Philosophical Vegan Forum

For a long time I've been considering starting my own garden instead of having to constantly go to my local farmers market to buy my vegtables. I would like to start my garden by next week but I don't know the first thing to gardening nor do I know anything about keeping my plants healthy and products I should use to get the most out of them.

Anyone who has experience in this please give me as many tips as you can. From time to time if all goes aswell I will post pictures of my on going plant adventure and will eventually make a another thread describing my experience.

I currently have a big garden, with which I sustain myself.
You don't need anything special to make plants grow: no manure, no pesticides, no fertilizers. Manure is not necessary, unlike many people believe (I know because I never used it, but my plants always produce more than what I expect), and pesticides are only useful to make your vegetables/fruits look perfect, without dents (like the ones you see in supermarkets; however, biological agriculture doesn't use fertilizers and pesticedes). To get the most out of them, just make a research on the plant/vegetable you wish to plant (inserting the name on Google gives you planty of information); check if it needs sun more than others or not, what are the best temperatures for it to grow, if it needs a special pH, etc.
Another important thing is to make the best use you possibly can out of the space you have at your disposal. Some vegetables/plants have a bad production/space ratio(i.e. pumpkins), while some others are the opposite (i.e. Brussels sprouts). Consider this factor to have the most efficient garden. Take also in consideration that some things like spinaches have high nutrition values (in the case of spinaches: vitamin A , vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, folic acid, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids; so they're perfect for a healthy diet, and yes I love spinaches).
In the end, if the plant you're looking for needs anything special, any valid site should tell you. Water the plants regularly, and remember that most vegetables need atleast 6 hours of sunlight daily.
If you want a book, I don't have any good suggestions, since I only have italian books. However, I recommend buying one, it's very useful.

Thanks for your helpful tips! I've only invested a small amount of money for garden space area and making sure that it is sufficient for what I need but have also combined your tips along with others in order to start the growth of a healthy garden I wasn't worried about the usage of manure because there is a horse stable nearby and they allow to take as much manure as I'd like to. On the other hand I am thankful that I won't have to use my time to gathering all of that manure, and even more thankful that I won't have to spend extra money on buying pesticides.

I don't have anything intelligent to add to the conversation, but I'm kind of excited for this thread. I too want to start my own garden full of the staples I normally buy, and it would be great to see your experience first hand like that. I already have a compost started, simply because the soil is so dry and dead where I live. Hoping that I won't have to use fertilizer though, and I definitely was not going to use pesticide. What is your soil like over there, thebestofenergy?

itsund3rmykilt wrote:I don't have anything intelligent to add to the conversation, but I'm kind of excited for this thread. I too want to start my own garden full of the staples I normally buy, and it would be great to see your experience first hand like that. I already have a compost started, simply because the soil is so dry and dead where I live. Hoping that I won't have to use fertilizer though, and I definitely was not going to use pesticide. What is your soil like over there, thebestofenergy?

I have a large place (more than 20'000 m^2), so the soil is noticeably different depending on the zones. I place certain plants where the soil is 'better', because they require so, while other plants don't ask for anything specific. Again, not making researches on the vegetables you're planning to plant is a way to start on the wrong foot, and you can easily find the pH a plant needs. Remember that the pH doesn't always necessarily have to be precise, it's usually just what the plant prefers.
I find this site very helpful regarding pH (how to measure it, how to change it, what it is, etc.) and the best type of soil http://milkwood.net/2014/03/17/how-to-t ... e-harvest/
And I find this site http://www.garden.org/ to be very useful for researches in general.

For veganic gardening you can buy ground rocks that essentially leach nutrients into the earth. cow manure is widely used so I think that avoiding that shit (hahaha) is pretty crucial. There is a dude that does veganic gardening on youtube and while he may be all spiritual and "californiad" out, his tips are very useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt6hDgyIY6U