Vegetable Gardening

Your first venture into vegetable gardening can be intimidating. By starting small, you can enjoy fresh vegetables without supermarket prices. The only equipment you need are a spade or a pitchfork, a hoe, and a garden hose with a sprayer.

Vegetable Gardening

Start with nursery-grown plants, available at many grocery stores, home and garden centers, or nurseries. Select the types of plants you want, but don’t buy them until your ground is ready. For a first experience with vegetable gardening, choose two or three favorite vegetables.

When selecting a location for vegetable gardening, choose a sunny spot that drains well, in a location that will allow you to expand your garden as your skills grow.

Your nursery plants will come with little tabs that tell you what they are and how far apart to plant them, usually about 18″. Plan your garden on paper to see how big a plot you need. Dig to a depth that is comfortable with your spade or pitchfork. Use the hoe to break up large lumps. Remove large rocks and plant roots. You don’t have to remove every trace of grass or weeds; just turn the ground over well to expose the roots to the sun. Let your plot rest a day or two for the spaded-under plants to die and begin to decompose and provide fertilizer for your garden.

Every day or two, break up more lumps with the hoe. Remove stubborn weeds that refuse to die. In about a week you will have a plot ready for vegetable gardening. If your soil is dark and you’re finding plenty of worms in it, you probably don’t need to purchase garden soil.

Now that your plot is ready for vegetable gardening, buy the plants. They will come in plastic containers of four to six compartments, each containing one healthy young plant. Dig a hole for each plant about twice as deep as the container. Gently remove each plant from its compartment and separate the roots — it’s okay of you tear some — until they’re hanging down like jellyfish tentacles.

Mound dirt in the bottom of the hole until your little plant’s stem will be about half an inch above the surface of your garden when you set it in. With one hand, gently hold the baby plant in place while you carefully fill the hole so the soil slopes down slightly from the stem. Pat down the soil firmly.

When your plants are in place, mulch your garden to keep water in and weeds out, using lawn clippings or commercial mulch. Leave a space around each stem to prevent rot. Then use a garden hose to create artificial rain until your garden is thoroughly wet.

Vegetable Gardening – Conclusion

All most gardens need once they’re planted is an occasional weed-pulling. You only need to water your garden if the weather is unusually dry. Inspect your plants every few days for signs of insects or disease, and contact a garden center if you need help.

Soon your vegetable gardening efforts will be providing tasty nutrition to your table.

Tags: lawn clippings, Raised bed gardening, Vegetable Gardening Start, commercial mulch, baby plant, Most gardens, garden hose