In this chapter, we’ll go through a couple of factors which need to be considered when getting started with edible gardening. This chapter may feel somewhat counter intuitive to the concept of lazy gardening since you’ll need to do some thinking and planning. However, we all have to start somewhere and putting together a plan should be the most time consuming part of the whole endeavor.
Do you live in an apartment with a balcony or a townhouse with a patio? Are you a renter or do you plan to be on the move soon? If you answered yes to either of these questions you may want to begin the journey into edible gardening with containers. You can start with as few or as many as you like depending on the space available. For renters, container gardening may be the way to go simply because it’s mobile! Additionally, if you only have indoor space available, like on a kitchen windowsill, container gardening would be the way to go.
If you’re a homeowner and have some yard space or have some pretty hip landlords, you’ll have the option to make a bit more of an investment and build raised beds. A standard raised bed is often sized as four feet by eight feed and one food deep – but of course depending on the space available you can build the bed to whatever size fits your space. Raised beds offer the most flexibility in terms of what plants you’ll be able to grow.
How much time are you willing to dedicate to gardening each week? Will you be able each day to water? Pull weeds competing with the edibles for nutrients? Prune extra growth? Think of it as a cost-benefit analysis of how much time you’re willing to put in versus how much your edible garden will produce. For example, if you’ll be short on time for watering or away frequently, you may want to consider putting in a bit more effort on the front end to set up a timed watering system.
It’s also important to consider how much time you’ll have to set up your garden. Will you have the time to prep the surface and physically build raise beds? If not, container gardening would be a quicker way to get started.
When considering where you will locate the edibles, it’s important to find the location in which they’ll be able to get maximum hours of direct sunlight. Plants all require different amounts of light per day and in my lazy gardening experience I’ve found it easy enough to skirt those “requirements” when needed. This is where those low expectations come in – understanding that if I plant arugula in full sun in the heat of summer as opposed to partial sun, it’s going to bolt and turn bitter much faster than if it was in a shadier spot. Just know that you’ll need at least some amount of sunlight to get your edibles to grow and plan to place your garden accordingly.
If you’re gardening indoors with filtered sunlight through a window, don’t despair, I’ve been growing citrus indoors for about four years through a west facing window in Seattle (read: not very good light) and my plant is still plenty happy. Just follow the same principle of locating the edibles wherever they’ll ge the maximum amount of sunlight.
Chart of edible plants by the ideal hours of daily sunlight which they should receive.
Chart of edible plants by the ideal hours of daily sunlight which they should receive.
It’s a sad and unfortunate truth but if you live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, you probably won’t be able to grow bananas and pineapples as a lazy gardener. One thing to do before getting your heart set on growing tropical fruit in a northern coastal climate is to figure out what’s going to grow in your neck of the woods. To do this, find your “Hardiness Zone” on a map. Your zone will help you determine which edibles will grow well in your area – keep an eye out for zone information on both seed packages and the little plastic steaks in starters.
If you live in Canada, find your zone here.
If you live in the United States, find your zone here.
If you live elsewhere in the world, I recommend using Google to locate the hardiness zone for your country or region.
If you’re planning to be a truly lazy edible gardener and Googling your zone is just too much effort, simply stick to the starters offered at your local nursery or visit a seasonable edible plant sale. These retailers will typically only sell varieties which will do well in your zone.
Plant Hardiness Zone Map of the United States. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Plant Hardiness Zone Map of the United States. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.