It’s May, and here in Ohio that means we are all gearing up for Gardening Time! Well, those of us with “green thumbs” that is. Almost everybody likes the idea of growing their own food or pretty flowers BUT almost nobody likes the idea of constant weeding, fertilizing, watering and then saggy, sad plants. Is it really worth it to spend 100 hours of labor over the Summer to save $2.13 on a handful of veggies?

Then there’s all the gardening books, and websites, and stores and on and on… it’s overwhelming! It’s tempting to just throw the towel in and let someone else have the joy of growing something delicious and/or beautiful.

Well, I am here to tell you that gardening can actually be fun and simple! While you might not start the next trendy suburban farm and go off the grid, you can definitely grow some things at home no matter what color your thumb is! Do you want to grow pretty flowers? You don’t have to be a royal Duke or Duchess to have a pretty, fulfilling flower garden. So let’s get right to it!

Some easy food to grow:

First thing’s first: you gotta have something to grow your plants in! You can go big and get full raised garden beds at hardware stores, but you can also go small: get a couple of deep pots. There are so many pretty and functional ones to choose from at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Oakland, Straders… pretty much everywhere with plants sells pots! If you’re growing food, look for pots with at least 20” diameter. You can ask the staff there what they’d recommend to grow tomatoes in.

Next, you have to fill that pot with soil… soil that your food will actually want to grow in! Without getting too technical, you want soil that has nutrients in it. You’ll want potting soil. I like Happy Frog, but almost any kind will do for the plants I’m suggesting below. Here’s some math for how much potting soil to get: an average bag of potting soil is 50 quarts which equals 1.67 cubic feet. Don’t run away, this will make sense in a second! 1.67 cubic feet is roughly 2,900 cubic inches. The volume of a typical 20” pot is about 5,000 cubic inches. Assuming you won’t fill you pot to the brim, you’ll need about 1.5 bags of potting soil per 20'“ pot. (If you’re buying the pot and soil at the same time, you can also just ask the staff how much you’ll need!)

Okay, now for real this time: Here are some easy food plants to grow

The following plants have always performed well for me in the school gardens with very little upkeep. We never sprayed pesticides on them (please don’t), and we never added fertilizer.

Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes are crazy (in a good way)! They produce hundreds and hundreds of delicious little, pop-able tomatoes that make a great snack on their own, or in salads etc. I’ve grown these for years at our schools and the kids love them! They’re very easy to grow, they just need a spot that gets sunshine all day long. Seriously, I can’t recommend this plant enough… no fuss, ALL FOOD! Note: these will need a tomato cage to grow in! Those are cheap and available at every hardware store ever. Another Note: Tomato Hornworms might show up. These big caterpillars turn into beautiful moths! I like to recommend buying 1 cheap, expendible tomato plant… that way if you find hornworms on your plants, you can move them all to the extra one…. then you and your kiddo can enjoy watching the big guys munch and change!

There are a few different kinds of Basil I like to grow with the kiddos. There’s the standard Sweet Basil (sold everywhere), but if you go to the Straders, they’ve got a few other fun varieties such as Thai Basil and Lemon Basil. Lemon Basil tastes like Froot Loops! Basil is a great companion with the tomatoes I mentioned above for two reasons:

1. They actually help each other grow better! Gardeners everywhere like to plant them beside each other. You could plant a Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato plant in the middle of your big pot, and then plant multiple Basils around it!

2. They taste great together! Pop off a leaf of Basil, wrap it around a Cherry Tomato and voila: delicious appetizer! Add a Mozzarella ball if you’re feeling a bit extra fancy!

MINT! Now, anyone who knows anything about plants knows that all kinds of mint spread… like, crazy fast. So, I definitely recommend growing any and all food mints in a pot, usually by themselves. Big box stores typically only have Peppermint and Spearmint. If you want fun varieties, try Straders or Oakland Nurseries. I’ve found Strawberry, Pineapple, and kiddo-favorite Chocolate Mint and they’re amazing! The great thing about mint is that as long as you leave a few leaves on, you can sort of eat it to your heart’s content, it’ll grow right back!

A quick note about Ohio-native Mints: Ohio is blessed with multiple native mint plants! These can be bought at our local native nursery partners such as Leaves for Wildlife or Scioto Gardens. Mint species to look for (google the names below for fabulous pics):

• Clustered Mountain Mint- Vigorous grower, delicious and unique flavor, attracts many pollinators as well as beneficial wasps that DON’T attack people, but DO eat garden pests!

• Wild Bergamot- Pretty, fast growing plant. Attracts Bumblebees and Hummingbird Clearwing Moths! You can make a tea from the leaves.

• Scarlet Beebalm- Can grow in partial shade, has gorgeous red firework flowers that attract hummingbirds, and you can make a tea from its leaves as well!

• Wild Mint (Mentha arvensis)- I’m growing this for the first time this year, so I can’t recommend its flavor… BUT everything I read says it helps the bees and your belly! It is reported to eliminate harmful bacteria in your gut… and tastes good!

Fun and easy flowers:

If you’ve read any of my blog post before… you know where this is going: Native plants! Native plants are supposed to grow here, don’t need fertilizer, can handle our Ohio clay soil AND help the wildlife around us (and our mental health!). So, with all that said, here are a couple easy, pretty, and spreading native flowers you can buy at Leaves for Wildlife or Scioto Gardens. Be sure to ask them when you’re there about what they recommend (bring a picture of the spot you want to plant for specific advice):

• Native Sunflowers- There are many native sunflowers in Ohio. They’re all perennial (they come back every year) and they spread! They need all-day sun, and can tolerate most soil. You can plant these straight in the ground. Come late Summer, you can enjoy the many blooms, birds, butterflies and bees! They’re also allelopathic (this means they produce chemicals around them that fight off competing weeds).

• Wild Strawberry- These little guys spread quickly, have pretty late Spring flowers AND super sweet, little strawberries in early Summer! Eat them yourself or leave them for the critters!

• New England Aster- This purple beauty can grow in part shade, attracts Monarch butterflies and livens up any space in Fall! Any kind of aster is great… they’re a keystone plant, meaning they help LOTS of wildlife!

• The Native Mints above- Yes they’re edible BUT they’re also pretty and spread fast!

• Ohio’s Native Plants of Distinction- This year 4 of our native plants have been highlighted for use in yards! Check out this website for info on them AND all other things Ohio Native Plant-related!

“Yeah, helping the animals is awesome… but I don’t have time for that.”

If the above statement is you… good news! My friend Peter Harrington (owner of Native Landscaping & Consulting, LLC) will gladly come install a magical and beautiful wildflower area for you! He and I have worked together to design a truly amazing concept that will help your local wildlife AND be pretty all Summer-long! Check out my previous blog post for details! Multiple families at our schools have had him out… which makes me so happy thinking of all the wildlife and the magic moments our families will get to experience in their own backyards for years to come!

So there you have it! With a little bit of effort (but not too much) you CAN enjoy the benefits of some homegrown food and flowers. No tricky fertilizers and no dangerous pesticides needed! Have fun out there and share what you grow! You can tag me on instagram @jaredthenatureguy