A Year In The Dirt Is Worth Two In The Books(Or Blogs)

    There is no replacement for what you learn by actually starting a garden, even if most of what you learn is how not to do things in the future. I often talk to people about growing food and they will get excited and do reading about what they can grow and different gardening techniques. People will discuss the merits and downfalls of methods and look up new and exciting methods of growing and will plan out their whole system, and not plant anything! This happens with some surprising amount of regularity. The reasoning usually goes, "I spent a lot of time planning everything but I just didn't get time to build my beds/ build my hydroponic system/ double dig my beds/ go buy self watering planters/etc."

Sunchoke flower with a guest

     My take on this is as follows: a year in the dirt is worth two in the books.That is to say that all the time you actually spend growing your own food pays double the learning points that reading or researching would do. Now to clear one thing up first, I am in no way against planning or for rushing in. In fact, I am one of the biggest proponents of planning and doing things the slow way, but growing is one of those things that you learn best by doing. So where growing is concerned I say plan the best you can, but actually make sure to do it! I promise you will learn more applicable and practical information from a year spent with a poorly planned and poorly implemented garden than you will from the best of books on gardening.
     Now I need to explain a huge key to this whole thing, and that is observation. Thoughtful observation is at the heart of good permaculture design and it can save you loads of trouble in the long run. So before you start do observe your planned growing area. Note the time and type of sun exposure, the wind patterns, rain and water movement, and any other factors (animals, falling tree debris, etc.) that may affect the area. Part of the reason the garden teaches you so much is because it forces you to observe. You spend time in the garden looking at the plants, the soil, the bugs and animals that appear. Your interaction with the plants has a synergistic effect on your learning. Not only do you learn about the plant or type of plant in specific but you learn more about your growing area because of your increased observation.

Beautiful okra flower that turned into tasty okra pods

    My whole point is that you must get out and start planting in order to learn how to grow things. It is a self-amplifying feedback loop in that the more you grow the more you learn, and the more you learn the more you are able to grow and the cycle continues. So I encourage everyone to try and grow some of your own food. Even if it is just a few small pots of herbs or a single pepper plant, I guarantee you will learn something that will help you grow more food. For those of you who like flowers and ornamentals, learning to grow food translates well to growing just about anything.