In this section you will find basic information on how to get started growing your own fruits and vegetables all year long in Sonoma County.

First Steps

• Getting Started
  A basic guide on how to get started planning your food garden.
• Year-Round Growing Guide for Sonoma County
  A year-round guide for planting, harvesting, and garden maintenance.

More Gardening Information

• Basic Fruit Tree Planting and Care
  A guide to choosing, planting, and maintaining fruit trees.
• Growing Vegetables
  A Sonoma County Master Gardener guide that tells how to plan a vegetable garden and how to prepare and plant the garden.
• Planting Summary
  A Sonoma County Master Gardener guide to planting times and techniques.
• Transforming Your Lawn into a Food Garden
  Techniques to convert lawn into food plants.
• Creating a Neighborhood Garden Wheel
  How to work with your neighbors and friends to create and nurture food gardens throughout the neighborhood.
• Community Garden Start-Up Guide
  A step-by-step guide to creating a community garden in your neighborhood.
• Community Garden Resources in Sonoma County.  A list of links and resources that will be helpful to people starting or maintaining a community garden.
• Feed the Soil-So It Can Feed You!  Cover crops, mulch, and compost can greatly improve your soil health.
• Hints for Composting.  This Master Gardener document outlines the basics of composting and give tips for faster composting, reducing particle size, watering and aerating, and more.

Water-wise Food Gardening

• Water-wise Food Gardening
  How can you grow food without going over your water budget? This simple guide provides water-wise watering tips and irrigation information. 
• Residential Rainwater Management  With more concrete and blacktop, it is harder for rainwater to replenish groundwater supplies.  Fortunately, there are simple low-cost things that we can do to prevent runoff that can also beautify our gardens and property. 

Garden Materials and Supplies

Check with your local hardware store or nursery for soil amendments and other garden supplies. If you need more specialized materials, look in the Yellow Pages under “Landscaping Equipment Supplies” or “Irrigation Systems and Equipment”. Also, be sure to check the iGROW Garden Calendar for local events where garden supplies or produce are available.

Connect with other Gardeners

Connecting with other food gardeners is one of the best ways to learn. Here are some ways to make the connection:

• Check the iGROW Garden Map and Garden Calendar for gardens and events near you.
• Consider starting or joining a Garden Wheel group or gardening club in your neighborhood.
• Transition Sebastopol - Food Group
  http://www.transitionsebastopol.org/
  This group is working with iGROW to promote food gardening in Sebastopol and has an email group list for those interested in creating food resilience in the community.
• Transition Cotati – Food Group
  http://transitioncotati.ning.com/groups
  This group facilitates discussion about food projects in Cotati, including garden sharing, locally grown market, etc.

• Subscribe to one of the Sonoma County email lists below to share and exchange gardening information and materials.

  SoCoGardenExchange
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SoCoGardenExchange/
  Homegrown Guild
  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/HomegrownGuild/
  schoolgardennetwork
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/schoolgardennetwork/ (Sonoma County school gardeners only)

Please email info@igrowsonoma.org if your neighborhood or community group has an email list for sharing gardening information and resources and would like it posted here. To start your own neighborhood gardening yahoo group, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/ and follow the instructions for ‘Start your group’.

Testing your Soil

If you’d like to test your soil for pH (i.e., level of acidity or alkalinity), organic matter, and macro and micro-nutrients, Harmony Farm Supply (www.harmonyfarm.com) is a local agent for A&L Labs, which performs these tests on soil samples that you submit. Call Harmony for information about the soil testing process and cost at 707-823-9125.