|
As a beginning gardener, you're probably wondering just where to start. My suggestion is to start small. You can always expand the garden but you definitely don't want to overwhelm yourself with too big a project at start up. Remember the old adage "Don't bite off more than you can chew"? Well, in gardening, we might re-word it to say "Don't till more than you can tend". Many beginning gardeners start off with visions of produce that will not only supply their own tables but also create an over-abundance that can be shared with family and friends. That's a wonderful goal.... but let's not try to do it all at once. We want you to be a successful first time gardener.
A beginning gardener has to start from scratch. That means taking a good look at your back yard. If you have space in your yard for a garden, you will need no more than a 6' x 6' area. This is plenty of room to start out with and it's not so much that it can become discouraging. Don't have that much room? No problem. A smaller spot, just 4' x 4' in the beginning, will still give a gardener a workable area that can provide your family with fresh vegetables. No yard at all? Still no problem. You can grow your garden in containers on your porch, patio or deck or even on your apartment balcony. Let's look closer at container gardening. We highly recommend container gardening for any beginning gardener.
Let's start off with about a half dozen large nursery pots, about 18" to 24" across the tops for our beginning garden. Use fewer pots if you don't have that much room or don't feel that ambitious. Place the pots where you want them before filling them with potting soil. They can be moved later but they'll be much heavier. And remember, vegetables like lots of sunshine so be sure to place your container garden where it will receive at least 6 hours of full sun every day.
| A pretty collection of plants in pots in a corner of the patio. A perfect arrangement for the beginning gardener. |
 |
If at all possible, put saucers or trays beneath each pot. This will provide a small reservoir of water for the plants during the hot summer months and will also help to prevent overflow onto your patio or porch. Step back and admire your new garden because it's all ready to be planted now. Your new container garden is set up and ready to go, and without all the aches and pains involved with actually digging up the sod to prepare a spot in the yard. If you're just beginning to garden, you want to keep things as simple and easy as possible.
Fresh vegetables that you grow yourself have a number of advantages. First and foremost, you know exactly where they came from and exactly what was (or more importantly, was NOT) put on them. They can be harvested at the peak of perfection rather than at a point that permits long shipping and rough handling. You will never taste anything fresher than the vegetables you grow yourself. Now, isn't that a fine achievement for a beginning gardener?
|