can Imagine. John Jeavons. Ten Speed Press. 2004.

3) The New Self-Sufficient Gardener: the Complete Guide to Planning, Growing, Storing and Preserving your own Garden Produce. John Seymour. DK Publishing. 2008.

4) Organic Gardening: www.organicgardening.com

5) Garden Guides: www.gardenguides.com

Evergreen is a national not-for-profit that inspires action to green cities. Get involved or donate today.

evergreen.ca416-596-1495 | 1-888-426-3138 | info@evergreen.ca

An agency of the Government of Ontario.Relève du gouvernement de l’Ontario.

Program SupportersSponsor

Maintaining your garden organically will keep it growing

happily throughout the season without negatively

impacting your local environment. Check on your garden

as often as possible: pull weeds as soon as they come

up, add mulch where it’s thin, water when it’s dry, look

for signs of pests and diseases, and check for produce

that’s ready to harvest.

Watering• Most gardens don’t need more than 1 inch of water per week. Young

seedlings require shallow, more frequent watering while established plants require deeper watering weekly. Let the soil dry out before watering to encourage deeper root systems.

• Water in early morning or late afternoon—avoid mid-day sun! Water only at the base of the plant, gently and close to the soil. Avoid getting water on the leaves.

• Assess how much water your plants are getting using a rain gauge, or stick your finger deeply in the soil (the soil should be moist to the tip of your finger, as surface soil is not an indicator).

FertilizingOrganic Fertilizers help build a healthy soil system, which in turn produces healthy, vigorous plants without harming the surrounding ecosystem.

Start by working nutrient-rich compost into the bed as you prepare it for planting each year. Get to know your plants, and learn to identify the signs of nutrient deficiencies; a nitrogen deficiency will slow growth down and often cause older leaves to turn yellow, while remaining foliage is often light green.

If a plant shows signs of a deficiency, small amounts of the appropriate nutrient may be added to the soil once every two weeks. Be careful not to over-fertilize! Too little is better than too much. When in doubt, use a fertilizer with balanced nutrients, such as finished compost or worm castings.

Water Saving Tips:• Water your plants with grey-water

(used dish, bath or laundry water), or water left over from cooking, tea, etc.

• Set up a rain barrel, or scatter buckets in the garden during a heavy rainfall.

• Conserve moisture by mulching around each plant.

CARING FOR PLANTS ORGANICALLY A Guide to Green City Living

Organic Fertilizers: What’s Available?For Balanced Nutrients (NPK=Nitrogen/Phosphorus/Potassium): Use finished compost, worm castings, or a multi-purpose organic fertilizer (commercially available) including blood, fish and bone meal.

Add Nitrogen: Use manure, (different types have varying levels of nutrients, so be careful) add coffee grinds to your compost or directly to the soil, or plant a fertilizing cover crop (“green manure”). Green manure crops include borage, legumes, and other nitrogen-fixing plants.

Add Potassium: Use rock potash (10.5% potassium), seaweed meal or liquid seaweed (2.3% Potassium + trace minerals). To add Potassium over time, work wood ash into your soil regularly.

Add Phosphorus: Use bone meal (20% to 30% phosphorus) or rock phosphate (approximately 2 to 4lbs. of rock phosphate for every 100-sq-ft of ground, or approximately 2.5lbs added to 25lbs. of compost).

Supporting VegetablesMany vegetables or flowers will collapse under their own weight if they are not provided with support. Training your plants to grow vertically will keep them off the ground and away from pests, while also saving valuable garden space.

Stakes: Drive a simple stake or pole into the soil near the base of the plant, and the vines will instinctively latch onto them. Tie the stems of tall or heavy plants to the stake for support.

Tepee Trellises: Tepees make excellent supports for beans, peas, tomatoes, and heavy-fruited crops such as squash. Use three to six poles that have been cut 10–12 feet long, and tie them together at the top. Place the bundle over the top of the planting area, separate the poles, (ideally so they’re next to the base of your plants) and stick the poles 1–2 feet into the ground.

Fence Trellises: Drive a post into the ground at each end of a row, placing other posts along the row as needed. Connect the posts with lighter support materials such as string, twine, netting or wire mesh.

Cages: Contain sprawlers such as cucumbers and tomatoes by caging them. A simple cage can be constructed from scrap wood or sturdy wire mesh. Round or square cages two to three feet in diameter and three to four feet high will contain a variety of vines.

Tip:Install large and heavy stakes, trellises, tepees and other sturdy supports while preparing your planting beds to avoid disturbing roots. Lightweight supports (small stakes & string) can be installed after your garden has been planted.

Pruning and PinchingMany vegetable and fruit plants respond well to pruning or pinching. By removing some branches, and promoting a particular pattern of growth, you can give your plants better access to light and air, and help them fend off disease, resulting in bigger, healthier fruit.

PRUNINGIn addition to promoting healthy growth, pruning can help remedy a range of problems:

• Excess foliage and little fruit: using sharp bypass pruning shears, make an angled cut close to where the branch meets the main stem. Removing fruitless branches will direct energy towards fruit production.

• Abnormal height with sparse foliage: Often referred to as being “leggy,” cut growing stems back to the first or second branch to promote dense, compact growth and flower production.

• Infection or infestation: prune away the affected foliage and discard or burn it. Sterilize your pruning shears between each cut by cleaning them with isopropyl alcohol.

PINCHINGPinching off buds, flowers or immature fruit can help encourage growth and fruiting in many herbs and vegetables.

• For fruit-bearing vegetables, pinch off a third to one-half of the flowers as they appear. The remaining fruit will be larger and will mature more quickly.

• After fruit has set, pinch away any fruit that crowds, is deformed or diseased, or receives limited light and air circulation.

• Pinch away all foliage in contact with, or surrounding the fruit.

Using Companion PlantsCompanion plants, when planted near one another, can help attract beneficial insects, ward off pests, and encourage healthy plant growth. Just as some plants affect each other positively, other plant combinations can limit the growth of one another in some way. For example, when tomatoes and corn are planted together, they tend to compete for nutrients and attract the same kind of harmful worm. Getting to know your plants and observing which ones grow well together can be a great way to encourage healthy growth and manage pests and disease the organic way.

For more information and a quick guide to companion plants visit:http://www.companionplanting.net/

HarvestingTo get the fullest flavour from fruits and veggies, harvest just before they reach maturity. With every minute that passes after produce is picked, quality and food value decrease, so bring them in from the garden just before you plan to eat or process them.

• Some vegetables can be picked and used before they are completely mature. Try young onions, beets, carrots, cabbages, and the leaves of head lettuce that has not yet formed heads.

• The more you harvest, the more you grow. If you don’t pick lettuce it will go to seed. Chard and other heat tolerant plants can be cut continuously all summer long.

• Crops that are harvested latest in the season are the easiest and best to store. Eat your first harvestings of beets and carrots in the summer months, and plan to save the second harvest for canning and freezing.

Want to Know More?1) How to Grow More Vegetables than You Ever Thought Possible on Less

Land than You Can Imagine. John Jeavons. Ten Speed Press. 2004.

2) The New Organic Grower – A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener. Eliot Coleman. Chelsea Green. 2005.

3) The New Self-Sufficient Gardener: The Complete Guide to Planning, Growing, Storing and Preserving your own Garden Produce. John Seymour. DK Publishing. 2008.

Evergreen is a national not-for-profit that inspires action to green cities. Get involved or donate today.

evergreen.ca416-596-1495 | 1-888-426-3138 | info@evergreen.ca

An agency of the Government of Ontario.Relève du gouvernement de l’Ontario.

Program SupportersSponsor