Vegetable gardening offers a variety of benefits that will enrich your life in so many ways! In addition to enhancing mealtime with fresh homegrown vegetables that you grew yourself, tending the garden is great for the body. It gets you outside in the fresh air and sunshine where you can get a little closer to nature while enjoying the simple things in life.
It’s important to grow food, not lawns!
The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible
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Growing a vegetable garden is also great exercise. Tending to and harvesting the plants require a considerable amount of bending and stooping that can help you stay in shape. It’s a great way to clear your head, which enhances mental clarity while improving your self-esteem. After all, sitting down and enjoying the delicious foods you grew yourself is very rewarding.
However, growing a vegetable garden is a lot of work. It takes planning and preparation to ensure your garden thrives but don’t let that deter you from getting started.
All you need is a little guidance and a few great ideas to help you get started and that is exactly what we have to offer.
The first step in growing a garden involves choosing a location for your plants. Your garden should be close to a water source and have good drainage to prevent standing water from rotting your plants. The location should also allow your plants to receive several hours of direct sunlight to help keep them healthy.
Here, you’ll find some great garden layout ideas and raised gardening plans to help you choose the perfect spot and options for your garden.
You’ll also discover some great tips on which vegetables grow best in the spring, along with tips on how to grow vegetables such as cucumbers, beets, basil, broccoli, and spinach. You can even find information on what to do if you end up with too many tomatoes to eat, so nothing goes to waste.
This is an excellent place to learn about composting and how it benefits your garden. Discover how trench composting works or learn how to compost with worms to help your vegetables grow healthy and thrive.
Pests are a common problem that all gardeners small and large dread. They can do a lot of damage to the vegetables you worked so hard to grow but don’t worry. Here, you can get some great tips on how to get pests such as slugs, snails, caterpillars and hornworms out of your garden without using harsh chemicals.
You can also learn how to protect your garden from animals such as deer, cats, dogs, moles, squirrels and birds that can destroy it in a few short days.
Not having enough space is another problem that keeps many people from enjoying the benefits of vegetable gardening. If you’re dealing with limited space, this is a great place to gather tips and ideas for small space gardening. Learn how vertical gardening works or how to grow a living wall. You can also discover which vegetables grow best in small gardens or learn how and where to grow vegetables indoors for the best results.
I love growing root crops. The foliage only provides hints at what is happening in the soil as you tend to the plants throughout the season, leaving the harvest a surprise. I have laughed out loud in the garden upon unearthing a sweet potato the size of my face. Of course, this can lead to …
Have you ever found yourself with too many tomatoes? It’s not hard to do this time of the year, especially if you planted more than you need. Ask me how I know 😉 We can never make up our minds of which tomatoes to get each year, and end up with way too many ripe …
Perennial crops put food on the table year after year. It is a joy to gather kale from the kitchen garden, to cut the first spears of asparagus in spring, and to dig up a fresh garlic bulb in late summer. Perennial vegetables not only taste better than grocery store varieties, but they are also …
Root vegetables aren’t the prettiest veggies in the patch, but they’re very easy and rewarding to grow. Carrots, beets, rutabagas, and other root veggies are extremely versatile to use in recipes, and some tasty tubers come topped with leafy greens. Root vegetables may be taproots (parsnips, radishes), tuberous roots or stems (sweet and regular potatoes), …
There’s nothing more disappointing than going to pick a yummy squash and instead, find your squash plants in distress, destroyed by some unwelcome bug. But don’t worry: today we’re looking at ways to prevent and/or get rid of these nasty little creatures. See which of these 5 suggestions might make the best natural squash vine …
Asparagus beetles are a pain in the … asparagus. There is the common asparagus beetle and the spotted asparagus beetle, and they both love eating asparagus. They hunker down anywhere they can to stay warm in the winter. When they awaken in the spring, they are hungry. If you grow asparagus, you are at some …
You tuck cucumber vines into the soil while dreaming of the fresh, crunchy fruits and tart pickles to come. And then one day you walk into the garden to find holey, sickly plants in place of the lush foliage you expect. Upon closer inspection, you might notice the tiny insects infesting your beloved plants: cucumber …
Nasturtiums are beautiful plants with a lot of benefits! Not only are they edible, but they are great for companion planting as a trap crop and are great sources of pollen for pollinators to visit. As with any plant, it can be confusing knowing their specific needs and care. So, here is how to grow …
You might have heard of companion planting to keep pests away, and want to learn more about it. So, what are good companion plants for tomatoes? What can you plant next to your tomatoes that will ensure your tomato crop is bountiful? What is companion planting? Companion planting is a combination of folklore, wishful thinking, …
If you are planning a garden this spring, there are many furry threats to keep in mind: threats such as rabbits, gophers, groundhogs, and deer that you need to keep out. This guide is going to cover some of the best vegetable garden fence ideas, so you can keep big, as well as smaller critters …
