Vegetable gardening is a highly transformative act with various benefits for your physical and mental health, but is also a process that requires an abundance of patience, love, and hard work. There is no better feeling than picking some freshly ripened juicy red tomatoes – or whichever fruits or vegetables tickle your fancy – from a lush little garden you’ve poured your heart into.
Connecting with your garden and finding out how best to nurture the space is fundamental. If you take care of your garden, it will take care of you. Whether you’ve always had itchy green fingers but were too afraid to start, or simply want to be more sustainable and grow your own vegetables – we have the perfect tips and tricks for you.
1. Start small and watch your garden grow
If you are a first-time gardener, it is far safer to start with a smaller patch of land. Avoid overwhelming yourself by being overly ambitious only to realise your skill level and understanding of gardening would make the space difficult to maintain. You can use your own discretion to determine what is manageable for you – this is your journey. Also, take into consideration how much space you have available to grow your garden.
2. Do your research before you start planting
While it may be tempting to simply raid every gardening store, it is vital that you understand the soil type you have and which varieties of vegetables would be sustainable to grow during specific seasons. The more you know, the less likely you are to be disappointed when your favourite vegetables take a little longer to grow than others. As aforementioned, the key is patience. Enjoy the process and be kind to yourself.
3. Plan where you will grow your vegetables
Allocating a specific area within your yard for your garden and plotting where specific vegetables will be planted should give your space more structure. Decide whether you will do row or intensive cropping – both are highly beneficial. Row cropping involves plants being placed in a row with at least 20 inches between them for you to walk. This variety is better for bigger spaces, leaving room for mechanical tools that can be used to maintain the garden. Conversely, intensive cropping involves plants being placed much closer together. The latter type is much better for first-time gardeners or people with smaller spaces.
4. Start your garden in healthy rich soils
Rich, healthy soils will nourish anything you want to grow in them. Dark, crumbly soil that is full of life is preferable and will enable you to yield the best results in your garden. Taking care of soil by incorporating compost material into it will improve the earth over time and be nourishing to anything you grow therein.
