If you like eating a lot of organic vegetables and enjoy working in a garden, you might think about setting up your own vegetable garden. Not only is having your own vegetable garden saving you a trip to the store, the ultimate savings in grocery bills is well worth it. If you’re worried because you’ve never had your own garden before, here are some organic vegetable growing tips for beginners.
You’ll first need to decide on what vegetables you’d like to grow. Choose your favorite vegetables to grow and look for varieties of those that are disease resistant. The back of seed packets usually provide this information, as well as plant tags and catalog listings. Having a disease resistant plant will be easier to deal with.
Once you’ve picked out the vegetables you want to plant, look for an optimal place to plant them. Most vegetables grow best if they’re planted in full sunlight, six hours at least in direct sun. If the soil you’re planning to use is not good quality, you can fix that by using organic matter, like compost.
You’ll need a plot of ground that is flat to plant your seeds in. Find out how much space you have for growing, and place the seeds accordingly. Some vegetables, such as lettuce, can be grown close together in a small area, but other vegetables like tomatoes need to be spaced out so they don’t run into each other as they grow. Information about planting requirements (i.e. space) is included in the information on the seed packages, in seed catalogs, or on the nursery tags.
If you don’t have very much space for growing, some vegetables do just fine by growing in pots or in hanging baskets. An example of a good pot plant is lettuce. Some types of tomatoes grow very well in hanging baskets. You can also train some vegetables, like pole beans and cucumbers to grow up the side of a trellis. Having vegetables grow vertically saves space and can also make the garden more unique. If you want to grow your own herbs as well, you can simply tuck them into the flower beds with the vegetables.
Set up a planting schedule around the two major growing seasons. Organic vegetables to plant during the cooler season would be broccoli, carrots, lettuce, peas, potatoes, and spinach. During the warmer months, it’s best to plant vegetables like corn, beans, peppers, melons, cucumbers and tomatoes.
Once you have your space arranged, and a schedule set up for planting, you need to plant your seeds. Sow seeds such as carrots, beans, and lettuce directly into the ground, as this is the best way for them to grow. Nursery seedlings, such as tomatoes, or peppers, tend to do better when placed in the garden as seedlings. Vegetables like cucumbers and squash, grow effectively as either seedlings or seeds. Consult with someone at your nursery to see which option is best for what vegetable.
When you get all of your vegetable seeds and seedlings planted, you’ll want to protect them from bugs and pests. Don’t worry about having to spray harmful toxins on your organic vegetables. There’s no need for that. There are beneficial gardening insects you can use instead. Wasps, ladybugs, and praying mantis are great alternatives for insecticides and pesticides. These type of “garden helpers” can be found at your nursery.
Other maintenance for your organic garden is to pull the unwanted weeds out. Pulling the weeds out with your hands is a better option than using a weed killer. It’s best to wear gardening gloves when you pull weeds to save your hands from getting scratched up.
You don’t have to be an expert in gardening to have your own organic garden. These organic vegetable growing tips will get you on your way to having fresh and healthy food for you and your family to enjoy for many years to come.
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