01 Apr Horticulture 101: How To Grow Your Own Food Or Garden

One of my greatest passions is growing fruits and vegetables. Partly because as Personal Growth Advisor, I love growth, either in people, animals, or plants. And partly because I love to eat! 😂 After being trained by professionals and lifetime farmers in growing food, as well as working as a horticulturist, I wanted to share this information with you so you can filter through the endless information online on growing fruits and veggies, and get straight to what works. This is horticulture 101 for those looking to grow their own garden and food.

Soil: The Foundation

Hands down, the most important factor is your soil. Without this foundation, you’re going to have a bad time. The soil is the fertile foundation of life for your plant, and should be focused on as the most important step for growing success. This is especially true if you’re growing organically.

There are a few key factors for having the proper soil to grow in. The first is composition and soil type. These can be categorized into 4 different basic types, sandy, silt, clay, and loam. Sandy soil can be somewhat similar to sand on a beach with large particles, just maybe not as coarse. It has good drainage so the plants don’t get drowned in soggy soil, but doesn’t hold water or nutrients well. Clay soil has small particles and is dense like the clay your kids may play with, has slow drainage and saturation, but holds on to water and nutrients like a champ. Silt is in between sandy and clay with medium sized particles, medium drainage and medium saturation. When dry think the dusty type of soil, and when wet think of very sticky mud.

The final type of soil is the holy grail of soil, loam. Loamy soil is a roughly equal mix of sand, silt, and clay. It provides both good drainage, nutrient holding, and water holding capabilities. This mix of good drainage and water holding provides your plant’s roots the oxygen needed to facilitate growth, while keeping the soil moist for bacteria and fungi to do their thing breaking down soil into food for your plant. If your garden doesn’t have loamy soil, you may want to mix some sand, silt, or clay into it or buy pre-made loamy soil to mix into your garden. Taking care to get this step right will have the biggest impact of all things you can do for a garden, farm, or professional green house.

Also pay attention to your soil’s PH by getting a soil test. Some plants like a more acidic soil (low PH), and some like a more alkaline soil (high PH). You will need to look at your specific plant to know what it likes and adjust your soil as needed with PH adjusters or using specific nutrients to adjust it if you know how to do this (be careful with this, it is a science and art in regards to this method). Most fruits and veggies like somewhere between 6 and 7 ph.

If you’re looking for an easy way to improve your soil’s drainage, water holding, and nutrients; a tried and true organic method is to mix in some organic compost or composted manure. My Grandpa who was a life long farmer and professional gardener loved using steer manure which I always use. It acts as an organic fertilizer while improving soil structure. Different types of manure provide different nutrient properties, such as chicken manure being higher in nitrogen than steer manure (you’ll use about half as much chicken manure as you would steer manure). This method of adding about a 1/3 mix to 1/2 mix of compost or manure to soil is one of the first steps and main methods for organic farmers and gardeners alike. Think of it as an easy and cheap way to supercharge your soil.

Nutrients: Plant Fuel

The next big factor on your list is to make sure your plant is getting the right nutrients. The basics of this will be listed as NPK on labels and such. NPK stands for nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). The ratios of these will determine how much of each are in your fertilizer. This is extremely important for the type of plants you have as well as their stage of growth.

Seedlings and young plants will need more phosphorous and potassium, and less nitrogen as giving too much nitrogen too early can stunt growth, or worse, “burn” the plant and kill it. When a plant is growing in its vegetative state (leaf growing), it needs more nitrogen to provide more rapid growth. When a plant is flowering/blooming or fruiting, it will use more phosphorous and potassium, and too much nitrogen will hinder fruit growth in favor of growing more leaves. You may use different fertilizer for all 3 stages of growth; seedling, vegetative, and flowering/blooming (fruiting).

To know how muck NPK you need, look up your specific plant and what it needs at what stage and buy fertilizer that fits the plant and stage. I also recommend doing a simple soil test to see what NPK your soil is already naturally at and see if there are any soil nutrient deficiencies or toxicities. This will save a lot of headache of adding too much to your soil which can be detrimental for the plant, or missing key nutrients it is lacking and needs added. Just as a rough idea (may vary for each situation), I’ll typically start with a slow release 2-5-3 (2N-5P-3K) mixed into the soil for seedlings and early planting. It provides more phosphorus and potassium needed for young plants and a low enough nitrogen to not burn the plant. During vegetation, I’ll switch to a faster release or liquid 4-4-4 (16-16-16 is the same, just 4 times as strong for reference) to give more nitrogen to speed up stem and leaf growth. How often I apply this depends on the plant and fertilizer recommendations. Do not over do it with the nitrogen, that can actually stunt growth or kill the plant. For flowering/blooming or fruiting, I switch back to lower nitrogen and higher phosphorous and potassium like the 2-5-3 again. This will help flowers, bulbs, fruits, and veggies that aren’t leafy vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, corn, etc). Most fertilizers buy will provide instructions on this, but it always depends on your plant type, stage of growth, and soil.

Other key nutrients are calcium, sulfur, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, silica, etc and these needs greatly vary from plant to plant.

Environment: Space To Thrive

While good soil and nutrients are paramount for growth, your environment will be the limiting (or boosting) factor for your plants growth and success. Just as we need a healthy environment to grow successfully, so do plants. Some of the basics of your plants environmental needs are sun, temperature, humidity/airflow, and space.

Sunlight

Your plants grow via the sun through a process called photosynthesis. Your plants have chlorophyll in their leaves that capture the sunlight and convert it into food for your plant to grow. Without proper sunlight, your plant will grow very slowly or they will stretch to reach the sunlight and become “leggy” and fall over. Keep in mind that some plants like a lot of sun and some prefer more shady areas. Look on the seed packet or online to see what each of your individual plant’s like and plant them in a location according to how much sunlight they will get.

Temperature

The temperature of your plant’s environment will also have an effect on its growth and success. While heat will typically make a plant grow quicker, the plant will also slow growth both in too hot and too cold of an environment. Plants usually like temperatures between about 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit. Also keep in mind that in temperatures that are too hot or cold, that it may make your plant “bolt” and go to seed instead of continuing to grow. Cilantro is famous for this.

Humidity/Airflow

Humidity and airflow will determine how well your plants can take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. While plants do well in a slightly more humid environment (which is why green houses work well), too much humidity will stunt plant growth. The plants also need good airflow to get enough air to the leaves which is a big reason you’ll see commercial growers pruning plants (there are others as well) and having ventilation systems.

Space

Just like we need our space to live, think, recharge, and be okay, plants need space to grow properly. They need space away from other plant roots or structures in the soil for both their roots to grow and absorb nutrients. They also need physical space away from other plants in general. Spacing plants out properly helps to prevent disease spread, bug infestation spread, and also provides the proper airflow to the leaves for them to grow. Overcrowding is not a wise idea and you’ll want to look up how much space each of your plants will need as this varies.

Secret Weapons

Above are some basics of how to grow your fruits and veggies in your garden successfully, but there are a few things I use as secret weapons that I learned while working as a horticulturist. I’ll share them with you in the hopes that it helps your growing and gardening efforts as well.

Mycorrhizal Fungi for Nutrient Uptake

I absolutely love and see the best results when using mycorrhizal fungi. It may not be cheap, but is worth its weight in gold. This little fungi is applied to the plants root zone when planting and grows into a spider web network that acts as an extension of the roots, taking up nutrients at a faster pace and helping to break down soil into plant food.

When paired with other plants in your garden, mycorrhizal fungi actually allows plants to “communicate” with each other and share nutrients, passing nutrients back and forth as needed. It truly connects your plants via a network like the internet, letting them work with each other and share nutrients while breaking down soil faster into plant food. The type of mycorrhizal fungi I get is called Mykos WP (wettable powder). While more expensive, I can apply this fungi both at planting to the roots and later after planting by sprinkling it on the soil around the root area and watering it in. This is used by professional growers all over.

Molasses For Food Converging Bacteria

Another trick I learned while working as a horticulturist at a grow house is the versatility of molasses. Molasses is basically sugar, and is also the food soil bacteria feed on. This is important because that soil bacteria’s job is to break down organic matter (compost/manure) and convert it into food that your plants can absorb via their roots. The more bacteria you have, the faster the soil break down happens and the more nutrients your plants have available. Molasses provides the sugar (carbs) the bacteria feed on and make them multiply rapidly.

You’ll want to mix about a ratio of 1 table spoon to 1 gallon of water, but this can be adjusted as necessary. This can be applied directly to the soil, but can also be sprayed on plant leaves as a foliar fertilizer for direct absorption of the plant (keep in mind that foliar feeding won’t give you the soil bacteria generating benefits of direct soil application).

Top Dressing Composted Manure As Fertilizer

I learned this one from my Grandpa the farmer as a trick you can do with almost any plant. While I recommend mixing steer manure with your soil before or during planting, you can also apply it as a top dressing. Meaning you put it on top of the soil after planting. You add it near the plant base around the root zone. How much to add and when depends on the plant, soil, growth stage, and other nutrients added; but I usually add 1” on top of the soil over the plants roots in vegetative stage and during flowering/blooming as well depending on the plant. This works really well for trees as well.

Top dressing manure/compost not only allows nutrients from the manure/compost to flow down to the roots, but also acts as a mulch which will keep the soil moist, foster healthy roots/bacteria/fungi, and help the soil to break down faster for more food for your plants. It also keeps the soil cool in the summer heat and keeps it warm during the cold winter months. A very versatile secret weapon for any garden.

Silica For Heat & Cold Weather Resistance

Silica is a nutrient that is not normally used, but after a few extreme horticultural experiments, I’ve come to see it as a big help. Silica is a compound that helps to provide a stronger stem, leaf, and overall plant structure. It’s like steroids for your plants and makes them thicker and stronger.

While this might be cool looks wise, the reason this matters has to do with the plant’s environment. Silica allows the plant to survive in extreme heat and also extreme cold. I did a late planting while in the mountains and applied a heavy amount of silica to my seedlings as a test. What I found was that yes my plants looked thick and sturdy like a body builder, but they survived both the extreme heat during multiple heat waves, and they even survived when being snowed over! (Some even survived the entire winter of being snowed over!).

A great addition to the garden that can be mixed at a ratio of 1 table spoon of silica to 1 gallon of water. It can also be sprayed on the leaves as a foliar feeding which is what I usually do for this.

Growing In Action

The reason I love growing fruits and vegetables in a garden, on a farm, in a grow house or green house, or just randomly, is because it fits within my passion for seeing things grow. As a Personal Growth Advisor, I love watching people get the foundation, fuel, and environmental opportunities they need to grow just like the process for plants I care for. It gives me joy seeing their progress and improvement. This guide on how to grow you own fruits and veggies for your garden is meant to be as a reference for you to go to when you’re needing to know what to do, trying to figure out a next step, or just trying to see how to improve your plants further. I will keep it regularly updated as I discover more tricks, so save or book mark the page. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. 🙂

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