DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO GROW?

SELECT THE BEST PLANTS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR HOME GARDEN.

- CHRISTOPHER NYERGES

During a seminar, one of the students asked, “What are the ‘best’ plants for planting in my own yard or garden? Can you tell me the top six plants I should grow?”

These seem like simple enough questions, but it’s really more akin to asking a life-long knife smith, “What’s the best knife?”

How can you really answer that question? Although I did (eventually) answer it, we had a lengthy discussion first.

WHAT ARE THE BEST PLANTS?

In order to answer this question, we first have to define what we want to get from the plants we decide to work with:

• Which plants are the most nutritious?

• Which plants are the most productive with the least amount of work?

• Which plants are easiest to grow (in your area), almost taking care of themselves?

• Which plants provide more than food, offering multiple uses such as fiber, medicine, soap or even fragrance?

There aren’t many plants that fulfill all these requirements. Most people begin by selecting the best food plants, meaning the crops that they enjoy and will grow in their area.

In general, I suggest you first make a list of everything you’d love to grow for food in your ideal garden. Then, whittle down that list, eliminating the plants that simply won’t grow in your area (such as bananas in Pennsylvania, for example). Ideally, keep as many native plants to your area as possible, because they’re already acclimated to your environment.