Start Here:

1) Order your Teacher/Student Field Guides click here

2) Order your Garden Growing Supplies (see list below for list and links)

• Scroll to the bottom of this page for a month-by-month calendar

3) Read about recommended winter crops - click here

Garden Supplies

• Order Seeds, Covers, and Tools here: Johnny's Selected Seed

• Order Tunnels and Irrigation here: Farmer's Friend (We recommend the 14x50 gothic style hoop house pro which can be stretched to meet the 16x50 ft layout as described in Teacher’s Guide and 4 ft bow spacing. **Do not stretch to 16 feet if you live in a place that gets a heavy snow load, such a northern Michigan, Montana, etc.)

• Order Harvest Totes here: Global Industrial

• Order Deer Fencing (Tenax C Flex) here: Deer Busters (or at Home Depot)

  
  

Recommended Reading (clickable links)

 Yearly Plan

Click Here for a printable document with descriptions

Your first year of gardening will require the most prep work and we recommend starting in July or even earlier.  While this may seem overwhelming, good prep work will save you a lot of time and energy later on.  We highly recommend seeking help from a parent or church member in order to accomplish these tasks.  

*There are more details on how to do each of these things in the teacher’s guide

July

• Choose the size garden you plan to grow

• Choose the location for your garden

• Begin preparing the site

• Get a soil test (this tells you the quality of your soil and what you can do to fix it)

  • Kinsey Ag Labs

  • Fix My Soil

  • Your local extension office (ex. Michigan State University Extension office)

• Amend the soil to your soil test (your soil test should give recommendations for how to do this)

• Have a plan for how to cover your crops from frost if you live in an area where this is necessary

• Build necessary greenhouses, hoop houses, sheds, etc

• Choose what crops you will be planting and determine when you would need to plant

• Order seeds

• Order tools needed

• Update your board and sponsors

• Collect your volunteers

•  Watch "The Market Gardener's Toolkit" by either renting (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/marketgardener) it or buying it (https://www.amazon.com/Market-Gardeners-Toolkit-Jean-Martin-Fortier/dp/B01ER5H0BU). 

August 

• Start seeds according to your plan

• Implement a weed management plan

• Water seeds/seedlings regularly

• Update your board and sponsors 

*The rest of the calendar can be found in the Teacher’s Guide