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Growing Your Own Food

Growing Your Own Food

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On this page:

Select Your Site
Prepare Your Soil
Choose What to Grow
Plant & Maintain Your Garden

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Lush tomato plant fills image with wire cage supporting a tomato plant stem loaded with green and red tomatoes.
Bright crisp carrots, tomatoes, and broccoli arranged on dark background.
A green garden: the bottom third of photo is filled with a dozen orange and red marigold flowers, a reddish brown chicken stands next to green tomatoes mixed in with flowers
Wooden raised bed fills bottom half of picture. In the raised bed a sparse clumps of green clover stand up against yellow dry straw covering soil with occasional dirt clods on top.

Growing your own food is empowering.

Growing food in your own garden can provide day-to-day access to fresh fruits, vegetables, medicinals, and herbs. It can also connect you to new people, improve your diet, and save you money.

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Select your site:

Close-up of person placing new plant in terra cotta pot in the foreground and someone else with blue shirt standing and potting in the background

Do you have access to outdoor space at your home?

An ideal garden spot:

  • Is south-facing (with minimal shade)
  • Has space in the ground away from competing roots
  • Has plenty of room around plants to keep air flowing
  • Is accessible for routine watering and weeding

If space is limited, start small. Consider planting a windowsill herb garden or planting in containers. If you have more room and access to soil, you can create an in-ground or raised garden bed.

In-ground beds Expand

Urban garden with mulched paths and diversity of vegetable plants, with grey building in background.

Grow your plants directly in the ground. You'll use the soil that is on site. This is a good option if you are confident in the quality of the soil and want to make fewer purchases to start.

Raised beds Expand

West Union School Garden with sign reading "Organic Science Garden No Spraying"

Raised beds are a good option if you have a physical limitation or are concerned about soil contamination. Raised beds can be shaped mounds or framing material containing garden soil you bring to the site.

Learn more with the Growing Your Own Guide.

Container garden Expand

Close-up of person placing new plant in terra cotta pot in the foreground and someone else with blue shirt standing and potting in the background

Container gardens are good if you have smaller, sunny spaces. They may take more frequent watering and fertilizing, but they can move with you. Watch our three minute Container Gardening how-to video.

Note: When moving soil or plants you always want to be aware of pest movement restrictions and local quarantines. Learn more from the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

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Prepare your soil:

Dark brown boot pushes down on shovel into damp soil

Healthy plants depend on healthy roots and the right soil. Good soil will hold water and nutrients, allow excess water to drain through, and break apart easily to allow roots to grow.

Many urban gardens will need to make improvements to the soil before planting. Soils may be unhealthy due to compaction or pollutantsPollutants A substance that has negative effects on the environment..

You can improve the soil's physical structure by adding amendments (e.g. compost) and physically breaking it up with tools and elbow grease.

Start thinking about soil for your garden Expand

Make a plan for healthy soil before you put plants in the ground.

The Growing Your Own Guide provides tips for how and when to prepare your soil. Container gardens and raised beds will require new soil or potting mix which can be costly but requires less troubleshooting to build up healthy soil.

Getting to know your soil Expand

Knowing your soil’s chemical, biological, and physical properties will help you know what to change. Learn the differences between healthy and unhealthy soil on our Healthy Soil webpage.

Improve the soil with amendments Expand

Whether you have sticky, wet clay soil or dry, gritty sandy soil, a new garden bed will benefit from adding organic matter before planting. Organic matter, such as compost, mulch, manure, straw, or leaves, adds carbon and nutrients that help build soil structure.

Planting a tough cover crop like crimson clover or fava beans can help keep soil healthy over the winter. Cover crops help maintain soil structure and improve habitat for soil microbes that help make nutrients available for plants.

As a quick fix, you can use a tiller or broadfork to break up the soil and mix in organic matter just before planting in the spring.

  • Be aware – urban spaces may have soil contaminants

    Pollution can affect the health of your garden, even years after the initial soil contamination. You may want to conduct soil testing if the site has ever been associated with industrial properties, agricultural lands with pesticide use, dry cleaners, gas stations, landfills, major highways and heavily trafficked areas, or older homes with lead deposits from paint and plumbing fixtures.

    If you aren’t sure what’s in your soil, check out this factsheet to learn more about Soil Testing Services..

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Choose what to grow:

Girl with striped shirt reaches hand into raised bed, examining seedlings
  • Grow food you like to eat!

  • Consider high-value crops

    Growing crops like salad greens, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and hard-to-find produce can help you save money at your next grocery store visit. 

  • Select crops that grow well in your area

    Most seed packets indicate the best time and conditions to plant, based on where you live. Washington County is in USDA Hardiness Zones 8a and 8b. Regional planting calendars, like the Growing Your Own Guide or the Portland Nursery Veggie Calendar, can help you determine the best time to plant and help you pick food that grows well in our area.

Free Seed Resources

Banks residents can access free seeds at the Banks Seed Library.

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Plant & maintain your garden:

table piled with leafy greens on top of white towel laying alongside watering can, yellow gloves and hori hori

Establish your garden

For almost any garden you'll want a pair of gloves, shoes or boots that can get dirty, a weeding and planting hand tool (such as a hori hori), a shovel, and shears.

Find your local plant nursery or landscape supply store to gather your gear, soil, seeds, and plants. Watch for affordable local plant sales.

Learn how to start plants of all shapes and sizes with our Let’s Get this Garden Started guide. You can level-up your gardening and save money by starting seeds at home.

Maintain your garden

Use a gardening calendar with timely reminders for key garden chores:

To keep your garden happy and healthy:

  • Keep plants watered

  • Cut off dead or dying leaves

  • Remove weeds that crowd your plants

  • Support tall plants with stakes and trellises

  • Fertilize and mulch plants

  • Protect plants from frost and extreme heat

  • Manage pests

    Resource: A Pocket Guide to Common Natural Enemies of Nursery Crops and Garden Pests in the Pacific Northwest

Enjoy your harvest

Check on your garden regularly (especially during hot weather events) and enjoy your harvest! You may find that there’s more to eat than what you would buy in a grocery store: carrot tops, radish greens, and squash flowers to name a few. There are so many ways to be creative with your harvest – enjoy!

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Resources – Become a Garden Expert:

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  • Read about it

    Grab your favorite mug of coffee or tea and sit down to read this Oregon State University guide to starting a garden: Growing Your Own.

    See the publication
  • Watch the Food Hero video series

    Oregon State University’s Food Hero program has a full video series: Stay at Home Gardening. These videos answer common garden questions. 

    Watch videos
  • Take a course with Oregon State University

    Through the online Urban Agriculture program, you’ll receive a personalized start-to-finish roadmap for growing the crop of your choice in your unique site! Free self-paced courses and instructor-led courses (for a fee) are available.

    Learn about the Course
  • Ask a Washington County Master Gardener

    The Washington County Master Gardeners Association provides answers and advice to new and experienced gardeners. 

    Ask a Master Gardener
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