5 Easiest Ways to Start a Food Garden From Cheapest to Dearest

[Mandy Onderwater]

Mark has been growing food for coming on 2 decades. It meant the difference between surviving or going under.

In this video Mark will show us 5 of the easiest ways to start a food garden. Starting from the cheapest to the dearest.

1 - In ground
Tilling up a piece of dirt and sewing seeds into the soil is one of the simplest and cheapest ways. Humans have been using this trusted and true method for at least 23.000 years.
Mark's very first vegetable garden back in 2002 was a 6 foot square area in his courtyard surrounded by 4 wooden sleepers. He remembers growing a surprising amount of food in that small space, saying you can grow a ton of food in a relatively small amount of space.

2 - Containers
Mark could barely contain his excitement because growing in containers is one of the easiest ways to grow. Growing in containers means you can more easily control your growing medium. It's a very friendly way of gardening for beginners especially, as all you need is a container [click here for examples] and some soil. Filling your pot with some quality commercial potting mix means the pot is ready to be planted in, as it will already have the base nutrients needed.
Container gardens allow for growing in various locations, like on patios, contained areas of the garden, even on walls, and much more! On top of that, you can move the containers as needed, making it an amazing growing medium for renters, as you could take your plants with you upon moving.

3 - Raised Planters
Whilst some of us immediately think of the tall raised beds Mark uses, it doesn't mean that. Raised planters (or elevated gardens) are larger containers, allowing you to grow more at a higher elevation. This means you do not need to bend over as much, might allow for more sunlight and better airflow, and it's more convenient for our lesser abled population. It saves you having to kneel down and bend over, saving your back from damage, and perhaps the struggle of getting back up. Raised planters can be reasonable portable, with some even being on wheels.
Whilst yes, they are often more on the pricier range, they are often made of quality material and often look great too. They allow for any and all ages to garden, and are great to keep planting even when becoming lesser abled.

4 - Wicking Beds
A wicking bed is similar to a candle wick; it wicks up the liquid for the flame to be allowed to burn. In similar concept, this allows the plants to wick up water so they can have a drink whenever they want. Wickign beds are growing in popularity, as it allows to self-water (to an extent). We all know the heartbreak when a plant dies because you forgot to water it for a little while. Wicking beds contain a water reservoir in the base of the bed, below the crop. This allows the plants to stay hydrated for a week - or perhaps even longer. Wicking beds can be bought commercially and built DIY.
Wicking beds mean the plants don't need to be watered overhead anymore, which could normally cause diseases (think; fungal), plus it saves on water as it doesn't evaporate as fast.

5 - High-sided Raised Beds
Mark loves all methods of gardening, but this is his absolute favourite. It's the most expensive way to garden, as the material can cost quite a bit. You have to buy/build the walls, but also the fill needed to fully fill these beds. Whilst there are many ways to 'cheapen' this, they can take a long time.
Mark loves Birdies Raised Garden Beds as they come in many designs, the material is safe for food growing, the beds last for decades (some of Mark's beds being 17 years old) without rusting or rotting, they are raised and make it easier to garden, the depth allow for hugelcultur gardening, they are deep enough to bury food scraps in to, and if it rains it still allows the plants to have enough drainage.
Whilst they have a relatively high initial cost, you don't need to buy 10 at a time. You can buy 1, and then another later when you have the money. And with their longevity, it means you don't have to buy new products every year or so, other than perhaps a top-up of fertilisers or soil.

BONUS METHOD 1 - Hydrophonics
The main reason Mark doesn't recommend this method in this video, is because it isn't easy. Hydrophonic gardening means growing your veggies in water, rather than soil. Whilst there are small easy-to-use setups readily available, growing veggies this way in scale can be harder. You need to have a good understanding of mixing chemicals, how different vegetables grow in relation to water, and spend a lot of money on good equipment. Plus, not everything will grow in liquid, giving more restrictions.
[Moderator add: please check member @daveb his posts on this method, as he is amazing at it.]

BONUS METHOD 2 - Aquaphonics
This method also grows plants in water, but is considered even harder. This is because you're not only growing plants, you're also growing/breeding fish; using their circulated waste as fertiliser for the plants. The plants and the fish have this almost symbiotic type of relationship. However, building and maintaining this method requires specific knowledge in fish and growing plants in water, and then combining them.




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[Grandmother Goose]

My take on all these for myself and my garden...

In ground
HAHAHA no. Except for trees and some native ornamentals that don't need to be fussed over, everything else needs to be up off the ground for me. In-ground gardning is for young fit healthy people, the demographic of which I am no longer part of.

Containers
Small pots dry out much too fast here, but big ones seem to do just fine so long as they're clustered together to keep each other cool or kept in the shade, depends on the plant and the purpose. Good for plants that need to dry out between waterings such as cacti, and some hardy native orchids. Also good for temporarily babysitting a plant until it gets its permanent in-ground or in-bed home, or for restricting its growth so it doesn't take over the whole yard.

Raised Planters
Same as containers, but fancier and off the ground. Can also just put container/pot plants on a shelf or a table to get much the same effect.

Wicking Beds
I've never been able to get a wicking bed, pot, or planter to work as well as the claims state it should. It has only ever given the plants an extra hour or so of survival on a hot day before they completely dry out and die if no water falls timely from the sky, hose, or watering can. I keep most of my hanging plants in self-watering wicking pots to give them the most chance of not fully drying out between daily waterings, but it just means I only have to water them once a day (or twice on very hot days) instead of two or three times a day (and more often on hot days).

High-sided Raised Beds
Big tick of approval for this one, also the lower raised garden beds, they don't have to be tall ones, so long as they're tall enough that I don't have to reach below my knees.

Hydrophonics
I've never had any interest in growing anything in this way. I can't even express why, it just seems to be too involved, too limiting, and too dull.

Aquaphonics
As much as hydroponics doesn't appeal to me, I do like aquariums. I have a couple of good sized fishtanks, currently unused, but later I do plan on setting at least one of them up as a "no tech" aquarium, which requires aquaponics as the plants act as the filters. I wouldn't try to set up anything big that way though, just a few houseplants and some lettuce in a fishtank with some guppies is enough for me.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I like seeing how things work differently in different situations.
In the Netherlands, temperate and with plenty of rain, on top of clay soil... nothing would ever dry out. That'd hardly ever be an issue where I lived. Even potted plants wouldn't dry much. Only the very tall, skinny clay pots would actually dry due to the amount of sun and waterloss.
I think in-ground gardening might also be a much bigger struggle in too sandy a soil in hot climates. Water drains before the plant can even soak it up! Not that this can't be amended, but it'd be hard.

For container gardens... that's what I'm doing! I like keeping my pots in a deep saucer, and water until the saucer nearly overflows. That usually helps my plants out a lot as water doesn't evaporate nearly as quickly, and they actually have a chance at a drink. I've also got a large rectangular saucer with decently high walls that I keep a variety of small pots in. Probably about 10 small pots, and one large one. Those I usually water by just filling the saucer though. Such a charm. Especially with seedlings.

 

[Grandmother Goose]

That usually helps my plants out a lot as water doesn't evaporate nearly as quickly, and they actually have a chance at a drink.

That's why timing watering matters as well. Many plants do most of their growing during the night, they absorb light during the day, use that to build up their energy stores, then during the night they use that stored energy to grow, and respirate, and they need water during the night to do that. Also during the night evaporation is lower due to the temperature being lower. Thus, when living in a hot dry climate during summer, the best time to water is early evening, to give the plants a chance overnight to absorb all the water they need to help them recover from the heat of the day, and get them hydrated well enough to get through the next hot day. Watering plants in the middle of the day can also be needed but it's less about giving the plants water to hydrate, and more about cooling down the plants, mulch, and soil. But, water like that in most other places and you'll give your plants root rot.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

True. I don't usually fill to the brim in Winter, when it's less hot and doesn't evaporate as quickly. In Summer I might fill the saucers/basins daily.