"George.com" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
I'm single and have never had a food garden

Any advice on ways to have very small and easily
maintainable gardens?

And what could I grow? I'm in north Missouri.

have a look at
http://www.fbga.net/Lasagna%20gardening%202004.htm

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joom...agne_Gardening
http://journeytoforever.org/garden_sqft.html#size-shape

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joom...foot_gardening
you needent build as big and deep as the first article suggests, I
haven't,
however the step by step guide is very useful. You also needent buy
anything, can use any good readily biodegradable items. Get what you can
free such as used coffee grounds from a cafe, waste veges from a local
greengrocer, dried leaves, shredded paper from offices etc. This type of
garden can be made and fertilised very cheaply. If you can get hold of
free
animal poop use that as well. If you leave it for a few months ready for
next spring you will have a garden ready to plant in to. People who say
you
have to have peat moss to make a garden, or you need to buy compost, or
you
must have xyz fertiliser to grow abc type plants are either lying or
trying
to sell you something you can often get free or cheap elsewhere.

if you source enough free waste by products you likely don't need to buy any
fertilisers at all to grow vegetables. Your yield may be down a little if
you fail to add specific fertilisers to specific crops however they will
still grow without micro management. Animal poop contains Nitrogen,
Posphorous and Potassium (N-P-K). If you add enough the volume will make up
for low levels. Wood ash (untreated wood and no coal) and saw dust
(untreated) is high in K. Local fish mongers may have left over fish guts
and off cuts that are nicely balanced in N-P-K. Coffee grounds have a 3-1-2
mix of n-p-k. If you source it right and mix it right in a raised garden you
can get it all free. You can use the garden as a ready composter, throw it
all in and let nature break it down over months. This will occur either by
hot composting or cold composting. If using fish off cuts bury them to stop
animals and flys.

rob