Get Seeds

New to Gardening

Are you new to gardening? You'll want to have some basic guidance before you put your hands in the soil.
Here is the Absolute Beginner's Gardening Class Presentation slides. 

Sunlight Requirements
Determine how much sunlight the space you want to grow gets at this time of year?
Most plants want at least 6-8 hours of sunlight. Many will not do well if they don't get enough sun, such as squash, beans, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes.  

Partial shade 
If you have a place that gets partial sun, 2-6 hours of direct sunlight and the rest is lightly shaded, you can grow arugula, beets, carrots, celery, chard, leaf lettuce, scallion, sorrel, and spinach. 

Learn about Gardening

You'll want to understand your soil, water requirements, and how to manage pests. Here are some ways to get help:
1. Read the Contra Costa Master Gardeners free e-book, Vegetable Gardening: Handbook for Beginners.
2. Find a friend or neighbor that you can video chat with and talk about your garden. You can do virtual tours of each other's gardens.
3. Take an online class about gardening. The Oregon State Master Gardeners have a 4-6 hour, self-paced vegetable gardening class that is free for the month of April 2020.
4. Golden Gate Gardening is a great resource that is specific to our area. 
5. Learn about seed saving. Everyone can easily save quality seeds from tomatoes, lettuce, peas, arugula, cilantro, and beans. Here is are two free e-books to get you started. 
These plants prefer full sun, but will tolerate light to partial shade: bush beans, summer squash, and  bush tomatoes that are adapted to cool regions (ex. San Francisco Fog and Siberian varieties) and some cherry tomatoes.

Deeply shaded or fully shaded
If the space receives no direct sun, it is not the place to grow your vegetables. 


What plants should I grow?
There some guidelines:
  • Grow things that you like to eat.
  • Find out if it grows well in this area and when to plant it. Refer to the What to Plant Now list.
  • Determine what are your reasons for gardening. For example, if it is to bridge a food gap then your might want to plant more nutrient dense foods, such as spinach instead of lettuce, and a lot of squash and corn. 
  • Know what grows and doesn't grow in your area. Ask neighbors that are gardeners what works and doesn't work. For example, many places in the East Bay don't get enough heat to have large, beefsteak tomatoes. So find a variety that has smaller fruit. Watermelon and okra are also heat loving and don't typically do well here.

Starts or Seeds?
There are pros and cons of buying starts (little baby plants) or planting seeds.
Starts
Pros: The plants will already be several weeks old and this will save you time because they will be ready to harvest earlier. They don't need to be pampered as much.
Cons: It costs more. The COVID-19 virus can live on plastic for 3-days so make sure you wear gloves and sanitize the container or keep it out for 3-days before touching it when you get home.

Seeds
Pros: There are a lot more varieties available from seed. It is cheaper. You get the satisfaction, awe, and pride of growing something from seed.
Cons: It will take longer to get a harvest. Sometimes there is poor germination or pests get your seeds and then you lose more time because you have to replant.


Gardening on a Budget

1. Tools: Borrow a shovel from a neighbor to get your garden bed started. You could also put a request on Nextdoor if anyone has any gardening tools that they would be willing to give you.
2. Seeds: To get started you can get seeds from the seed library. However, you will eventually want to learn to save your own seeds. Then you'll have seeds for next year and can share some with friends.
3.  Free Hacks for your Garden

Tips for Starting Seeds

It is often helpful to start seeds in trays or little containers first. Here is a way to make little container for your plants or you can use a toilet paper roll, if you were able to find any TP in the store. (You may want to read this article from the Natural Resource Defense Council called  The Issue with Tissue. You may be inspired - or of necessity - switch to pee rags. Have a clean pile of rags cut from flannel sheets or cotton. Use once and then put in a basin for used rags and just wash them with your laundry.) 

Starting plants in trays or little containers requires less watering. It also makes it easier to protect the young plants from birds. You find mesh or a wire basket and flip it over. Just make sure the plants get enough sunlight.

Here are some tips:
  • Use clean containers, such a the toilet paper rolls or wash any plastic containers you may have.
  • Label your containers now! It's easy to forget what you planted. Include the variety, species and date. Ex. Early Wonder Beets, 4/14.
  • Fill the container with pre-moistened soil. It should be damp like a rung out sponge.
  • Plant your seed according to the depth indicated on the package. If you are getting seeds from a seed library, you may not be getting this information. So look online for specific depths. A general rule is that the seed goes about twice as deep into the soil as the seed is high. Peas might go an 1" down where lettuce, which is a small seed, will be closer to the surface.
  • Water new seeds gently. If you put too much pressure on, the seeds will get displaced or fragile seedlings can get uprooted.
  • If the pot is small, you can move the seedlings to a larger pot once they get their second pair of leaves. Water them well and keep out of direct sun for a few days. This will allow them to get established in their new pots and recover from the shock.  
  • Young seedlings are susceptible to drying out and dying. Make sure you water them well, but gently.
Soil Testing

There are many reasons why people test their soil. One is to get a snapshot of the minerals and nutrients in the soil. If you have a house that was built before the 1970s, you may want to make sure that soil near the house is lead-free.

You can get your soil tested, including a test for heavy metals, easily and inexpensively by taking a sample and sending it with a check to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  

Container Gardening

Sometimes you can't put a garden in the ground because it's not your property or you want to grow something but don't have time to dig up a bed. Container gardening is a great way to go. You can also move the containers around to get more sunlights.

Plants that work well in containers
Tips
  • Choose the right soil. Call up a local nursery and tell them what you want to do and they can recommend the right type of soil. Soil from your garden can be used, but it is more likely to dry up quickly. 
  • Look at the information about "Sunlight Requirements" and plant the appropriate plants for the amount of sunlight the area receives.
  • Don't let the pots dry out. Soil in pots will dry out faster than soil in the ground. You may need to water every other day if it is hot once plants are established. When the seeds are just planted, you may need to water a little in the morning and night.
  • Use an organic fertilizer to get the best production. Ask a local nursery what type of fertilizer they recommend for the plants you are growing in pots and how much and how often you should fertilize.
  • The size of the container will vary based on what you are growing. A tree or a squash will need a larger container, such a half barrel, compared to lettuce or basil. 

What Do Different Seeds Look Like?

Just like you may look like your parents. Some seeds look similar to other ones because they are in the same family. For example, kale and mustards in the Brassica family. Some common vegetables are even the same species! For example, beets and chard are the same species. The plants look different because over time some people saved for roots and other people saved seeds for the leaves. You can eat beet greens! 

Old Seeds: Are They Okay?

PictureThese seeds are packed for 2014.
Seed companies have to put a date stamp on their seeds once they put them in individual packets, and legally they can only be sold for the year they were packaged in. For home gardeners, and for thousands of years, we did not throw our seeds out at the end of the year. However, it is helpful to know how likely your seeds are to germinate (sprout). Different types of plants will be good for different amounts of times. Also, the way you store your seeds can decrease their viability (ability to live). Storing seeds in a cool, dry location is best. 
If you save seeds, it is always helpful to write the year you saved the seeds. If you purchased the seeds, look at the packet for the year. Then look at this Seed Saving Chart. Look at the column labeled "Seed Life."

According to the chart, carrots seeds are good for 3 years, but the seeds above are 6 years old. 
If you can get new carrot seeds, then you might want to in order to ensure you get a crop. However, if you can't buy seeds, then plant more than the packet recommends assuming that some won't germinate. Hopefully, you'll get at least some. 

Strategy: If the seeds a little old, plant extra seeds. 

Grow Vertical!

Ideas on how to create trellises

Tips for Specific Crop

Squash & Cucumbers
Tomatoes