With people becoming increasingly intent on living a healthy lifestyle, there’s a growing trend of individuals starting their own vegetable garden. You can do the same too even if you’re experience in gardening is slim to none. After all, every grower has to start somewhere.
There’s nothing like harvesting your own vegetables from your yard and thinking of great dishes you can cook with those. Aside from enjoying the freshness of your own produce, you also get to enjoy the health benefits for you and your family as you’re not going to ingest harmful chemicals.
As with any other endeavor, starting your own vegetable garden requires planning and preparation. If you want to expect high quality yield, much effort has to be given in the process of preparation. Here are some practical steps you can follow to start your garden:
Plot
First thing you have to determine is which area of your property you’re going to grow your garden. Since you’re just getting started in this new project, it would be better to start small, learn the ropes and advance from there. Having said that, the area you’re going to allocate pretty much depends on the space you have available. If you don’t have much space, you always have the option of starting a container garden.
The site for your garden has to be strategic keeping in mind the basic needs of the plants. It has to receive exposure from sunlight for at least 6-8 hours a day particularly during early morning. Also, watering the plant has to be convenient for you as well.
Vegetables
Next, consider which variety of vegetables you are going to grow. This pretty much depends on the climate of your region as well as the type of soil you have. Though you can certainly improve your soil by using plant or animal compost, fertilizers and other compositions such as vermaculite and perlite.
As for the plant variety, you need to do a research beforehand on which type of vegetables thrives in your particular area. Since you are just starting out, I strongly suggest you start by growing vegetables which aren’t particularly tedious to care for. Some examples are tomatoes, herbs, squash, radish and beans.
Research
After you’ve selected the vegetables you’re going to plant in your garden, it is best if you read extensively on the different factors you need to accomplish for successfully growing those plants.
For example, you have to know how the soil is going to be prepared for a specific plant. What type of organic fertilizer is suitable for those. And you need to ask questions like: do you have to germinate the seeds first or you can directly plant the seeds in the soil?
Furthermore, you also have to familiarize the common problems and pests you’re going to deal with for different plants. Knowing this beforehand will help put in place some preventive measures and you’ll know how to deal with it if such problem occurs.
