Thursday, February 23, 2012
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So Now You Have Seeds, What Next?

How do I start a vegetable garden?

Children love gardening with their parentsSetting up your own vegetable garden is not that difficult. Most vegetables do best in full sun, so pick a site for your vegetable garden that is flat and gets a lot of sun. If you don’t have a large yard, or any yard, you can still have a vegetable garden in containers. Many plants, including lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and more, can be grown in containers.

It’s probably best to start small if you’ve never had a vegetable garden before. Gardens can be a lot of work with weeding, watering, and pest control. A garden of around 3 by 3 meters is big enough for beginners.

A good starter vegetable garden might include lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and carrots. These are all relatively easy to grow, though squash takes up a lot of room. The key to choosing vegetables for your garden is to plant things that you and your family will enjoy eating. 

Home grown carrots

If you are new to gardening, the easiest way to start is to buy established plants. The plants you can find at your local nursery are strong and healthy, and they will appear in the stores at the right time for planting in your area. To prepare your vegetable garden to accept plants, you will have to get rid of  the grass that is on the site. Make sure you get as many of the roots out as you can, so the grass and weeds don’t grow back when your vegetables are in place.

Once you have cleared the site, apply fertilizer and compost. A good slow-release, general purpose fertilizer will provide all the nutrients your plants need to give you lots of good healthy vegetables, and the compost improves drainage and makes it easier for roots to establish themselves, as well as adding nutrients to the soil. Mix these products with the soil using a tiller or rake. Water well so the fertilizer will begin to dissolve.

Now you’re ready to plant your vegetable garden. Plants need a lot more space than you might think, so follow the planting and spacing directions on the labels (or on this site) that come with the plants. Note that tomato plants should be planted with at least half of their greenery underground for best results.

What are raised beds?

Raised vegetable beds make gardening easyRaised beds are essentially containers of various sizes that bring the planting area off the ground and make it easier to reach the soil.

Raised beds are an attractive addition to a garden and offer many practical advantages. They can make digging, weeding and planting easier and allow you to introduce different soil types or soil of a better quality.

 

Why grow your own vegetables?

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is a fun and rewarding hobby. Not only does it open up a whole new world of fresh, seasonal vegetables, but it makes you more in tune with nature and helps you to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Children gardening togetherEnvironmental Benefits

Growing your own fruit and vegetables dramatically reduces your food’s carbon footprint. Your food will be grown in your back garden.  Not only will your food have no food miles, but also it will not be responsible for releasing harmful emissions into the atmosphere via exhaust fumes from cars, ships and planes.

The food you grow is also less likely to have involved the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which harm the environment and interfere with the eating patterns of local wildlife. Therefore, by growing your own food, and growing it organically, you are improving the quality of the local environment for wildlife (including bees, birds and bats), and preventing chemicals being leeched into local rivers (which can kill fish).

Other Benefits

Children CAN love veg!Perhaps the best thing about growing your own fruit and vegetables is that the food your grow tastes better. This is because it is grown without the pressure to perform beyond its natural means, and it is usually consumed a very short time after it has been harvested.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables also increases the types of fruit and vegetables you eat. Only a few varieties of fruit and vegetable are available to buy in the supermarkets and they are usually chosen because of their storage abilities rather than how good they taste. There are many varieties of strawberries, apples, potatoes, courgettes and tomatoes, to name but a few. Each one has a distinct flavour and balance of nutrients, so by growing a few different varieties you will be eating a more varied diet.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is something fun you can do with friends and family. People of all ages can grow their own food. Children will love to help planting and harvesting food, and there are plenty of gardeners that will happily help you learn the best methods of growing your own.

Once you have started growing your own, you will not want to stop. Growing your own food will bring you more in tune with nature and real, natural food. It will make you healthier and happier, and open up a whole new world of flavour.
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