Luay Ghafari Of Urban Farm and Kitchen: 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Planning is key to success. This includes understanding your climate, your limitations, and deciding on what you and your family like to eat. Oftentimes new gardeners will fall for a fad or a trend they see online. A good example I talk about often is lufa gourd. These are incredibly popular, but also very difficult to grow in many regions.
As we all know, inflation has really increased the price of food. Many people have turned to home gardening to grow their own food. Many have tried this and have been really successful. But others struggle to produce food in their own garden. What do you need to know to create a successful vegetable garden to grow your own food? In this interview series, called “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food” we are talking to experts in vegetable gardening who can share stories and insights from their experiences.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Luay Ghafari.
Luay Ghafari, the founder of Urban Farm and Kitchen, is a garden-to-table educator, advisor, consultant, content creator and social media influencer with 12 years of urban and suburban gardening and intensive food growing experience. He teaches new and experienced gardeners how to grow food in small spaces and extract abundance to help them on their road to self-sufficiency. He teaches a gardening Master Class and is currently in the process of publishing a garden-to-table book focused entirely on helping people plan, grow, maintain, harvest, cook and preserve their harvests.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
There is an expectation that a successful gardener must have learned the skills of the trade from their parents or grandparents. I on the other hand stumbled on gardening and urban agriculture by chance. My journey began by way of the kitchen. As my cooking passion grew, I became more curious about the ingredients I was using, and how they were grown, treated, and transported to my local grocer. I decided to subscribe to a CSA, community-supported agriculture, program. By subscribing to a CSA, you essentially fund a farmer or farm and receive locally grown fruits and vegetables in return. I started receiving oddly shaped vegetables that looked nothing like those you would find at the store. I was quite baffled by this. The good news is that the vegetables tasted amazing. As I began researching gardens and growing food, I became somewhat obsessed and that’s when I decided to start my very first container garden on a small balcony in downtown Montreal. Fast forward to today, my passion for gardening is not only a way of life but also a thriving education, consulting and content business.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I never used to think of gardening or growing food as therapeutic. It was a hobby, a passion, an activity, a career. However, when I met one of my students in person, my perspective changed. She was battling breast cancer in her early 30s. Too young to be put in such a position. Though she had grown a garden in previous years, she enrolled in A Year in the Urban Garden Master Class to receive support and level up her game. Growing healthy, organic food was important for her health and wellbeing. She is a strong woman and a very capable gardener and it was a true pleasure and honor to have worked with her. This solidified for me that growing food and tending to a garden can be therapeutic both mentally and physically.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Creativity. Thinking outside the box or the mold that society imposes on us. When we ignore what’s expected, that is when innovation happens. Cookie-cutter days are long gone.
Trust. Building trust is instrumental for any business. Establishing expertise and knowledge leads to trust. This can be done in a multitude of ways: Interacting with clients, readers, and followers directly, being open to constructive criticism and advice, and most importantly, knowing what you’re talking about. I am very open about what I know and what I don’t know. I am constantly showing my successful gardens, my client, and student gardens. As they say, the proof is in the pudding.
Community-driven. Gardening is a community-driven activity. We all learn from each other. It’s also a very competitive and cutthroat space. Giving back, supporting local initiatives, and working with charities are what make a business or entrepreneur stand out from the pack. I see myself very much as an educator. I educate through my social media platforms, blog, and other channels. I run free webinars and events. I recognize that not everyone may have the means to use my services or buy my books. I do what I can to share my knowledge with the community.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
As an entrepreneur, I’ve had plenty of successes but also failures. It’s part of the process. I think it’s easy for people to see a failure as a reason to quit, a way to push aside their goals and passions. I see failures as life lessons. They are a reminder that not all ideas are good ideas. They are also a reminder that sometimes we don’t have full control over a situation, a project, or an idea. Learning from failure and being able to pivot, adapt, adjust expectations and push through is key. The pandemic has given people an opportunity to explore their passions and ideas like never before. Many successful businesses were born out of the pandemic. Sadly, many established businesses failed. They failed because they were unable to adapt to a changing landscape.
Are you working on any interesting or exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
My biggest project right now is my upcoming garden-to-table book. I’m incredibly excited to share my gardening and cooking philosophy with the world. My goal with this book is to give people the confidence and technical knowledge to start a garden, no matter how big or small their space may be. I also want to give them ideas on how to prepare and preserve the harvest. Gardening and cooking are so closely connected and I wanted to explore this connection from my point of view.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about creating a successful garden to grow your own food. Can you help articulate a few reasons why people should be interested in making their own vegetable garden? For example, how is it better for our health? For the environment? For our wallet?
There are a few reasons. First and foremost, the flavor. The flavor of homegrown organic produce is far superior to anything you can buy at the grocery store. Gardening is also quite therapeutic; it allows us to disconnect from the world around us. It allows us to connect with nature. It is also a great way to reduce our environmental impact. The garden-to-table movement is similar to the farm-to-table movement. The goal is to think and eat as locally as possible.
Where should someone start if they would like to start a garden? Which resources would you recommend? Which plants should they start with?
For a beginner, the plethora of information found online can be quite overwhelming. There is so much information, and misinformation out there, especially with the proliferation of social media. Anyone with a platform is now a potential subject matter expert. I generally recommend that new gardeners start by going to their local garden center or nursery. Ask the in-house experts some questions. Find out what grows best in their regions. Another great way for beginners to gain some knowledge is to talk to their neighbors. If your neighbor is growing a healthy and thriving garden, strike up a conversation with them. There are also many books available to choose from on a range of topics from balcony gardening all the way to market gardening. Courses, such as the one I co-teach, are also available for those that need more support.
Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
First of all, planning. Planning is key to success. This includes understanding your climate, your limitations, and deciding on what you and your family like to eat. Oftentimes new gardeners will fall for a fad or a trend they see online. A good example I talk about often is lufa gourd. These are incredibly popular, but also very difficult to grow in many regions.
Second of all, execution. This includes understanding the difference between a raised bed garden, a container garden, a vertical garden, etc. Knowing when to plant certain crops, and how to space them. Soil health and soil amendments. I talk about soil health a lot, perhaps even too much. I’m passionate about it because it is truly the foundation of a healthy, thriving garden.
Thirdly, maintenance. This includes understanding how/when to stake, support, and prune plants. Understanding the difference between a beneficial insect and a pest. How to look out for disease. Fertilizing through the season. Gardening is not a set it and forget it activity. Active participation is required to be successful.
Next up, harvesting. This includes when and how to harvest, how to store, and how to prepare your bounty for preservation. There’s no point in growing all this abundance if you can’t process it, store it or enjoy it.
Finally, winterization and season extension. This includes understanding when a crop will begin to die back, preparing a garden for winter (if applicable) and setting up the garden for success the following season.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a garden? What specifically can be done to avoid those errors?
The biggest mistake a new gardener can make is taking on too much. A garden is a constant work in progress. It’s ok to start small. In fact, I recommend starting small. Get your feet wet before jumping all in!
What are some of the best ways to keep the costs of gardening down?
The running joke is that it costs $141 in garden supplies to grow a single tomato. This is definitely an exaggeration, but there is some truth to the joke. Generally speaking, the biggest garden expenses are startup costs. These include building beds, buying equipment, tools, etc. However, it can be done on a budget. Equipment can be rented or borrowed from friends and neighbors. Tools can be rented or borrowed from a tool library. The dollar store is a great place to buy garden supplies such as stakes, cages, staples, pots, and even hand tools. Checking your local classified ads is a good option, as many people will give away used supplies for free.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I am a big proponent of urban agriculture and urban planning around sustainable green spaces. Many cities, including mine, have embraced this with allotment gardens, community gardens, a focus on building pollinator gardens, the prohibition of pesticides and herbicides, etc. Of course, there’s always more to be done, especially around food insecurity in our communities. My hope is that more cities invest time and money in supporting local initiatives that help build communities up and encourage citizens to be more mindful and respectful of the environment around them.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Good question! A few definitely come to mind, but I would probably say Chef Dan Barber, who is doing amazing work bridging the agriculture and culinary worlds together. Having a culinary background myself, I would love to pick his brain.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I am active on social media and can be found on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. I also run a food blog (Urban Farm and Kitchen) where I showcase my garden-to-table recipes. My book is slated to be released in Spring 2023 and I look forward to connecting with my readers.
Thank you so much for the time you spent on this interview. We wish you only continued success and good health.
Luay Ghafari Of Urban Farm and Kitchen: 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.