How To Start A Vegetable Garden

Spring is in the air and it’s a perfect time to start thinking about your vegetable garden. Here are helpful tips on How To Start A Vegetable Garden.

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Spring is in the air and it’s a perfect time to start thinking about your vegetable garden. Gardening is a great hobby. It also has a lot of health benefits like burning calories, relieving stress and healthier eating from growing your own food. Even if you haven’t ever had a vegetable garden, there are some easy ways you can get started to make your garden a success.

Here are helpful tips on How To Start A Vegetable Garden

Step One

How To Start A Vegetable Garden

Before even getting started you’ll want to remember one important thing, especially if you haven’t had a vegetable garden in the past. Start slow and small. We all picture this big beautiful garden that is full of ripe delicious green vegetables but remember that a successful garden takes time. If you haven’t gardened before you’ll want to start smaller and grow as you gain knowledge.

Step Two

How To Start A Vegetable Garden

When you decide where to put your garden you’ll need to decide if you’re going to treat the soil that is already there or if you’re going to bring in soil after building a raised garden.

A pro tip: if you live in the desert or extremely hot areas, be careful with a raised garden bed because the material you use may hold in heat and actually hurt your plants as they grow.

If you are able to use a raised bed, you can create one with a wide variety of materials from metal to wood planks to cinder blocks. There are many ideas on Pinterest if you need a little inspiration.

Step Three

You can begin building your bed long before it’s actually time to plant your seeds. Don’t forget to put a barrier to keep out the weeds. This is very important to keep your work down and protect your precious veggies as they grow. You can buy products at your local stores or you can use a layer of cardboard or newspaper.

Step Four

You don’t want to just fill your garden bed with any regular soil. You want to ensure it is enriched. You can find a bulk compost or mushroom soil to mix in a 50/50 mix of compost/mushroom soil and native dirt. This will help your vegetables to flourish. It’s just like making sure you take your vitamins to keep yourself healthy.

A great way to protect your bed is to cover it with about 2 inches of mulch. The best way to do this is to shred leaves (NOT whole leaves) and cover the area. If you don’t have them, think about collecting bags in the fall for the following summer. This is something free that you would normally wonder where to get rid of anyway.

Step Five

How To Start A Vegetable Garden

Your first year I would suggest purchasing plants that are already growing from your local garden center or nursery. This will make your first garden much easier. You can always attempt to grow your own from seeds later down the road, but to start, let’s think simple and getting all the tricks of the trade down to a science!

When you’re ready to venture into actual seeds, you want to start the seeds in your home to ensure they are properly cared for. A fantastic way to do this to take a little of your soil mixture and fill a cardboard egg carton. You can plant a few little seeds in each opening. When they sprout and you’re ready to get them into the ground, simply cut each apart and you can drop the whole thing into the ground! Simple and a great way to recycle!

If you’re still nervous or are unsure of how to start a vegetable garden or of what will grow best in your part of the country be sure to visit your local nursery or home improvement store. The people working there (like me) are always willing to answer questions or give you tips to get you well on your way.