Hi everyone! I am going to start publishing some articles I have written on vegetable gardening. If you like my work, please follow me and upvote... if I get enough positive feedback, I can keep them coming. ENJOY!
Vegetable Gardening Post 1.1 -- Getting Started With a Vegetable Garden
You can do it!
Not everybody has a vegetable garden. There are several misconceptions about
gardening that I hope to clear up right away, before diving into more information.
Hopefully, what you will take away from this article is that YOU can definitely grow
vegetables!
Just dive in!
Some people deny themselves the pleasure of a garden because they have never
had any previous experience, and have somehow got the impression that special training
is needed. However, this is a mistake. There is no special "knack" to growing one.
Anyone who has a little bit of land, some time, and the desire to learn, can become a
successful gardener in one season. All you need to garden is the proper knowledge, and
the willingness to take action on what you have learned. After the first season you will
have enough knowledge and skill to teach others, if you would like to!
Any amount of ground will work
People with hardly any land or space may think it is not worthwhile to grow
vegetables on it. This is also a mistake. Of course, you can’t grow a ton of vegetables on
a small piece of ground, but you would be surprised at how much you can grow. Even if
you don’t have any land, you can still grow vegetables in containers.
It’s less work than you might think
Another misunderstanding is that to have a good garden, you have to spend a
large amount of time and work to take care of it. Not so. After cultivating and planting
your garden, the most work usually involves weeding, watering, and harvesting. You can
easily weed by marching through the garden with a hoe and chopping the top off any
emerging weeds. Unless you have a huge garden, that won’t take any more than about 20
minutes a week. You might not need to water your garden at all, depending on how much rain your
area gets, and you can also harvest your garden in a matter of minutes every week.
Home-grown tastes better
If you have never eaten home-grown vegetables, you can’t even begin to understand the difference between store-bought vs fresh-picked. Veggies that you can buy at a supermarket often look good, but the flavor of fresh-grown cannot be beat. If you want any vegetable to taste it’s best, you should try growing it in your own garden.
Vegetable gardening can save you lots of money
Some may think that vegetable gardening is an expensive hobby, but it can save
you a whole lot of money if you grow your own food. Home gardening is so cost effective
that “victory gardens” were grown at the homes of citizens across several
countries during World Wars I and II to help conserve resources for fighting.
Just grow a garden, even if it’s not perfect!
Also, some people may be deterred from gardening by the amount of work it
takes to prepare the soil and keep the weeds out. If you can remove weeds every week,
they won’t get a foothold in your garden, and weeding once a week will end up taking
much less work than you think. Also, as far as the soil conditions go, in future articles I can list the
ideal soil types for each vegetable. The more picky vegetables such as cauliflower and
celery will require high fertility and preparation, but less choosy types such as beans and
broccoli will give you some flexibility. Don’t worry about having a perfect garden soil, just do your best to enrich it by cultivating in some organic matter and fertilizer. Also keep the weeds in check, and you will have varying degrees of success. Varying degrees of success are always better than no success, which is what results from not taking action at all. Take action, have fun, and grow a garden! A less-than-perfect garden is way better than one that never got planted!
This article was written by me, and the pictures are owned by me, or in the public domain. If you liked this article, please upvote and follow me, and I can keep posting on vegetable gardening. Have a great day!