stacey murphy Archives - Grow Your Own Vegetables

Why Water Retention is Important for Our Vegetable Gardening

Water is the life support system of this earth. It’s what makes everything possible. Watch the video below and learn why it is important to us and future generations of vegetable gardeners.

The Earth’s surface is 75% water, similar to our bodies. Some of our organs, like our lungs, are up to 90% water. Without water, we can’t even breathe. Without water, we can’t live.

Our plants are much the same: water is vital. It’s important that we make sure that there is water around for years and years to come. Water retention is about holding water in our landscape systems so that future generations can benefit from those systems and be able to grow food.

The oceans are 97% of the earth’s water. The remaining 3% is fresh water. That means that there’s a very small fraction of water that’s available for us to use to water our vegetable gardens. Of that 3% fresh water, much of it is in a frozen state, in glaciers and ice caps, and some of it is in the groundwater.

There is this little teeny bit, this 1%, that’s accessible surface fresh water. A small part of that is what is available as a means to naturally irrigate our crops. Since a very small percentage of water is actually available to us, we want to conserve as much as possible and be very aware of our water usage.

Now, let’s link water retention and its importance to global warming and climate change. With global warming, we’ve been seeing high temperatures all across the globe in the last couple of years. What’s happening is that the earth is sweating as a response. Basically, when water is in its ice state or in its liquid state, it starts to melt and then it starts to evaporate into the air. That’s what the earth is doing, It’s trying to cool itself off. That’s what we do when we try to cool ourselves off; we sweat. As a response to all of the sweating, more and more water is in the vapor state.

And what does that lead to? It leads to larger storm events like hurricanes. There’s much more vapor in the air creating cloud formations; different currents of vapor create different storm conditions, like tornadoes, etc.

What does this mean for us as vegetable growers? In the future, there will be some changes when we’re gardening. It might not happen all at once, but it’s important for us to understand. Many crops are going to benefit from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations because that’s how they photosynthesize, They will benefit from low levels of warming in areas where it’s cooler. But where temperatures are already high, more warming is going to negatively impact growth and yields. We know that plants stop growing and stop yielding when they start to get above 86 °F (30 °C) hat’s one way in which our gardening is going to shift, these extreme weather events will likely reduce crop yields.

Another negative impact is that weeds, diseases, insects and pests love warmth. These are all increasing with warmer weather. The biggest thing you might notice, and maybe you’ve already noticed where you are located, is that your growing zone may change and your soil may change as a result of changing weather.

These are things to have our eye on. They aren’t going to change overnight, but being able to conserve water and retain as much moisture as we can in our soil will reduce the amount of climate change that is happening. This is our contribution.

Watch Stacey’s Masterclass Trainings FREE on YouTube:

Vegetables & Herb Plants 101: Plant Biology and Lifecycle
Masterclass: 10 Garden Hacks for Small Plot Gardening

Have you noticed shifting weather in your area?
Share how it has impacted your gardening!

How to Measure How Much Sunlight Your Garden Space Gets

Watch the video below and learn how to observe key temperatures in your area and map the sunlight and shadows in your garden space for success!

All plants have ideal growing temperatures. Outside those optimum temperature ranges, plants become less productive, and growth grinds to a halt. Too far outside the zone, plants die. It’s crucial to know what temperatures your plants need and when those temperatures happen in your area!

Your vegetable plants need 6-8 hours of sunlight minimum to thrive. Measuring hours of sunlight and mapping your shadows BEFORE you dig or build your garden beds will ensure your plants’ success.

Download our complimentary shadow mapping template

Once you understand your climate, you can let Mother Nature do the work. She’ll even let you take the credit!

Watch Stacey’s Masterclass Trainings FREE on YouTube:

Vegetables & Herb Plants 101: Plant Biology and Lifecycle
Masterclass: 10 Garden Hacks for Small Plot Gardening

Share what shadow mapping has taught you about your garden space!

How One Ugly Carrot Started the Grow Your Own Vegetables Movement

One ugly carrot changed Stacey Murphy’s life forever. Watch the video or read Stacey’s story below to learn how the seed for Grow Your Own Vegetables first sprouted!

Stacey’s Story:

Years ago, I was working overtime as an architect in New York City. I was working on exciting projects like churches, libraries, and community centers. I had worked my whole life to get where I was, and you would think that I would be ecstatic.

But every day, I was feeling a little bit more disconnected from everything. I felt like a tourist in my own life, like I didn’t belong. And I especially felt disconnected from my food and my body.

I was trying to stay as healthy as I could. But to be honest, I was a little depressed and low energy. Maybe you can relate.

I was grabbing quick, convenient food all the time and rushing right back to my busy day. It was “healthy” food, but it was still convenience food, and I was just grabbing and going without thinking.

On the weekends, I would go to the farmer’s market. I would load up on organic, fresh food. It would keep me happy for a day or two…until I went back to work and forgot about it again.

Then on a crisp day in October, 2008, I bought carrots from one of the local farmers. The carrots were in a bag, and they were covered with a bunch of soil. Who does that? Who sells your food mixed in with a bunch of dirt? It’s so weird, right? Well, this farmer did. He told me that the carrots would stay fresh in the fridge longer and that they would taste sweeter.

The crazy thing is, he was totally right.

These ugly, dirty carrots were a miracle in my mouth. And at that moment, I had a flashback to growing up in my mom’s garden. I was so lucky. She had a gorgeous garden, and I remember discovering carrots underground, digging them up, and pulling them out. Just, “Wow, look at this,” and I ate the carrots before they were even washed. They had little flecks of crunchy soil on them.

How sweet and delicious those carrots from the garden were! As I sampled these carrots in this bag covered in dirt, I remembered my mom’s garden, and I knew that I had to get my hands dirty and start growing some food again.

To this day, I have to tell you, my mom says her memories of her garden are much different than my memories of her garden. She says that my memories are better. She still has this sort of garden shame around what it all looked like, and she was busy being tormented by tomato hornworm caterpillars.

But I saw something different. In my experience as a little kid, her garden was my own private science discovery show. It was full of mysteries to solve. It was where I learned to appreciate the finer things in life. I discovered the exact moment to pick peas for maximum sweetness. I chased butterflies, and I watched new seeds magically emerge from the ground into full-blown plants dripping with fruit. I watched and learned intently, and I asked lots of questions, like all curious kids do.

Years later, there I was, holding this bag of soil and carrots. And I had so many questions for this farmer. I felt so much curiosity about these beautiful-tasting carrots. It was a delightful rediscovery of the feeling of digging up your own carrots.

Suddenly, I felt connected, I felt healthy, and I felt whole again in ways that I hadn’t a long time. And that’s when I knew I was going to grow my own vegetables and herbs. My whole lens on life shifted, and I could never go back to the way life used to be because I had this big realization.

What I realized in that moment is that a garden, it’s not a thing. It’s a lifestyle. But even more than your garden being a lifestyle, it’s a feeling.

It’s not about what you’re actually growing. It’s not about your yield. It’s about who you’re becoming. And that day with the carrots, I suddenly remembered that I was this wild child and a part of nature. I loved the thrill of discovery in the garden. I remembered how great it felt to run barefoot. I wanted that feeling back. I wanted my own private science discovery channel again. I wanted to play in the dirt. I wanted to learn from my favorite teachers: the sun, the soil, the plants, and the insects. Simply making the decision to grow my own food, I already felt connected to the feelings of health, vitality, and most of all, peace.