Seasonal Events
|
Beginners Vegetable Gardening
Beginners Vegetable Gardening
Spring has sprung! Now is the time to think about starting your vegetable garden. There are several things for you to consider when starting your first vegetable garden.
The size of your garden is very important. First time gardeners may not want to start out too large. A good starting point may be a pot on your patio, an area along the border of you flower garden, hanging containers on a fence, or even a trellis.
Consider the location of your garden. Keep your garden close to a water source. This will ultimately save time when watering. You will also want a level area that will get at least 6-8 hours of sun daily.
Several tools will come in handy when starting your vegetable garden. The Garden Weasel is a wonderful tool to help cultivate the soil. Other tools you may want to consider are a shovel, rake, hoe, hand rake and hand shovel. If animals are a problem in your area, you may consider a small fence or barrier.
You need to prepare the area by removing all grass and weeds. Dig to a depth of 12-15' and work in soil amendments like Sweet Peat, Growers Secret, Nature's Richest Topsoil, manure, or compost. Loosely rake the soil smooth then mark your rows for seeds and plants.
You may want to start tomatoes, peppers and cantaloupe indoors by seed the first part of April. For your cool weather crops such as lettuce, cabbage and broccoli, you can plant seeds in early May. Be sure to add a scoop of Root Blast to the hole with your seeds to help promote rapid root growth. When the soil warms and danger of frost is past, (about May 30th) seeds like carrots, beets, corn and beans can be planted. Be sure to water them in well.
Add your fertilizer about two weeks after planting. We carry organic fertilizers like Garden-Tone, Osmocote, Tomato Blast or Plant-Tone to feed your growing plants.
Some maintenance will be required. To cut down on weeds, you can use Corn Gluten as an organic weed preventer. Corn Gluten helps prevent seeds from germinating. This works well after your plants have started growing.
You will also need regular watering throughout the season and especially when it's dry and the plants are larger. Plants like 1" of water per week. Stake tomatoes and peppers before they get too large to keep the stems from falling over. Mulching will help keep weeds under control and will keep soil from splashing up on the plants.
Finding and identifying pests and insects before an infestation occurs is critical.. Hand pick to remove insects or use controls like Bonide Tomato & Vegetable 3 in 1 Insecticide, Fungicide & Miticide. We also carry Bonide Garden Dust, which is a ready-to-use Insecticide-fungicide dust for your vegetables.
Vegetable gardening offers many rewards. Home grown veggies not only taste better, but are healthier for you to eat!
