How to set up a garden

How to set up a garden

How to set up a garden - If you have a little garden space that you can convert into a vegetable patch, then you'll be surprised at the amount of money you can save with even a small space. Vegetable gardening has become so popular of late that you can have a ready-made veggie garden up and growing in your yard in just a couple of hours. Raised garden kits make setting up your garden quick and easy and you don't even have to toil the soil to get the best results. You also don't have worry if you are living in an area that suffers from bad soil quality as the raised beds can be filled with quality soil purchased from your local nursery. Wooden garden beds are the most popular kits, but you can build your own and there are plans for corrugated iron garden beds available online.

If you want to get your hands a little more dirty and don't want to spend as much money, then working your soil in a ground garden bed is even more rewarding. Before get started you'll want to make sure that you have your gardening plan in order. Where you want to plant your vegetables is very important and having good deep soil as well as good drainage are vital to the growing process. You'll also want to ensure that you keep your rich pickings away from other hungry mouths such as rabbits, deer and critters. This can be done by placing a fence around the garden with a mesh to prevent rats, moles and other small animals.

Prepare your soil before planting by aerating the soil and making sure that you don't have any weeds or grasses in it. If you have some compost or mulch, this is the right time to add it to the soil. The organic material in your compost will release nitrogen, minerals and nutrients in to the soil which will help in the growing process. If you are going to be growing more delicate vegetables such as leafy lettuces then the soil will require more nitrogen while root veggies will do with far less.

Once you have your chosen arrangement of vegetables, you'll want to plan the layout to ensure the best results. Vegetables that require little root space or above soil space can be planted in the same area. This works well for beets, spinach and lettuces. The taller the plants, the further back you should plant them so that the shorter plants are not shaded all day long. If you want to lengthen the time your garden produces vegetables, you could start by seeding your plants indoors in a hot bed and then transplanting them when the weather turns more favourable.

The greatest reward of vegetable gardening is the harvesting process and tending to your vegetables over the growing period will ensure that you have the best possible harvest. Having seen it from seed to vegetable, you'll appreciate it far more and it is a great way to re-introduce your children to the process of food production in a natural and healthy way.