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The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.

Psalm 24: 1-2 (ESV)

What is stewardship? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, stewardship is, “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.” There is a recurring reminder in our church bulletin that states, “Stewardship is the free and joyous activity of the child of God’s family, the Church, in managing all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes.”

Stewardship is free and joyous. It is not just careful and responsible management that we should aim for, we should work with the understanding that stewardship is a gift. We should joyfully care for His creation (which is everything) for His glory and wisely manage our gardens. We don’t own them, God does, and He’s given them to us to steward.

So, how can we be good managers of our gardens? Let’s dig in.

Stewardship Tips for the Garden

Tend the Soil

Some sources say it’s of top priority to send a bit of your soil to a lab to find out your soil’s nutrient balance and alkalinity/acidity. While it would be interesting to see what chemical properties make up your soil, and beneficial for certain plants, it doesn’t give the full picture. There is an amazing ecosystem beneath your feet. There is so much more for us to discover, and researchers worldwide are actively exploring the complexities of different soils. It’s a wild little world down there, y’all. It’s a wild world above the soil, too, but I digress.

What you should do first, then, is to learn more about your soil texture. There are four major types: sand, silt, clay, and loam. Sandy soil is coarse, crumbly, and will run loosely through your fingers. Silt is a mixture of sand and clay – it’s soft, and you can form it into a smooth ball in your hand when wet. Clay is slippery, sticky, and can easily be formed into a tight ball. Loam is what I call Goldilocks soil because it’s just right. It’s crumbly, but not too crumbly. Soft, but not too soft. Loam is the ideal soil texture for your garden.

One thing we do know, is that nutrients in the soil can vary greatly from season to season, so the best thing you can do for your soil is add organic compost.

Feed the Soil

Feeding the soil means to give it good things that will not harm or overwhelm the soil ecosystem. The first thing you can do to feed the soil is to add compost.

Compost is a soil mixture loaded with nutrients from decomposed organic materials. It makes a fantastic amendment to garden soil in the fall to replenish nutrients lost from the growing season. Learn how to get your own compost pile started at home by taking a look at this guide from Iowa State University Extension.

After compost, the next best thing you can do to feed the soil is to rotate your vegetable crops. Rotating crops introduces different nutrients to the soil with every growing season. For example, following plants such as brassicas or tomatoes in one section of your garden should be followed with beans the next year. Beans help replenish nitrogen in the soil after other plants pull it out.

Crop rotation also decreases plant-specific diseases. For example, one year my tomatoes developed septoria leaf spot. SLC can overwinter in the plant materials & soil, so the next year I planted beans. In the third season I planted tomatoes in that spot again- no leaf spot in sight!

When you spend a good amount of time building up the health of your soil, you then need to protect it.

Protect the Soil

It is good stewardship to protect your garden soil. Using ground covers or mulch preserve it from erosion, harmful materials, and actually end up feeding the soil over time as the microbes and, well, all of the countless teeny tiny living things in the soil start to break down the materials.

What are some good ground covers for the garden?

• dye-free, organic wood mulch
• fall leaves
• organic grass clippings
• cover crops

I love using fall leaves in the garden. It could not be easier — gather the leaves, dump them evenly over the entire garden, and water them down. In the spring, I would rake whatever leaves remained in the garden into rows and use them to cover the soil until I had enough grass clippings to take over the job.

Choose Plants Wisely

Eat What You Grow and Share What You Don’t

I am all for planting new things every year. I love the experiment! However, when it comes to what we plant in our vegetable gardens, we should plant what we intend to eat. If your child loves cucumbers, grow a plant. If they love pickles, you might want to add some more! If you end up with a bumper crop of any plant that you don’t intend to eat or preserve, don’t let it go to waste! Share the goodness with family, friends, neighbors, or the local food pantry.

Add Native Plants

Enhance your garden (and dare I say, makes less work for yourself?) by adding native plants. Native plants are well adapted to the local climate and the soil. They’re typically drought-tolerant, low(er) maintenance, and offer many benefits to local wildlife.

Wondering what the best native plants are for your area? Check out this amazing resource about keystone native plants of the United States (listed by region) from the National Wildlife Federation.

Avoid Invasive Plants

While not all non-native plants are bad, some imported species are bullies that crowd our native plants and damage the diverse ecosystems that many living things depend on.

James Gagliardi, Horticulturist, Smithsonian Gardens

Remember: stewardship is responsible management. Avoiding invasive plants is base level when it comes to responsible management of our local land. As good stewards of our gardens we want to do our best to help our local ecosystems thrive and not get pounded by plants that take over. Invasives can destroy native plant species – making the wildlife that depends on those species get up & move on or stay and be forced to adapt to having less food or shelter.

The USDA National Invasive Species Information Center has a list of all of the invasive species in the United States. Check out the list of plants here – some of the species on this list might surprise you!

Plan for Pollinators

Pollinators need three basic things: food, water, and shelter. You can provide these things by planting nectar and pollen sources (see list of my favorites below,) adding a bird bath to your garden, and providing piles of stems, twigs, or patches of tall grass. They’ll use those spaces to rest, hide from predators, and build their nests.

Grow Companion Plants

I’m a big fan of companion planting. We like to be around friends and so do our plants! Why do they like to be planted by their companions, though? Check out this list:

• Larger plants can provide helpful shade which could minimize the chance of early bolting.
• Use tall, sturdy plants as a living trellis for smaller vining plants, such as the three sisters planting arrangement.
• Pollinators are invited in to spread pollen and improve the quality of crops. (Consider adding some of these plants!)
• Some plants improve soil health (such as beans) by adding nitrogen to the surrounding soil.
• Certain companion plants will help deter pests from your crops. Either by attracting the insects to themselves, or repelling them from the immediate area. Scroll to the bottom of this post for a list of common garden pests and the plants that repel them.
• Lower the chances of soil splash by using companion plants as living mulch.
• Companion plants help with biodiversity in the garden.

To learn more about companion planting and find specific vegetable plants and their companions, head over to the shop and download our free e-book How to Use Companion Plants in the Garden.

Care for Plants

Avoid Overplanting

There are two ways to look at overplanting. One, don’t bite off more than you can chew. In other words, don’t plant more than you can faithfully tend. If you’re a beginner, starting small can be a really good thing, because you can slowly fit stewarding a garden into your lifestyle and grow the space in consecutive years. Planting what you have the time and energy to care for if the best thing to do even for seasoned gardeners.

The other way to look at overplanting is to literally not overplant. Don’t add so many plants in a space that you can’t get to your tomatoes because you’ve packed everything in too densely. (I’ve been there!) Space helps every plant grow to their full potential, and receive adequate airflow, water, and sunlight. Proper plant spacing also means you don’t have to crawl around on your hands and knees under stems just so that you can harvest. You’ll thank yourself later.

Prune

There are several reasons to prune your plants, such as:

• to remove diseased stems or wood,
• to encourage the plant to grow more or to encourage better fruit production,
• to keep them from becoming overgrown,
• get rid of weak growth,
• and to let air flow better in and around the plant.

Check out your local extension office for information regarding how and when to prune plants in your area.

Save Seeds

Gathering seeds from the plants you have faithfully tended all growing season is so fun! Seed saving saves you money and eliminates the need to purchase new seeds for that variety for the next growing season. Plan on saving the seeds from the plants with the best yield, flavor, or flowers to set yourself up for a productive garden next year.

Learn the best practices for saving seeds by reading this extremely helpful article from Seed Savers Exchange.

Manage Weeds

Soil is not meant to be uncovered, and if it’s bare you can bet the weeds will be coming to cover it up.

The easiest way to manage weeds organically is to spend 10 minutes a day in the garden enjoying the peace that comes with pulling weeds. (Really, it is a lovely way to end the day.) Beyond that, mulch between rows & plants to suppress weeds before they even start. Every gardener is on a mission to not let weeds get out of control and choke out the plants that have been added on purpose.

Managing the weeds in our own gardens is part of how we can be a good neighbor. One, nobody has to look at a wild, weedy jungle, and two, just as an example, if thistles grow, flower, and produce seeds, can you guess where the seedheads are going to float? The neighbor’s garden (and probably their neighbor’s garden… and on and on forever because thistles are going to do what thistles do… forever.)

If you are fond of using what most people would call weeds for food (dandelions, violets, or purslane, for example,) it’s in everyone’s best interest to snip off flowers before they produce seeds that settle in to the soil for the next several years or release seeds that float for miles. (We’re all looking at you, Dandelion.)

Conserve Water

One of the most important things to steward on our earth is water. In the garden, there are simple things you can do so that it’s not wasted:

• Plant native, drought-tolerant plants.
• Water the base of garden plants being sure to avoid the leaves.
• Don’t overwater – watch for signs of plant stress.
• If you need to use a hose for a period of time (watering new grass, newly planted trees, etc.) set a timer so you don’t forget that it’s on.
• Set up a rain barrel and water your plants with the precipitation you’ve collected.

Reuse Garden Products & Tools

If you start your seeds indoors, save your plastic trays to be used next year. All you have to do is wash, sanitize, and you’re good to go! You can do the same with plastic pots from the garden center.

Use empty (and clean, of course,) milk jugs for winter sowing of perennial and annual seeds. Milk jugs can also be used as watering cans or as my personal favorite, mini greenhouses. Simply cut off the bottom and placing them over young seedlings if there is a surprise frost in the weather forecast.

Need some actual tools? Before you run to the hardware store for new shears, shovels, or rakes, check out sales in your local area. Estate sales are a great place to look, but garage sales are great, too. I have seen many barely used garden tools when running around town on garage sale day!

I’m wondering – what are some other ways you can reuse items in the garden? Tell me in the comments!

Care for Garden Wildlife

We mentioned above that to be the best stewards of our gardens we should also consider the wildlife that calls the space home. Find out what’s living out there, spend some time during the summer to observe birds or insects that visit, and learn what they need. Turn your garden into a haven for wildlife. You can even register your garden as a Certified Wildlife Habitat®!

Caring for wildlife in the garden does not mean we should feed all of the wild animals that drop in. Feeding wild animals in our private spaces can cause the animal to be dependent on humans – which is not ideal for them or us. When we plant gardens in a place with a heavy deer population, for example, our spaces should be protected with fencing or plants that they despise so they’ll “read the sign” so to speak that this place is not open for their business.

Teach the Next Generation About Garden Stewardship

Time in nature has so many benefits, and nature is worth protecting so everyone can enjoy the perks. Honestly, the more time you spend in creation, the more eager you will be to protect it. We can protect it the best we can, but we need to remember it falls on our shoulders to teach the next generation how and why we should be good stewards. Lead by example, open the door for them to wonder, showing them how to do it, and teaching them why we do it.

A Note of Encouragement

If you find the ideas in this post overwhelming, don’t stress about it. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Is there perfect stewardship in the garden? No, but we can strive for it! Are we all going to love making compost? Probably not. Are we all able to have rain barrels? Definitely not! Our stewardship is a gift, and the best thing we can do is take little steps toward becoming better stewards of our gardens (and all of our blessings) each day.