Getting Your Vegetable Garden Ready for Spring

Submitted by: Stephanie

Whether you suffer through harsh, cold winters or enjoy relatively mild ones, we are coming up on the time when you need to get ready to plant your seeds for your vegetable garden.

If you need another compost bin this time of year is great to add them, if only because there's not much actual gardening work to do. Build one or buy one, just make sure you can easily add, remove and turn the material.

Clean up your tools. Sharpen blades if they need it. Clean off old dirt and wipe with an oiled cloth to help prevent rusting.

At this time you can also start planning your next garden. You can figure out what you want to grow and how you're going to lay that garden out. Planning ahead can help you make the most of your garden. Getting things started at the right time for each type of plant will help your garden succeed.

If you want an early start, get some planters and sun lamps and start your seeds indoors. If you get sufficient sunlight, placing the boxes in windows can help you get that early start too.

This is a great time for looking back at how your garden did last year and your goals for this year. For example, my garden last year failed miserably due to a combination of poor soil, a neighboring shade tree that had been shading my garden being cut to pieces and an unusually hot summer.

Over the winter we've been preparing quick compost for the soil. This is just throwing fresh kitchen scraps into the blender with some water, then pouring it into the garden. It's our first step in improving the soil naturally. More will be done as planting time approaches.

Obviously, factors that are out of your control you can't do anything about. Heat waves cannot be avoided and neighbors can be unpredictable (you should have seen that poor tree when they were done 'pruning' it!). Some years insects are more problematic than others.

In those cases you need to have plans for how to handle it. Keep an eye on what the sun is doing to your plants during a heat wave and ensure they have enough water. Know what pest control steps you are willing to take.

Planning and preparing to plant your garden before you can actually start planting gives you a lot of advantages when it's time to really work your garden. It gets some of the chores out of the way and leaves you prepared for a great start to your vegetable garden.



About Author: Stephanie Foster runs http://www.gardenmedley.com/ to keep track of how her own garden grows and to give gardening advice. Visit her site to learn more about vegetable gardening.


Article Source: ArticlesAlley.com

Eight Steps to a Bountiful Vegetable Garden

Submitted by: Jude

You've decided that you want a vegetable garden to lower your grocery bills. But, where do you start? There are eight essential steps to successful vegetable gardening.

Step 1. Pick an appropriate area for your garden. When you choose your site, consider these important factors:

- Sunlight. Most vegetables grow best in full sunlight. Choose an area that gets at least six hours of sunlight a day.

- Soil. The best soil for growing vegetables is a dark soil, rich in nutrients, that has good drainage but will still hold sufficient moisture for the plants. Don't plant your garden too close to trees and shrubs whose roots will steal nutrients and water from the vegetables.

- Water. Place your garden near your water supply -- faucets that can be reached by no more than two hose lengths.

Step 2. Create your site plan. Make a plan before you purchase your seeds or plants. It will help you decide how many you need to buy to best fit the available space. Base your plan on the vegetables that your family likes, how much work you want to do on the garden and how much room there is in the garden. Create a quick sketch to follow while you are planting.

Step 3. Buy your plants and/or seeds. Be sure that the plants you get will grow well in the area where you live. Buy young, healthy plants that are not limp or straggly or that have been over-crowded in pots. On seeds, look at the date stamp on the package to make sure they are not too old.

Step 4. Prepare your soil for planting. This is one of the most important things to do for a successful garden. To prepare the soil, add a layer of compost or fertilizer over the top of the soil. Then till (or spade) this layer into the existing soil. Rake the soil into rows or mounds, depending on the type of vegetables you'll be planting.

Step 5. Sow your seeds. If some of your vegetables will be planted from seeds, plant them first. Sometimes seeds are started indoors or in a greenouse to give them a good start. When seedlings appear, thin them to the distances recommended on the seed packets.

Step 6. Plant your plants. Plant young plants following the directions given by the plant nursery where you purchased them. Planting times can be tricky. You want to plant early, but not so early as to stunt their growth in cooler weather. Some plants will require netting or wire forms for best results.

Step 7. Care for your growing plants. Once your vegetables are all planted, you need to care for them by watering, weeding, pruning, and protecting them from insects.

Step 8. Harvest your garden. Different vegetables are harvested at different times. Vegetables should be carefully watched and picked at their peak. You may eat them immediately after harvesting or you can freeze or can them for later use.



About Author: Jude Wright is an author and avid gardener. Find out how you can have a beautiful and successful garden by going to http://GuideForGardeners.com.


Article Source: ArticlesAlley.com

Vegetable Gardening: How to Grow Your Own Vegetables

Flickr Photo by: Southern Foodways Alliance

Vegetable gardening has lately become just as popular as going to the grocery store fore produce.  Vegetable gardening can produce vegetable that are usually cheaper than store bought, and vegetables from a home vegetable garden definitely taste better by far. Vegetable gardening is no different than growing herbs or flowers and if the proper steps are taken and the plants are give the proper care they will flourish and produce very tasty vegetables.

First you must decide what size of garden you wish to plant and then select a place for it; somewhere that has good drainage, good air flow, and good, deep soil. It also needs to be able to get as much sunlight as possible. Because vegetable gardens have such tasty rewards, many animals, such as dogs, rabbits, deer, and many others will try and get to your veggies.  One way to prevent this is to surround your garden with a fence, or put out a trap to catch mice, moles, and other animals.

Before planting, the soil must be properly prepared. Good soil for vegetable gardening is achieved by cultivation and the application of organic materials. The soil must be tilled (plowed) to control weeds and mix mulch into the soil. If you have a small garden, spading could be a better bet than plowing. Mulching is also a vital part of soil preparation.  Organic matter added to the soil releases nitrogen, minerals, and other nutrients plants need to thrive. The most popular and best type of mulch you can use is compost.  While the kind and amount of fertilizer used depends on the soil and types of plants, there are some plants that have specific needs; leafy plants, like cabbage, spinach, and lettuce usually grow better with more nitrogen, while root crops like potatoes, beets, turnips, and carrots require more potash. Tomatoes and beans use less fertilizer, while plants like onions, celery, and potatoes need a larger amount.

One thing that is vitally important in vegetable gardening is the garden arrangement.  There is no single plan that will work for every garden due to varying conditions. One popular way to arrange a vegetable garden is to plant vegetables needing only limited space together, such as radishes, lettuce, beets, and spinach, and those that require more room together, such as corn, pumpkins, and potatoes. Try and plant tall growing plants towards the back of the garden and shorter ones in the front so that their sunlight does not get blocked.

When you are finally ready to begin planting your vegetable garden, make sure and plant at the right time of year. If you are dying to get an early start, you may want begin your garden inside in a hotbed and then transplant when the weather permits.  After you are finished planting, make sure your vegetables receive the appropriate amount of water, which depends on the type of plant. Most plants will need the equivalent to about an inch of water per week.

Weeds must be controlled in vegetable gardening because they will take up water, light, and nutrients meant for the vegetables and they often bring disease and insects to the garden.  You can get rid of weeds by cultivation or mulching. To protect against disease and insects you can buy seeds that are disease resistant or use controlled chemicals.

Vegetable gardening is many people's favorite form of gardening because you can actually taste the fruits of your labor. Vegetable gardening is not that expensive to start and the taste of home grown veggies definitely beat out that of supermarket vegetables.  Your vegetable gardening days will be full of produce if you take the proper precautions when planting and continue maintenance of your garden.

About Author: S. Stammberger is the owner of Matt's Home and Garden. Visit her site now for information on home vegetable gardening; includes planning your garden, caring for your garden and harvesting information - Matt'sHome and Garden

Article Source: Articlesalley.com/