Home vegetable gardening

Many people are into vegetable gardening nowadays, and they are even getting their supply of vegetables from their gardens. Of course, this makes the vegetables much cheaper, and in addition the vegetables taste much better too. Actually, vegetable gardening is quite similar to gardening for shrubs and herbs. With just a little care, these plants can produce excellent vegetables for consumption.

The size of the garden needs to be decided beforehand. Select a place where the drainage is good, there is good supply of air and healthy soil. Sunlight is most important. One more thing to do is to fence your garden, because there will be several animals trying to get a bite or more at your vegetables. For mice, moles and other rodents, you will need to use a trap somewhere in the garden.

You will have to prepare the soil before planting the vegetables. Organic fertilizers are good for vegetable gardening. You will also need to plow the soil to eradicate weeds and to add mulch to the soil. Use hoeing if necessary to remove the weeds. When you add organic fertilizers, the soil gets all the nutrients including nitrogen. Compost is the best organic fertilizer. Use the optimum amount depending on the type of soil you have and the kinds of plants you are planning to grow in the garden. There are some vegetables that need more nitrogen, such as the green leafy vegetables spinach, lettuce and cabbage. Plants like potatoes, beetroots, turnips and carrots will want more potash quantities in the soil. Celery, potatoes and onion require profuse amounts of fertilizers, but beans and tomatoes can do with fewer amounts.

The way in which you arrange your vegetable garden is very important to its success. No one can lay out a uniform plan for you, since there are so many different kinds of vegetables that people grow. You will do well to closely grow plants such as beetroots, lettuce, radish and spinach because they do not require much space to grow. But corn, potatoes and pumpkins require more room. Grow the plants that do not require much space together and those that require much space together. If possible, grow the plants that can become taller at the end of your garden, and the shorter plants out in the front. This helps in better distribution of sunlight.

You must also take care that you begin planting your vegetables at the right time of the year. You can grow sooner if you want, but you must grow them in a hothouse and then transfer them to the garden when the season approaches. After the planting is done, irrigate the garden thoroughly, depending on the requirements of the plants you are going to introduce into the garden.

Weeds are quite unwelcome in every vegetable garden because they compete with the plants for sunlight, food and water. They can also introduce diseases. Proper cultivation methods and even using mulch can destroy these weeds. You can also try buying disease-resistant plants. This will permanently keep the weeds away, and even if they come up, they will not be able to drastically affect the plants.