How to become MLG (Major League Gardener)

~garfield4eva69

#Tipz and Trickz for those who crave plant

So, I work in a garden centre. I love plants. they rule. I know shitall about computers, but I joined Gemini for the sole purpose of writing a gardening blog (or phlog as you cool cats say). I like to learn about plant care, sustainability, and getting to M O N C H on some veggies after a few weeks of TLC feels some good. I would like to share to you some hackz to (probably) successfully grow some food for yourself this summer, in a way that can be lots of fun!

##Picking your plants

Honestly, this is one of my most favourite parts of gardening. I've already blown like 40.00$ in seeds alone, getting ready for this year. Despite it not getting warm (15C) here till June-ish, I always start seeds indoors early. There are a few ways to do this, with varying levels of difficulty and automation. I do a little bit of everything. Some plants do better than others in certain systems.

Anyways, Picking seeds is a pretty open game. I always aim for edible plants that can store well (Root veggies like carrots and turnips), things that'll pickle well (cabbage, cucumbers) and things that I'll enjoy cooking and eating during the summer (strawberries, hot peppers). Another good option, especially for those who want a challenge, is picking plants to min/max nutritional value.

Basically TLDR; Beans (or any lentils), sweet potato, leafy greens. There's all kinds of options though! It's fun to pick a combo that'll allow you to eat basically for free.

##Easy Indoor Stratz

Ok. so not everyone has access to land suitable for gardening. It's a very obvious class divide, as people in apartments, shared housing, or even large urban areas with food deserts often have nowhere one can put up plants. But that's ok! While you may have a smaller scale, gardens can easily be grown indoors! Most commonly with water (Hydroponics) but container gardening is easy too! A lot of it is made DIY, but there are some kits you can get.

###Prebuilts & Kits

Ok, so honestly, I really DO NOT recommend any kit or prebuilt. Sure they're convenient, but you are paying double for it AT LEAST. I went whacky at work couple of weeks ago cause we were selling a hydroponic system for 250.99$ but I could build it for 90.00$ easily. Most DIY's don't even need tools, or if they do, very basic ones. The only exception would be an

Which are honestly pretty good and easy, albeit expensive. They are ready to go out of the box. I quite like mine for tea herbs; I just pick some leaves off when needed and gg.

###DIY oh my

This is the way to go, honestly. There's so much you can do to customize your shit. The simplest form (and quite easy) is Kratky Hydroponics. You can build one for like, cheap. To do so, you'll need

• Big tote (I use the black & yellow ones from Home Depot)
• Water obviously
• Grow cups (they're like 0.75$ at nurseries)
• Plant food (hydroponic specific stuff)
• Rockwool or clay balls (also can get at nurseries)
• One of those tools that cuts in a circle, or a knife doesnt matter
• 24h timer
• grow light

Ok so you wanna cut holes in the lid of your tote, the size of the grow cups, so they can sit in the holes. Fill the tote with water, all the way to the top. fill the cups with the rockwool or the clay balls, and slap your seeds in there. Set the timer for the grow light for 16 hours on, the rest off. Badda Bing Badda Boom ur done. After 2ish weeks add some nutrients, then 1-2 times monthly after that. The way this works is the water level depletes as plants soak up the water, creating air space between the water and the lid. this allows plants to have both air roots and water roots. pretty convenient.

##Anyways

Ok that was a lot of text to tell you basically nothing oh well I had fun writing it. I think plants fuckin rule and are fun to work with. I hope people have a kickass growing season this year.