Growing Garden Vegetables For Your Family Makes Them Healthier
There is no other home enterprise more worthy of praise than the ability to provide your family with a variety of healthy, nutritious vegetables, fruits, and herbs from your very own backyard garden. Successfully growing garden vegetables is something that commands respect from everyone who benefits from your efforts!
Even with a limited garden area, you can still grow a few tomatoes, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, and herbs. If you have no area for a backyard garden, buy a few containers, germinate some seeds, and grow indoors or on your porch.
Get Out The Pen And Pad
Get out a piece of paper and draw a garden plan. If you don’t have much room, pick the plants you like best and select bush, dwarf, or compact varieties. Map out your garden – even if it’s a container garden – and plan your year-to-year crop rotation (This is important!).
Stick with varieties of plants that are recommended for your area and always buy good quality “high-percentage-germination” hybrid, non-GMO seeds or fresh, healthy bug-and-disease-free plants.
Some Things to Think About
Ensure your soil is plant-friendly. Get a soil test for your in-ground or raised garden and fertilize your garden based on test recommendations. You may need to adjust the soil nutrients based on how much your plants need to feed. Some are light feeders – some are medium feeders – and, some will be voracious. Use a good quality potting soil such as MIracle-Gro Potting Mix – along with some Miracle-Gro Plant Food – for container gardens. This excellent potting mix is also a great additive to garden dirt for transplanting your seedlings into your backyard garden!
Consider garden space requirements. Some plants need very little room to grow – some may need more room than you can provide.
Should you buy plants or seeds? For most of my garden veggies, I choose the economical approach and buy seeds. I have developed my germination and seedling transplanting down to a science – even using grow lights to enhance my plants’ chances of survival throughout their early growth prior to hardening off and finally planting them into my vegetable garden.
Take into account weed control. Give yourself enough space between rows in the garden to prune, harvest, and remove weeds around the plants.
Making a mulch of leaves, pine straw, wood chips, or compost can help control weeds and conserve moisture in the soil. Try putting 2 or 3 sheets of newspaper down first, then putting a several inch layer of mulch on top.
Think about how to water your plants. Will you let mother nature water your garden? If so, you’ll have to be able to reach the plants with a water hose during dry spells. Or, to minimize wet leaves on your plants, maybe soaker hoses are a better option. Wet leaves can increase disease likelihood for your plants.
There are many vegetables, fruits, and herbs that you can grow!
Click on the links for more information.
Vegetables, Fruits, And Other Things
The only limitations are your culinary likes and dislikes, whether the plants can thrive in your area, and if they fit into your gardening plan layout.
What veggies do you like? And, which ones do you want to grow? And, why? Too many questions, huh? Well I look forward to hearing your thoughts on your picks for growing edibles in your garden! Use the comments section below or email me: jim@perfect-vegetable-garden.com.
Let’s get to it!
I don’t know much about gardening so I am curious if doing this would save me a significant amount of money instead of going to a grocery store?
Should I consider composting to make the soil a lot stronger if the brand I buy happens to be weak in giving nutrients?
Also, what should I do to protect the garden from potential animals like birds who may try to eat them?
Thank you for your help
Jessie
Hi Jessie,
Thanks, for visiting my website.
Not only have I saved a ton of money with a backyard garden but, I also know that I am getting better tasting veggies with less pesticide contamination than I can get from the store.
Composting does make the soil stronger but, you will probably still need to add nutrients. But, have a soil test done first to see exactly what you need to do to make the soil more suitable for the plants you are raising.
Bird netting works well to keep birds off tomatoes and corn…the two main crops they like. But, even easier, make a cross, stick it in the ground, add some clothes and a hat…and you’ve got your very own scarecrow to ward off the winged demons! Works for me.
Jim
Hi Jim,
What an informational post! I have been trying to grow my own food at home for about two years now, but to no avail. For some reason I just can’t seem to get it right. I will try out these tips and tricks to see what I can get growing. I do have a question though. If you are using pots to grow in should you still use the moisture conserving media such leaves?
Hi Betsey,
Thanks, for visiting my website! I’m glad you found the content informational. You will find a lot of tips and tricks throughout these pages and posts that will definitely make growing your own food much easier and more beneficial.
Container gardening is a special challenge since the soil environment in each container can differ greatly. But, the one constant is the need to preserve moisture in the soil.
If the containers are placed outside, then, there is a definite need to mulch it to preserve the moisture. Place several layers of newspaper down and then top it off with either leaves, wood chips, or pine straw to hold in the moisture and discourage weed growth.
If the containers are kept inside, I would use only wood chips or pine straw. Those leaves may have critters attached to them that you do not want in your house.
Jim