Tips for newby gardeners from the ‘ Gangsta Gardener’

One of the things the confines of lockdown helped us realise was the importance of the space we surround ourselves with, what we do with that space and how to maximise it.

Along with baking, urban gardening has blossomed over recent months as an economic way to grow our own food, invest in our health and for some, enjoy the therapeutic benefits gardening can be associated with.

One person who knows a thing or two about urban gardening is Ron Finley — who doesn’t just call himself “Gangsta Gardener” for no reason.

When he started to plant food on the pavement outside his home in Los Angeles in 2010, he not only received a citation for gardening without a permit, but also a warrant for his arrest.

He fought back and received permission to keep his garden, starting a gardening movement to promote urban gardening.

With spring in full swing, we spoke to the Gangsta Gardner himself to find out what basic tips he can offer people starting a garden for the first time or people looking to do more with their green fingers.

● Is not having green fingers really a thing?

That ’ s not a thing. We all have green fingers because we are all carbon, we come from the earth and where do we go back to? We turn into soil. Everybody has green hands — you just have to put them to use.

Mother Nature does everything else, we just are helping. It’s not just a hobby — it’s a life skill that we all should have. We all should know how to grow, harvest and cook our [own] food.

● What fruit or vegetables are easy to get going with?

Lettuce or any type of leafy green. One of the fastest things you can gtow is radishes because they come up pretty fast. But you can’t get simpler than lettuce.

● Do you control garden pests naturally or use pesticides?

Do you want pesticides and chemicals in your body or do you want nature in your body? No pesticides — they ’ re killing the soil. The bottom line is, it gets into the water stream and it gets into our bodies and wreaks havoc. You can make all kinds of home solutions with things from your garden. Things like neem oil are natural ways [to repel pests].

● Should people be daunted by starting a compost heap?

No. I’m going to refer to the forest. The system is made to compost. When that leaf falls to the ground it becomes mulch and after the mulch process is not needed it turns into compost.

Compost is something we should all be doing. You can dig a hole and put all your scraps in there — it’s going to break down. If you don’t have that, you can build or buy a composter, but the bottom line is compost is going to happen. You don’t need money and confinements.

● Do you need to have worms in your compost heap?

You don’t have to but it is a good thing, it helps to break it down. Worms are definitely one of nature’s big helpers because they break down food, they aerate soil — they do a lot of work.

● For more of Finley's tips, visit masterclass.com/classes/ronfinley