Growing a garden at home full of your own fresh vegetables is one way to save money and spend quality time with your family.
Eating your own vegetables can definitely offset your household expenses at the grocery store.
Most people are interested in environmental issues in some shape or form. That’s what makes having a vegetable garden so great! It’s a way to go green and utilize unused land on your own property.
Buying produce from the grocery store has its own set of challenges. Sometimes, what you see is not what you get! That's why its so great to have your own garden!
The first year you design your garden will be the hardest. There are many things to consider and there will be some extra work that has to be done, in order to have gardening success. The efforts you make today however, will pay off for many years to come, so take your time and enjoy the process!
Growing a Garden Full of Your Fresh Vegetables
Before you get started growing a garden, you’ll need to pick a spot to plot. Is the site you’ve chosen water accessible? Does the plot get plenty of sun for at least 6 hours a day? These are very important considerations you must make before growing a garden!
If you have trees that block sunlight in the area you've selected, you need to have those removed before hand. This may seem like a big hassle to growing a garden but it’s doable. You can cut down trees with a chain saw or ask a friend or neighbor to help out. Of course, if tree stumps are in the plot you've chosen, you’ll have to remove them before you can utilize the land.
That may seem like an expensive venture, but tree stumps can be killed off with a granular tree stump killer, pulled up by a tractor, or ground down by a stump grinder. It’s really a small cost when you think about having your own fresh veggies to eat, and you'll save money on groceries to boot!
When you’re growing a garden, you’ll also need to decide how much land you’ll need to grow the type of vegetables you want. Of course, it goes without saying! The more vegetables you want to grow, the more space you’ll need.
Once you’ve decided on a plot you’ll use, you must remove grass and weeds from the area. You can cover them with plastic over winter months or use a broad-spectrum herbicide to kill them off. You can also opt to remove the top layer of the soil. That will require some digging and shoveling but it’ll be well worth it when you’re finished.
* Transplant any grass you've removed or throw it into your compost pile for added nitrogen!
Once you have the plot ready, you’ll need to check the quality of the soil. Do not skip this step! Your local county extensions office can test soil samples. They will also tell you how to take a soil sample and analyze the soil for you for a wee fee. They will tell you exactly what you need to amend your soil to make it ‘healthy’ for planting vegetables.
* You can find the number for the county extensions office in the government pages of your local phone book.
The next step, also too important to skip, is tilling the soil. Before you till however, grab a fistful of soil and squeeze it to see whether it's dry enough. If water oozes out between your fingers, it's too wet and you'll have to wait. If it's powdery, it's overly dry and you’ll need to add moisture. Water the plot thoroughly or wait for a good solid rain to till. Ideally you'll be able to form a ball of soil that crumbles when you poke it. Also, you’ll need to till at least one foot down, which is the deepest that most vegetable roots grow.
Tilling the first time will help remove rocks and roots that are in the way. You’ll need to bring up the dirt from underneath, to aerate and mix up the soil.
* If you dig up rocks, use them to help outline your garden bed!
Now its time to till the soil again but this time you need to fold in as much compost as possible and add the recommended nutrients that were given to you by your soil test sample. Compost gives your plants a loose garden bed that holds just the right amount of moisture and boosts nutritional needs. You'll want to replenish the compost in your soil periodically (plant growth and warm weather will speed its decomposition), so you may also want to consider starting your own compost pile. You can also buy a composter at a very low cost! Prices have really come down on green products over the years!
You might also want to add manure to your soil, which adds nitrogen. Local horse farms can supply all the seasoned manure you need or you can purchase it from home improvement stores.
* If you add raw manure to your garden, you must cover it well to keep it cool! You can add it one of two ways. One way is to dig down below where you want to plant your seeds/plants, cover the manure with soil, then plant your seeds/plants. You may optionally add manure around your seeds/plants and cover it well with a thick layer (4" or more) of pine straw or mulch. The point is to keep manure cool! When you water your plants, be sure to water the manure too. This helps keep it cool, which helps with decomposition and ensures that the manure won't burn up your tender plants.
Its much easier growing a garden in raised mounds but you can use flat plots of soil also. The advantage of mounding rows is that excessive water from heavy rains will run off of vegetables and not drown them. This takes a little hoeing but may be well worth your time.
*Make your mounds as wide as possible. In between mounds, spread newspapers and cover with pine straw to help hold them down. You should also wet them down to help hold them in place. This gives you plenty of space in between mounds to water, check on, or harvest your vegetables.
Next step in growing a garden is to plant your vegetables! Its may have been a long wait, which makes planting so especially fun to do! Spread a light application of basic 10-10-10 fertilizer to the soil. Pay attention to the information on the seed packets if you're using them. Remember, you won't get good results from planting the wrong vegetables in the wrong season! Refer to the plant zone map for more planting information!
You'll also get better crops if your plants are the right distance apart. They must also be trellised or caged if plants grow more than a couple of feet tall.
Here are a few beginning pictures of the garden we started last year. Its not very glorious but it worked well! Its truly a simple, small garden and gave our household lots of delicious fresh veggies and leftovers to freeze and enjoy throughout the winter months. In full growth, our okra plants were over 7 feet tall!
Growing a garden is so much fun for the entire family. Give different family members different jobs to do! You'll all take pride when you sit down to eat a meal together and you're enjoying the bountiful fruits vegetables of your labor!
More Tips for Growing a Garden
You’ll need to water your garden daily, unless you are blessed with good daily rain in your region. Watering your garden from the bottom up is always the best way to ensure that roots get the water they need and diminish the chance of blight. This will also help diminish the amount of water that’s wasted, which is good for keeping it green.
Add mulch around your plants to conserve and retain water.
Another point to consider when growing a garden is whether or not you should fence the area in, especially if you have lots of critters around that might come in and snatch your veggies. If you want, you can buy garden fencing or edging, which has really isn't that expensive, or, you can make your own! Its fairly simple to do with a few posts and a roll of chicken wire.
If you fence in your garden, you might think about adding a gate. If you use a garden arbor with a built in doorway, you'll get a trellis for fresh flowers and a latched door that is easy on the eyes!
Another consideration when you’re growing a garden is whether to have raised beds. If you want to build your own raised beds, you’ll have to buy the supplies you’ll need for those and be able to construct them. This is fairly simple to do but add more time to your project.
* Ask your local hardware store for tips on making your own raised beds!
Prevent blight before it happens! Preventing blight requires using flood irrigation instead of watering down. To control blight from affecting your plants, start with regular fungicide treatment sprays and use them every two weeks. An alternative to chemicals is to use 20 grams of baking soda diluted in ten liters of water and spray biweekly. Quickly remove any signs of rotting due to late blight as soon as it occurs. Destroy it by placing it in a garbage bag you can throw away later so it does not spread the disease around to other plants.
(Apply the fungicide for the first time to potatoes before they flower. Apply it to tomatoes soon after the first fruits set.)
Leaf Spots or Blights
Cankers or Shoot Blights
Bud Blast or Flower Blights
Fruits or Bulb Rot
Beet
Pansy
Anemone
Chrysanthemum
Bean
Begonia
Peony
Asparagus
Dahlia
Cucurbits
Chicory
Pepper
Calendula
Dogwood
Eggplant
Crucifers
Periwinkle
Chrysanthemum
Geranium
Grape
Cucurbits
Potato
Fuchsia
Hydrangea
Onion
Dogwood
Rhubarb
Geranium
Marigold
Pepper
Eggplant
Rutabaga
Heather
Peony
Raspberry
Endive
Shallot
Hydrangea
Petunia
Strawberry
Geranium
Tomato
Peony
Rose
Tomato
Hawthorn
Tulip
Periwinkle
Sunflower
Tulip
Hydrangea
Turnip
Rose
Sweet Pea
Lettuce
Violet
Snapdragon
Tulip
Onion
Tulip
Zinnia
Marigolds are available in a wide variety of color shades, from yellow and orange. You might like to have some around when you’re growing a garden! Marigold scent discourages pests from invading your plants and their bright colors attract bees, which are necessary for pollination!
If you like the idea of going green, use diatomaceous earth as a green alternative for pesticides, if those pesky insects get out of control!
Tomatoes and potatoes are especially susceptible to Bacterial Speck. Symptoms are tiny raised dark spots, usually with a white border. Management is to spray a copper fungicide at first signs of symptoms.
Do not use dog or cat manure when you're growing a garden. Chicken, cow, and horse manure your best bet!
Use a water drip irrigation method of watering your plants for best success.
You can save excesses of your fresh vegetables by freezing or canning them! Your family will have fresh vegetables right through the winter months!
, which has really isn't that expensive, or, you can make your own! Its fairly simple to do with a few posts and a roll of chicken wire.
with a built in doorway, you'll get a trellis for fresh flowers and a latched door that is easy on the eyes! 
. If you want to build your own raised beds, you’ll have to buy the supplies you’ll need for those and be able to construct them. This is fairly simple to do but add more time to your project.
as a green alternative for pesticides, if those pesky insects get out of control!
will be the hardest. There are many things to consider and there will be some extra work that has to be done, in order to have gardening success. The efforts you make today however, will pay off for many years to come, so take your time and enjoy the process!
at a very low cost! Prices have really come down on green products over the years!
