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“How to Start Your First Vegetable Garden”

When starting your first vegetable garden the first thing you must do, is decide for yourself how many hours per week you are willing to put in to working in your vegetable garden?

If you think you can only get in three to four hours per week, then you should stick to a small garden. A small vegetable garden would measure any where from 100 (10*10) square feet to 400 (20*20) square feet.

If you can afford more hours like eight to twelve hours, per week then you could most likely plant a 1200 (30*40) square foot to 2400 (40*60) square foot garden allowing you to be more ambitious and creative.

Be realistic and honest with yourself, don’t be too ambitious if your work day doesn’t allow you enough hours to be ambitious.

You need to ask yourself, how much sunlight will my vegetable garden get per day on a clear sunny day?

You need to make sure the minimum amount of sunlight per day you get in your backyard vegetable garden is at least eight hours per day.

If the area you plan on planting your vegetables in has not been used before, then you should take a soil sample to get an idea of whether your soil has enough nutrition in it in order for you to grow healthy vigorous plants.

You can pick up a soil testing kit from any garden shop or you can just take some soil samples yourself and fill up two pint size jars.

After filling up the two pint size jars you can bring the two soil samples to your state’s local Cooperative Extension Service and they will analyze the soil for you.

Normally when soil samples are being analyzed, they look for soil pH which is expressed as a number on a scale of 1.0 to 14.0 with 7.0 representing a neutral pH. The smaller the number, the more acidity (sour) the soil is. The larger the number, the more alkalinity (sweet) the soil is.

The pH of your soil should be around 6.5 to 7.0 which is a healthy level that will cover a wide range for the variety of vegetables that you decide to grow. Having a healthy pH aids your vegetable plants in absorbing your main nutrients and many micro nutrients. This provides a healthy environment for your vegetable garden.

The soil sample is also analyzed for the presents of Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus the three main nutrients your vegetable plants will need for healthy vigorous growth.

Nitrogen stimulates healthy green growth, Potassium stimulates healthy flower, seed and fruit production and Phosphorus stimulates healthy root growth for you plants in helping your vegetable plants become quickly established.

Make sure your soil drains well and water doesn’t just sit and puddle up for long periods of time, otherwise your plants will not receive the water they needs and your vegetable plants will not become established.

Always add organic matter to your soil, such as dehydrated cow manure, chicken manure or compost. This helps to promote healthy soil structure enabling water to be absorbed into the soil and aids your vegetable plants in absorbing the moisture they need.

Next pick vegetables you would enjoy growing and your family would enjoy eating. There is no point in planting vegetables in your vegetable garden that you and your family are not going to enjoy.

Choose vegetable plants that are adapted to your local climatic conditions. For example, in New England, especially the North East our vegetable growing season usually starts in June or around Memorial Day weekend and ends around the second to third week in September.

Hours of sun light start to drop off very quickly as we approach August therefore reducing the amount of sunlight for plant growth.

Knowing this, it is important when choosing your vegetable seeds to look at the days to maturity written on your seed packet or when browsing through a seed catalog. This would be the amount of time a vegetable seed takes to germinate, grow into a plant and produce fruit for harvesting before your first frost.

If you are not sure which type of vegetables you or your family would enjoy then try vegetables that are extremely easy to grow. Vegetables that aren’t fussy, vegetables that are known to grow easily in your area.

Your local Cooperative Extension Service can help you choose what vegetables grow easily in your area with little care. If you have neighbors that grow their own vegetable garden each year, then they could also be another source of information for you.

Here is an example of some vegetables that grow well in New England: leaf lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, beets, summer squash, cucumbers and bush beens just to name a few.

Always plant your tallest vegetables on the North side of your garden continuing with your shorter vegetables towards the South side of your vegetable garden. This way your taller vegetables won’t shade out the shorter vegetables from the sun.

Your seed packet or vegetable flat with vegetable plants for transplanting will have directions on them so you will know how deep to plant your seed. This will also tell you how much spacing you will need based on their full maturity when vegetables are ready to be picked.

Once your vegetable seeds have germinated and your vegetable plants have been planted its a good idea to spread mulch around the base of the plants.

This will help maintain soil moisture and temperature in the ground around your plants. Mulching will also help reduce plant disease caused by soil splashing up onto your vegetable plants during a heavy rain or watering.

Form a habit of cultivating around your vegetables and between vegetable rows at least once a week. This will help reduce the amount of weeds that grow in your vegetable garden making weeding an easy task.

Cultivating the soil in your vegetable garden helps to aerate your soil making it easier for your plants to absorb water and retain the water in the soil.

Many times you will find if the soil in your vegetable garden is not cultivated frequently, during the hot days of summer your soil can become hard pan like cement.

Any water that hits the soil will just wash off over the top and not be absorbed into the lower soil horizon were your vegetable plant roots need it most.

Water less frequently but thoroughly, this will train the plant roots to grow deeper into the soil and hold moisture for a longer period of time especially if you run into some hot dry periods without any water.

If you water more frequently and not thoroughly then this will train the plant roots to grow shallow and grow closer towards the surface of the soil.

This will cause the roots to become susceptible to root burn especially during hot dry periods and the plant will be prone to wilting and eventually dying.

Water plants with a good soaking at least twice a week and water just enough to create a small amount of puddling up on the surface of the soil.

You are always better off to water your plants early morning before the sun is at its hottest. This will give your vegetable plants ample time to absorb the water and a chance for the plant to dry off.

Avoid watering at night since this will make your plants susceptible to fungus or mildew which both thrive in damp, cool shady conditions.

Insect control, if insects damage your vegetable plants or wild animals become a problem in your garden then try planting marigold flowers around the perimeter of your garden and spreading onion leaves along the garden bed. The scent helps repel insects and animals.

In some organic gardens I have found people actually put human hair in a sandwich bag, hanging it from a stake or pole in the center of the garden. The bag of human hair is left open so any animals that would be interested in your garden pass by due to the scent of human hair.

The above are just some suggestions for organic pest control in your vegetable garden.

At one time vegetable gardening during World War II was considered a necessity but now it is more of a hobby and a great way to give yourself healthy exercise and relaxation for your mind body and soul.

Come next year after having one year under your belt, try a larger garden with a different variety of vegetables and give yourself a chance to be creative.

Remember, vegetable gardening will require a little bit of work on your part, but it should also be a healthy form of therapy. Just think of all those wonderful, fresh, healthy, nutritious vegetables that will be finding their way on to your kitchen table this July and August.

If your vegetable garden produces more then you realized, don’t worry you can always look into canning your vegetables, that way you will have plenty of healthy, fresh, nutritious vegetables to carry you through the winter months.

So enjoy your first vegetable garden, take your time and give yourself a chance to learn and grow and your plants will pay you back with a bountiful harvest that you can be proud of.

Enjoy your new gardening experience.

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Tags: soil samples, soil testing, square foot garden, vegetables, vegetable garden, vegetable plants, vigorous plants