One of the things the confines of lockdown helped us realise was the importance of the space we surround ourselves with, what we do with that space and how to maximise it. Along with baking, urban gardening has blossomed over recent months as an economic way to grow your own food, invest in our health and for some, the therapeutic benefits gardening can be associated with.
One person who knows a thing or two about urban gardening is Ron Finley – a man who doesn’t just call himself the "Gangsta Gardener" for no good reason. When he started to plant food on the sidewalk outside his home in Los Angeles in 2010, he not only received a citation for gardening without a permit, but also a warrant for his arrest. He fought back and received permission to keep his garden, starting a gardening movement to promote urban gardening.
With spring in full swing, we recently spoke to the Gangsta Gardner himself to find out what basic tips he can offer people starting a garden for the first time or people looking to do more with their green fingers.
Is not having green fingers really a thing?
That’s not a thing. We all have green fingers because we are all carbon, we come from the earth and where do we go back to? We turn into soil. Everybody has green hands – you just have to put them to use. Mother Nature does everything else, we just are helping. It’s not just a hobby – it’s a life skill that we all should have. We all should know how to grow, harvest and cook our [own] food.
If one is starting out, what fruit or vegetables are easy to get going with?
Lettuce or any type of leafy green. One of the simplest and fastest things you can do is radishes because they come up pretty fast. But you can’t get any simpler than lettuce or things like that. Start with sunflowers. You can grow those and also eat the seeds.
Should one try to control garden pests naturally or use pesticides?
Everything naturally – this is going into your body, so what do you want in your body? Do you want pesticides and chemicals in your body or do you want nature in your body? No pesticides – they’re killing the soil. The bottom line is, it gets into the water stream and it gets into our bodies and wreaks havoc. You can make all kinds of home solutions with things from your garden. Things like neem oil are natural ways [to repel pests].
Should people be daunted by the idea of starting their own compost heap?
No. I’m going to refer to the forest. The system is made to compost. When that leaf falls to the ground it becomes mulch and after the mulch process is not needed it turns into compost. Compost is something we should all be doing. You can dig a hole and put all your scraps in there – it’s going to break down. If you don’t have that, you can build or buy a composter but the bottom line is compost is going to happen. You don’t need money and confinements.
Do you need to necessarily have worms in your compost heap or can you just let nature take its course?
You don’t have to but it is a good thing, it helps to break it down. Worms are definitely one of nature’s big helpers because they break down food, they aerate soil – they do a lot of work.
If you’re starting a compost heap but don’t have any compost for your plants yet, is it advisable to use some sort of a plant food to aid in your plants’ growth?
Oh yes, definitely. There are all kinds of natural plant foods such as animal fertiliser: worm poop, cow poop, horse poop. All of these things add nitrogen to your soil which is one of the building blocks of the plant. There are definitely things you can buy in the store to help your plants.
What’s a good rule of thumb in terms of watering your plants?
A good rule of thumb is to have a couple of inches of mulch on top of your garden bed – at least two inches (5cm). It’s like a sponge and it’s going to keep the moisture in the soil for longer because the sun takes a while to get through the mulch – if it does. With vegetables, they like water so you want to keep them moist, you don’t want the soil to dry out. A good rule of thumb is when you’re watering and it’s in a pot, water until the water comes out the bottom of the pot and then stop. Another rule is if you put your finger in the soil and go down one, two inches and it’s dry, you need more water.
Would you recommend having some form of water catchment system to catch water when it rains?
When it rains everything just seems to liven up and you don’t get that instant reaction when you water from the hose. Right now I’m sitting in a swimming pool – my garden is in a swimming pool. The catchment is the deeper end. I have a pump and when it rains and even when I water – because a lot of water runs off – I catch it with the pump and I pump it up into the other plants. I store water in barrels, especially rain water. But yes, you should have a catchment.
How should people be paying attention to seasonality?
Know what you’re planting and know when it’s supposed to go in. That’s easy – certain crops are not going to grow year round – it just doesn’t happen.
For more of Finley’s tips, you can watch his 10-part MasterClass (masterclass.com/classes/ron-finley-teaches-gardening) in which he goes into more detail, including knowing what soil to plant in; how to grow greens, legumes, sweet potatoes and herbs; increasing your garden’s bounty; creating your own planters and how not to kill your plants
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