Specifying the tick marks would work.
Here is an example of options (you just need vAxis:{ ticks: [-1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] } ):
var options = {
width: 500, //adjust as needed so the x and y scales are the same.
height: 500, //adjust as needed so the x and y scales are the same.
seriesType: "line",
hAxes: {0: {viewWindowMode:'explicit',
viewWindow:{max:5, min:-1} } },
vAxes: {0: {viewWindowMode:'explicit',
viewWindow:{max:5, min:-1} } },
//vAxis: { gridlines : { count : 5 } }, // this does work if needed for something.
//hAxis: { gridlines : { count : 20 } }, // this does work if needed for something.
hAxis:{ gridlines : { count : 20 }, // doesn't do anything when ticks is used.
ticks: [-1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5], // ticks takes priority over gridlines
// apparently. can comment out ticks to see this happen.
gridlines : { count : 20 } }, // doesn't do anything when ticks is used.
vAxis:{ ticks: [-1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] },