10 Tips for Growing a Garden
Want to grow a vegetable garden this spring or summer? Learn how to grow your own vegetables this summer because growing your own garden is super economical too! Here are 10 tips for growing a garden.
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN STARTING A VEGETABLE GARDEN
Do you want to start your first vegetable garden and don’t know where to begin? It really is not as hard as one might imagine. It’s not as simple as tossing a few seeds in the ground and walking away, as there are a few steps to setting up a home garden, but it is totally doable!
Here are 10 garden tips to think about before growing your own garden.
10 TIPS FOR STARTING A GARDEN
1. Select the Perfect Location— If you have a section of the yard that is unused and gets lots of sun, that is a perfect spot for a garden. Most of the vegetables that grow from seed to plant in a home garden will need at least 6 hours of sun a day. Some seedling will only require a few hours of sun a day, so investigate what you want to grow on the section you select and compare that section to the number of hours of sun it receives each day.
2. Stay Close to Home - Ideally, your back yard is the best spot so you won’t have to drive anywhere to weed, water, and cultivate. Select a spot in your yard that gets loads of sunshine too! It doesn’t have to be a huge spot either!
3. Grow Family Favorites — While it might be fun to grow brussel sprouts - if no one in your family eats brussel sprouts, what would be the sense in growing this vegetable. Grow what you will actually eat! I love radishes and green beans and my kiddos love beets and carrots - those are my TOP four seeds packages I purchase every spring!
4. Water Spout and Hose — Make sure your have access to an outdoor water spicket and hose if needed. You will not enjoy dragging out a hose and pulling it all over and across your lawn if you select a location really far from water access. Remember, once your drag the hose out - you have to wind it back up too.
5. Prepare the Soil — I live in an area where topsoil is not that plentiful but clay is. Ensure, you have good soil and that your location does not flood when it rains. If you select an area that is not flat, that is not a problem. You can turn the soil with a spade, shovel, and rake. Add some topsoil, which can be purchased at any home improvement store, I like to add some mushroom composite as well, it will really help the veggies grow - but this is not necessary.
6. Add to The Soil — We add mushroom compost from our local nursery every year to be added to the top of our small home garden. It really helps the composition of the soil for our seedlings. You could compost your own soil as well. Just keep in mind that if the soil in your back yard is full of clay, sand or pebbles, to add some additional topsoil purchased at a home improvement store or delivered from a service.
7. Seeds VS Plants — My children love to plant seeds, so that is usually all I purchase for them for our home garden. However, I do purchase tomato plants since they take so long to grow from seeds. Keep in mind, some seedlings take 6 to 8 weeks to grow. You can always begin early in your home in early spring as well. See seed-starting dates here. If you are planting in planters versus planting seeds in the ground, I would purchase small plants versus seeds.
8. Select Varieties for the Entire Summer — Ideally, it would be great to have vegetables all summer long. Keep that in mind when making seed selections. You can plant once your have cultivated. Radishes and beets grow very fast you you could plant and cultivate twice.
9. Stagger Planting — This goes along with number #8 above. If you really want vegetables all summer long from your home garden, simply stagger when you plant your seeds based on the growing periods. Radishes grow really fast and you can keep planting them all summer long. Green beans take a bit longer, but you can cultivate them all summer long as you keep watering and picking. Green beans will flower and grow all summer long as long as they have water and sun.
10. Raised Beds or Deck Gardens — If you have a small backyard or do not have any yard at all, simply create raised beds on your deck or patio. Growing container gardens is a tiny bit more work, but works! If you don’t have room for either of these, simply plant some seeds or small plants in pots. I have a large pot in my front yard for tomatoes as my front yard has the optional sun.
PLAN LIKE A GARDENING PRO
Take a day and plan out your home garden for the best spot, seedlings, plants and you will be enjoying the fruits of your hard labor all summer long. My children adore planting a small garden in our yard and we have had a garden for almost 20 years now.
What are your tips for starting a garden?
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