Gardens good for the soul

As the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers.

But in light of rising food prices and increasing job losses, a beautiful flower garden may not seem as practical as a garden bed full of potatoes, tomatoes, radishes and rhubarb. Now that the planting season is in full swing, that means a lot of people are planting a vegetable garden for the first time.

Morgan Hoenig, who sells vegetables at the Mount Pleasant farmers market through her company MoGoOrganic and works at the Garden Florist and Gifts in Mount Pleasant, has noticed a rising first-time gardener trend.

"I would say one in five of our customers hasn't grown a garden in years or haven't grown one at all," she said. "I hate to say it, but there are a lot of people with nothing better to do because they're getting laid off."

For the inexperienced, planting a vegetable garden can be daunting. The logistics become even more complicated for city dwellers saddled with limited space and yards packed with clay. Thanks to gardening innovations such as square-foot gardening and box gardening, anyone can grow tomatoes -- even if they don't have a yard.

Box gardening

Luwana Martin of Burlington has been planting a vegetable garden for more than 30 years, but her yard on Valley Street has presented her with less than ideal conditions. Most of the yard is on a slope that leads down to the street, and the large amounts of clay mixed with the soil tends to choke the life out of her plants.

"We tried tomatoes and a few things, but we couldn't do much with the soil," she said.

This year, Martin and her husband are trying something radically different -- box gardening. The idea behind box gardening is simple -- instead of using your yard or an acreage, raised wooden boxes are filled with high-quality topsoil and vegetables are planted right in the boxes.

"It frees up a lot of space in our yard," Martin said. "It saves money, too. As much stuff as we have, we'll probably save $300 or $400.

Three 6-foot-by-3-foot wooden boxes were constructed by Luwana's husband, Bob, who made sure not to use treated wood in fear it might tarnish the taste of the vegetable. After filling the bottom quarter of the boxes full of rock, the Martins had to purchase 85 bags of topsoil to create their garden. A weed barrier also can be placed at the bottom of the box, which can be comprised of peat moss, vermiculite and compost.

Using a cold frame -- a transparent roofed enclosure used to protect plants -- the Martins did much of their planting in April and already are eating their strawberries.

"There's a lot of savings in growing your own vegetables, and you can trust the food a lot better than when you buy it commercially," Martin said.

To maximize their yield and minimize the hassle, the Martins also utilized a form of gardening called square-foot gardening in their boxes. Popularized by a PBS television series in the early '80s, square-foot gardening is the practice of planting a small but intensively planted garden. This process eliminates the needs for rows in between the plants, allowing the gardener to tend to their vegetables from the perimeter of the square.

Now that Luwana can water her plants while standing instead of bending over, she enjoys gardening more than ever.

"It just gets you outside, and it's peaceful. You feel good after you see all you've accomplished with your garden," she said. "Then, of course, the reward is getting to eat it."

Edible gardens

Growing a vegetable garden doesn't necessarily mean you can't plant a few pretty perennial flowers, even if you do have limited space. Cathy Henderson, who owns and operates the Balla Machree Bed and Breakfast, 613 Washington St., is planting her vegetables right next to her perennials.

"It's more of an edible landscaping," she said. "People think a vegetable garden has to be in one area, but it really doesn't."

Henderson planted her first beans, squash, spinach and tomatoes about a week ago, but this spring marks the first time she has ever planted a vegetable garden.

"I love flowers, but I never really got into vegetables that much," she said. "I feel like I missed the boat."

Henderson is certainly no stranger to gardening. Kathy and her husband, Dave, ran and planted the Secret Garden outside Danville for 20 years, and Kathy holds a degree in ornamental horticulture.

"With horticulture, there's always something to learn," she said.

The space behind the Balla Machree is limited, so Henderson also is making use of square-foot gardening to maximize her yield.

"Each square has a different vegetable, depending on what you're growing. You can only have one tomato plant per square foot, but then you might have nine spinach plants," Henderson said.

Much of the backyard at the bed and breakfast was layered with brick, which had to be removed so Henderson could plant her garden. Since different vegetable plants are mixed in with flower plants, it's hard to identify a garden at all at first glance.

"It surprises me how people put their vegetable gardens out in the middle of nowhere," Henderson said. "I think it's more convenient that I can just walk down here and pick something for dinner, rather than waiting for the farmers market."

Cathy's husband recently was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which consists of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The disease calls for a radical change of diet, which factored heavily in Cathy's decision to start a vegetable garden this year.

"They (the doctors) recommended going with a Mediterranean diet, which is a lot more vegetables and fruit and fish," she said.

Cathy plans to start her garden as early as March next year through the use of a collapsible cold frame.

"This is kind of new for me, and I'm anxious to see if I can really produce in such a small area.

Professional advice

Anyone can plant a vegetable garden, but fostering its survival can be a bit trickier. Steve Ritter, owner of Ritter's Garden Center, 924 Broadway St., West Burlington, and part-time horticulture instructor at Southeastern Community College, said the first step is good soil. And that's not something you're likely to find in your backyard.

"Around here, we have a lot of clay and sandy soil, and you would want to buy soil that has peat moss and vermiculite," he said. "All these things drain well, and it's very easy for the roots to grow out. There's no fertility in the soil, so you'll have to fertilize it."

Vegetable gardens have been a popular pastime since man learned to stick a seed in the ground, but Ritter has noticed an increased interest in the hobby.

"We've geared our sales to anticipate more gardeners, and the trade shows have been emphasizing that a lot of people will have their vegetable gardens as part of the landscaping," Ritter said.

Ritter suggested tomatoes for first-time gardeners, and highly advised against planting sweet corn -- unless you have several acres of farmland.

"A lot of people think they can just plant sweet corn, but it takes a lot of space. Wind will blow it over unless it's in a field," Ritter said.

First-time gardeners also should note that tilling up their grassy yard probably won't make for a successful garden -- at least not for the first year.

"First-year gardens are hard to make more successful, because that ground was turf first. That same area had just had nitrogen poured on it," he said. "A lot of times, people just chew up their yards, and then they have a weedy garden. Make sure your garden is tilled up good."

Ritter said the two most common mistakes gardeners make are planting too early and watering plants in the evening. While many gardeners like to get a jump start in March or April by using cold frames to protect their plants at night, Ritter said those who wait until early May will find their vegetables quickly catching up to the early planters.

"You always have people who want to plant in mid-April, and they always have a plan to overcome it," Ritter said.

Watering plants in the evening is even more hazardous for their health.

"If you water in the morning, you'll do great. If you water in the evening, you're just asking for it," he said.

While plants grow in the day, fungus grows at night. Watering in the evening can cause the water to splash up onto the plant and carry with it a deadly disease. Mulching plants with newspaper or wood chips can help alleviate the problem, but night watering is still a risky project.

"If you mulch under your plants, you'll control it. "It (fungus) very rarely comes up through the roots," Ritter said.

Planting for health

All the gardeners interviewed agreed on one point -- growing your own vegetables is a much healthier alternative to buying them from a grocery store. According to Hoenig, they taste better, too.

"The taste is a hundred times better. I don't buy vegetables out of the grocery store," she said.

Ritter agreed, noting how popular local farmers markets have become in Iowa. With so many vegetable gardeners vying for the public's attention, the vegetables are also becoming more exotic in shape, color and variety.

"You don't see the same old green peppers and tomatoes. We're seeing a lot more trendy heirloom tomatoes, pear-shaped tomatoes, green onions, purple onions," Ritter said. "But by and large, they all taste pretty much the same."

Ritter noted those planting vegetables on ground covered by the Mississippi River from the flood of 2008 should beware.

"People ask me about that a lot. The volume and severity of the flood minimized the toxins. We planted grass seeds in the flood area with no problem. But for a vegetable garden, it might be something you need to look at," Ritter said. "You might want to have it tested. If it glows in the dark, you might not want to eat it."

But once gardeners get past the savings and the health benefits, there's still that intangible factor to gardening that can't be measured. Call it fun, call it relaxation -- some even say that growing a plant is a boost to the spirit.

"For a lot of people, it's stress relief, especially in times of people being sad and jobs going away. Event planting a flower is good for the soul," Hoenig said.