Veggie Gardens

The size of your yard will determine your final vegetable garden layout. What can be fun is the planning of the garden and the decisions surrounding the kind of garden you want. One of the very first decisions is whether it will be a ground level or raised bed garden.

The ground level garden is the cheapest form of vegetable garden layout. Why? Because all you need to do is plow up the area that you have elected to turn into a vegetable garden and remove the grass. Well, it’s never as easy as it sounds, of course. You will have to get the soil out of the clumps of grass and then churn up a good 2 feet deep in this plot to loosen up the compacted earth. We’ll talk later about adding soil and conditioning amendments.

The second type of vegetable garden layout uses a raised bed. The advantages of a raised bed are that it generally warms up quicker in the spring, has excellent drainage and you can tend to the weeds sitting on a stool! The disadvantages lie in the cost of constructing the sides of the bed initially, including the additional dirt necessary to fill the upraised plot.

There are companies that have created an entire business around selling you vegetable garden layout kits. You can study the plans they provide and use these ideas to build your own layout or you can buy one of their kits.

The advantage of the kit is that a good quality cedar is used for the sides. Western red cedar withstands infestations and lasts a good long while even when wet. It also comes pre-drilled and all necessary hardware is provided in packages, so your thinking is done for you. Your only decision is the relative costs associated with doing your own materiel buying versus the cost of the vegetable garden layout kit.

Regardless of which kind of garden you choose, you will want to line the edges of your selected vegetable garden layout area with a grass barrier. The battle with encroaching grass will be eternal if you don’t just give in and buy one of the products on the market that are impenetrable to the most invasive grass, which is bermuda. Line the edges of your selected area to a depth of 8 inches and all should be well.

One word of caution: make sure that however you plan your vegetable garden layout that you leave a pathway all around it. Like an aisle, a path will enable you to pick your vegetables without tromping all through the garden. Not that tromping can’t be fun, it can; but it compacts the soil around your plants and will make nutrients more inaccessible to growing roots.

Now to the soil amendments. It is likely that your converted grass patch needs additional nutrients before it produces great vegetables. Regardless of the vegetable garden layout, you’ll need help.

You can take a sample of your soil to your nearest Soil Conservation office and have it tested for about $15. Or, the cheapskate method: head for your largest garden center and ask them what to add to your lawn soil to convert it to a super-productive vegetable garden layout.

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Growing your own vegetables is something that gives many people great pride. Nothing is more satisfying than sitting at the kitchen table knowing the things you are about to consume we made with your hands. Trying to replace this satisfaction is very tough to beat. We have gathered some tips to get you started quickly and effortlessly toward your first vegetable garden.

There are a wide variety of vegetables that you can choose from to put into your first garden. The key is choosing the ones that you love to eat. This will give you something to look forward to and you’re more likely to take better care of something you like than food you hate. Some of the more popular vegetables that people usually start with are sweet corn, beans, peas, and tomatoes. There are many others but these are the ones most people will start with. These are also very hardy and grow fairly quickly so you will see progress and that will make the first time gardener very happy.

Dividing up your garden space is also a very important part to your new gardening venture. People will just start planting without proper planning and they are just asking for troubles. Different vegetables have different needs as far as sunlight and moisture. If your garden is located where sunlight isn’t on it all the time than where you plant certain things can really affect how they grow and the time it takes for them to grow. Many of the packets of seeds have the growing season and the amount of sunlight they need. Follow these requirements carefully. If you are going to plant seeds start them in potted plants inside your home first. This will give you a much great chance for success when you plant them in the ground. Make sure you put markers so you know what is in each row of your garden. This way you can see how things are growing.

Weeds are something you will have to deal with as your plants get bigger. Many people think that these really don’t affect the growth of your plants, but that isn’t true. The weeds that are in your garden the less room your vegetables have to grow. Weeding weekly is a good idea as your garden progresses. Insects and rodents are another thing that you may have to deal with. Rodents are less of a problem compared to some of the insects you will encounter. Go to your garden supply store and they will have many different products that can be used to protect your plants and help your plants grow quicker.

Get your whole family in the act of helping with your new garden. You will be surprised on how much help your family will give you. Kids love seeing plants grow and they could be your biggest helpers especially when it comes to weeding. Gardens can be a lot of work sometimes, but the rewards that you can reap from it far outweigh the work involved. Why not get yours started today and see how much fun it can be.

Jeffrey Meier of Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.Jam727.com offers information articles on a wide variety of subjects including vegetable gardening at http://www.jam727.com/gardening/Vegetable-Gardening-Tip.php

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There is no denying that eating fresh vegetables has many great health benefits. However, it can be inconvenient to run to the market every other day or store fresh vegetables in your refrigerator or pantry. A small garden would be a viable answer to this dilemma. Survey your yard and see if you have the space for a small garden. If so, it is fairly easy to start your first vegetable and soon you will have fresh, delicious vegetables to feed your family.

* Start small. Don’t attempt to make a huge garden with lots of different vegetables - at least not at first. Take it a few small steps at a time. A good beginner garden is 8 feet by 10 feet, no larger. If you decide that this endeavor is something that you can keep up, you can always expand your garden.

* Location is everything. Select a location that will receive a great deal of sun during the day. If you have a northern garden, then you should have full sun.

* Work up the earth. You need to work the soil to prepare it for the seeds and plants that you will put in your garden. You can rent or borrow a rear tine tiller and work the soil up, sod and all. Don’t remove the sod, you will need it to facilitate proper drainage.

* Know your soil. You want sandy loam as opposed to predominantly clay or sand. The way to test your soil to make sure it is good, sandy loam is to take a handful of the dirt and squeeze it. If it crumbles when you release it, then it is sandy loam.

* Test your soil. You may choose to have your soil tested to may sure that it has the proper pH levels. You may also want to have it tested for the three major nutrients which are nitrogen, potassium and potash.

* Add some topsoil. If you have sand or clay soil, you would benefit from adding some topsoil to even things out. Even compost can add the proper texture and consistency if topsoil is too expensive.

* You can also make a raised bed with topsoil. Use landscape timbers to accomplish this. Treated 2 X 12s are also effective for this. Stack about five high. A raised bed will be very easy and convenient because you can each it easier when you are planting and weeding.

* Plant! Once you have the bed of your garden set up, it is time to put some plants and seeds in it. Purchase seeds from stores or order them online or through catalogs. You can also pick up seedlings (baby plants) and plant them as well. Take some time to plan your garden, deciding where you will plant each vegetable.

* Watch your crops. Onions, peas, beets, zucchini squash and rutabaga are all easy to grow, as are tomatoes and peppers. Corn, squash and pumpkin can take up a lot of space so you may want to limit them or eliminate them altogether in your first garden.

Your first vegetable garden can be very rewarding, fun and even therapeutic. On top of that, you will be able to give your family the freshest possible vegetables.

Find out about Potting Storage by visiting Tips-Gardening.com, a site dedicated to the great hobby of backyard gardening.

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If you’ve dreamed of having healthier, readily available fresh foods for your family to eat whenever they’d like, you may have started wondering how to plant a vegetable garden. Planting your very own vegetable garden allows you to control whether harmful chemicals are used on the foods you eat, allows you to have fresh vegetables for cooking or eating raw during harvesting season, and saves you money both in the summer and winter, because you can freeze or can the vegetables you grow and use them throughout the year.

Planting a vegetable garden is not difficult either, but there are a few steps involved. First you have to plan the location of your vegetable garden, then you need to prepare the soil for your vegetable garden, then you will plant your seeds or starter plants. From then on, it’s just a matter of caring for your vegetable plants and keeping the weeds away. And before very long you will find yourself outside picking fresh vegetables right off the vine.

Planning your Vegetable Garden

The first thing you’ll need to learn about how to plant a vegetable garden, is that location is very important. Vegetables need five to six hours a day of full sunlight, so where you place your vegetable garden plays an important role in how successful that garden will be.

You will also need to plan your space wisely. Depending upon how many vegetables you want to plant, and how much of each vegetable you’d like to be able to harvest, you might find you need quite a bit of room for your vegetable garden. A family of four for instance, generally needs rows of vegetables approximately ten feet long to provide enough harvest for the entire family. So if you want to plant twenty different vegetables, you will need a lot of space.

Vegetable gardens can be planted in containers however, so this might be an alternative option for you to consider. Many vegetables can grow in one container too. Your best bet for the first time planting a vegetable garden is to start small. Choose maybe five vegetables to plant for instance, or try planting smaller amounts of many different vegetables.

Preparing your Soil

The next step you will need to learn about how to plant a vegetable garden, is that soil preparation is very important. There’s a lot to learn in this area, so we won’t cover it in detail here. But the basic steps involved with preparing your vegetable garden soil involve turning the soil, and enriching it with compost or other organic matter.

Vegetables need a lot of nutrition to grow well, so the better you prepare the soil before planting, the better chances you have of producing a bountiful crop.

Planting Your Vegetables

The third step in learning how to plant a vegetable garden is the fun part. You will plant your vegetable garden seeds or starter plants in the newly prepared garden soil.

Now, if you’re planting your vegetables in traditional rows, you’ll simply sprinkle seeds along the top of a row, then cover then lightly with a thin layer of soil. If you’re using starter seedling plants for your vegetable garden, you will make a slight hole in the top of the row, put your starter plant down in the hole, then pack the mounded soil around it lightly.

Planting vegetables into raised garden beds is done the same way when you’re using rows. If you decide you’d like to plant your vegetables in square blocks however, that’s easily done in the same ways too. Alternatively, you can randomly place your vegetable plants and seeds, and you will get a more natural growth look from your vegetable garden when the sprouts begin to create leaves and produce.

For more great info on How to Plant a Vegetable Garden, please visit http://www.gardenbot.com/vegetable-garden.html

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Two Types of Vegetable Gardens

For those of us who love to nurture and consume vegetables, home gardening is a great activity to take part in. Once you have decided to have your own vegetable garden, the next step is to decide what type you want. There are two types of gardens: land gardens and container gardens. When one plants vegetables in the ground, it is called land gardening. When one plants vegetables in pots, it is called container gardening. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Find out which is right for you through this simple guide to land and container vegetable gardening.

Land Vegetable Gardening

To plant a vegetable garden on solid ground, you must carefully determine the size, location, and soil of your garden.

When you’re planning a garden, it’s important to decide the size of garden you want. In order to easily maintain a garden, you should start out small with a small garden and gradually expand if you later on desire to. I recommend starting out with a garden of 25 square feet or smaller. As you get the hang of gardening, you can expand your garden to be as big as you wish.

Before beginning a vegetable garden on solid ground, consider the location of your garden. Plants need about six hours of sunlight in order to fulfill their potential. Therefore, it is inadvisable to place your garden where there is a lot of shade. You should also make sure that you can locate your garden in a place with sufficient drainage. To protect your vegetables from drowning, make sure you can position your garden away from the bottoms of hills and other places where water is likely to collect.

Before planting in the ground, you should make sure that the soil is compatible for gardening. Soil that’s slightly loose and simple to till is best. Stay away from hard, difficult-packed soil. If your yard has mediocre soil, mulch or compost will be a big help for your garden. In fact, composting won’t only greatly help your garden, it will also decrease the amount of your trash.

If you have the desired size, location, and soil for a land garden, you will enhance your chances for success in gardening on solid ground for beginners.

Container Gardening

If, on the other hand, you have little space, little sunshine, infertile soil, or impaired mobility, you may want to grow vegetables in containers. Container gardening allows you to position the plants in places where they can receive the best growing conditions in your area. Container gardening also creates better pest management and a chance to have color in areas where you want color. The downside of container gardening is that containers demand daily watering, which you must do by hand.

Some plants are especially fit for container-gardening. Vegetables that grow appropriately in containers are those that are used to growing in confined spaces, such as salad greens, spinach, eggplant, Swiss chard, beets, radish, carrots, peppers, bush beans, tomatoes, bush varieties of summer squash and cucumbers, green onions, and many herbs. Other plants will also grow well in pots, even if they are not meant for container gardening.

Regardless of the type or size of container used, adequate drainage is a necessity for successful plants. It is wise to add about 1 inch of coarse gravel in the bottom of the container to control drainage. For most vegetable crops, 5-gallon containers are the most appropriate size.

Some Last Notes

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to have a garden without pests, and land gardens attract the most bugs. Unless you want to use chemicals, you will have to kill any pests on the plants yourself and with the help of pest-eating bugs. You can buy these pest-eating bugs, such as ladybugs or praying mantis, from garden stores to get rid of pests. For larger bugs like grasshoppers and such, you will have to pick them off by hand.

Another issue you may have while vegetable gardening is to make sure the weeds do not take over your garden, especially if you have a land garden. If you don’t go out daily to pick the weeds, the weeds will choke out the plants and take over. Watering your garden is important not only to keep your plants alive and healthy, but also to repel some of the bugs that might otherwise eat your plants.

Your Final Decision

This is a rewarding experience, because you end up with a delicious plant harvest. The question is whether you should start a land garden or container garden. This question is usually answered by one’s own resources. If you have an area outdoors that is sunny for at least six hours a day and yields good soil, opt for the land garden. If you live in a city, let’s say, and do not have a parcel of land to garden on, then create a container garden. Either way, don’t miss out on the cherishing moments of farming in and eating from a vegetable garden. If you loved the ripe vegetables that grandma used to grow, you should relive those precious memories by starting your own land or container vegetable garden.

Mary Amos loves to garden and is blessed with green fingers. Take a look at Vegetable Garden | Organic Vegetables to make the most of your garden. Also visit Home Improvement | Home DIY for other home improvement ideas.

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Everyone knows there are many benefits from having your own garden. Feeling a sense of pride as you watch the fruits (or vegetables, as the case may be) of your labor begin to flourish is just one of them. And your garden doesn’t ever have to be boring or the same year after year. Discover five vegetable garden ideas that will give you something creative to try for your next planting.

Plant a pizza garden Vegetable gardening with a theme can be great fun for all ages. A theme garden is the perfect way to get the kids outside enjoying nature. Involving them will provide a sense of responsibility as well as accomplishment as harvest time draws near. Plus, it’s a great way to get them to eat more veggies! For a pizza garden, plant foods such as tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, onions and a host of herbs and seasonings like basil, oregano and thyme. Other theme ideas to try are stir-fry or salsa gardens.

Ornamental vegetable gardening Many people use vibrant flowers and shrubs to brighten and beautify their outdoor spaces. By using vegetables for this same purpose, you’ll not only have the curb appeal, you’ll reap the rewards of having your own supply of produce! Using a variety of delicious veggies, you can achieve colorful patterns and designs, line walkways and driveways and plant them just as you would flowers.

Rainbow garden Vegetable gardening is also ideal for artistically expressing yourself in a unique way. If you have a favorite, signature color or perhaps even three or four, consider planting based on these colors. This is an easy way to try new things while creating an appealing garden retreat. Mix hues that you might never use when decorating indoors and experiment with an array of color combinations. Why grow ordinary green peppers when you can choose from crimsons, oranges, yellows or even violet? You may be surprised at the assortment of colors produced by some of the most common vegetables. Eggplant, tomatoes, beans, even beets all can be wonderful additions to your rainbow garden since they all can be grown in several shades and hues. Planting purple beans and white carrots surrounded by pink tomatoes create a lovely display that’s as pleasing to the eye as it is the palate.

Organic gardening can be healthier as well as cheaper Avoiding the use of chemicals and commercially produced fertilizers and pesticides are a way to achieve better tasting vegetables. Without these unsavory additions, you’ll notice the freshness and enjoy food the way nature intended. Organic gardening isn’t as difficult as some may think. In fact, it’s relatively simple to grow a healthy, bountiful crop. There are several reasonably priced products available today as well as a plethora of homemade concoctions to try without spending a fortune.

A garden of green Perhaps colors and themes are of no interest to you, maybe it’s profiting from your garden that’s more important. In that case, decide on what would thrive best based on the amount of space, soil, lighting and drainage conditions of your garden. You could offer the usual fare of vegetables or you could specialize in certain types, ones that may be harder to find in the grocery stores.

The size or type of your crop doesn’t matter quite as much as the care and dedication it needs to make it plentiful. So, decide on a plan and use one of these ideas to liven up your outdoor space and make it truly your own.

Dave Truman offers advice for choosing the best seed companies and other gardening related topics on the Vegetable Gardeners website. For more helpful tips and information about growing vegetables and to receive our special reports about getting your garden started, visit http://www.vegetablegardeners.com

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When planning a vegetable garden, there are several things to consider. Let’s talk about the top 3 things to do as you begin to plan your garden. Carefully planning a vegetable patch will you save time, work, money and space.

The first thing you should consider in your planning is the location of your garden. Vegetable gardens need a sunny open space in order for the plants to thrive. So take a look and find the best location that you have available that fits this ideal.

Once you have pin-pointed an open and sunny area for your garden, take note of how much space you have in that location. Space will be an important factor in your planning. You will need to consider the space requirements of the vegetables that you would like to plant. When you know the space that you have available, make a scaled drawing of your vegetable garden.

No doubt, you are already dreaming about the types of vegetables that you want to plant. When you have the location and size of your plot figured out, you are almost ready! But before you go out and buy those seeds or plants, you will want to know the planting zone in your area. You will need to know which vegetables will grow well in your area. Knowing your planting zone will help you estimate the first and last frost dates in your area. This helps you to be able to estimate the length of your local growing season.

Let’s review the top three things that should be taken into account when planning a vegetable garden. 1. Location of the garden. 2. Space available for planting the garden. 3. Your local planting zone, to determine planting times, vegetable varieties suitable to your zone and first and last frost dates.

Gardening is a very rewarding experience. Nothing compares to growing the vegetables that you serve on your own table. If you enjoyed these tips about planning a vegetable garden, find even more information here. http://meg-heartathome.blogspot.com/2008/02/growing-your-own-vegetablesplan-ahead.html

Megan Mart is a mom, wife and friend who knows that “Home is where the heart is”. For more tips visit: http://meg-heartathome.blogspot.com

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