What a Great Garden

What a Great Garden

            Having a beautiful vegetable garden is no easy task. Just like building a house, you have to start from the ground up. The soil is the key component to growing great greens, or reds. Most state universities offer reasonably priced soil testing, and for you Texans the Aggies have a great program. Once you provide them with a sample, these programs will analyze your soil and send the results back to you. These results will help you to learn what your soil is lacking. From there, determine what needs to be present in the soil to help the plants that you want to grow have the best opportunity to be fruitful.

            Now that you know what your soil contains, the next step is to map out where you will plant the different types flora. Often times, most recommend a beginning on the south or east sides of your property as these sides will get the “best” sunlight. Knowing what type of plants do well in your region is important as well. For instance if you want to plant an apple tree, but live in south Louisiana, you might want to reconsider. And if you live in Iowa and your dream is a grapefruit tree, well, then you better move to Florida.

            So now you have used your green thumb to plant your garden and now it is time to tend it or manage it. Organizations like the National Gardening Association provide valuable sources of information from planting times to how to properly prune your crops. Just like we eat, plants require food as well and most often it comes in the form of fertilizers. Of course many people even start a compost pile which is very easy to do and provides hearty topsoil for your garden that will give your plants the food they will need to yield beautiful crops.

            With all of this you cannot forget the most important source of live for all plants and animals, water. Watering your plants is the only way they will survive. Monitoring rainfall will help you know if your plants are getting sufficient moisture or not. When Mother Nature deprives your plants of water, you will need to step in and do it yourself. For larger gardens, soaker hoses or irrigation drips are great choices to water all of your plants easily and effectively. You can even make homemade watering spikes using two liter soda bottles.

Pruning and thinning plants is equally important as watering. Allowing certain plants to grow too thick or too tall will inhibit growth of fruit in the long run. Because the different species of plants are so vastly different, you will really want to research each specific plant to learn how and when they should be thinned out.

So there you have it, gardening can be a rewarding way to spend your time and when done properly, it can also be bountiful. Before you begin to plant, do a little research; learn what plants will do well in your geographic location and how to take care of them.