Andrew Bicknell asked:

Learning how to plant a vegetable garden is not hard, but without careful planning and proper follow through, your garden may perform poorly. If done correctly it pays off with big benefits in so many ways. Before you know it you will be picking perfectly ripe, perfectly delicious tomatoes without having to wonder what chemicals went into growing them.

The most important part of successful gardening is to properly prepare the soil. A routine soil test gives information on any lime requirement, phosphorous and potassium needs and estimated nitrogen requirements. A good soil mixture contains two parts loam, one parts and, and one part organic matter and many pre-mixed soil mixtures are available at garden centers. When manure is added to the soil, it must be composted prior to planting, because fresh, hot manure will also burn your plants. Vegetables need a lot of nutrition to grow well, so the better you prepare the soil before planting, the better chances you have of producing a bountiful crop. For information on soil testing, call your local county extension educator or the local university soil testing laboratory.

Planting a vegetable garden is not hard, but without careful planning and proper follow through, your garden may perform poorly. Tilling the soil in late fall facilitates earlier spring planting. Cool versus warm planting periods are determined by your choice of cool-season vegetables and warm-season vegetables.

Successful vegetable gardening involves far more than just popping a few seeds into the ground and waiting for a tomato to appear. When sowing your seeds stretch a string between the two stakes you set to mark the row, or use a straight piece of lumber, and use it as a guide to open a ‘V’ shaped furrow with the corner of your hoe. Tear the corner of the seed package off and use your finger to tap the package lightly as you move down the row, carefully distributing the seeds evenly. Larger type seeds may be placed individually in the row. You will want to plant extra seeds in each row to allow for failed germination, and for thinning. Cover the seeds with fine soil (no clods or rocks). After the seeds sprout, the weaker seedlings should be pinched off to give the rest enough room to grow.

Vegetables that are leaves or stems, such as cabbages and onions, can usually be harvested over a long period as they are needed. Vegetables that are the fruit of the plant, such as peas, beans and tomatoes, should be picked every two or three days to get them when they are first ripe. Any vegetable garden should receive a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight during the day and grow best on soil that is well drained. Vegetable gardens do not always have to be laid out in large plots in the backyard; you can grow them nearly anywhere as long as all their growing conditions are met and your choice of plants will be largely determined by the likes and dislikes of your family. If the same garden plot is used for vegetables for many years, your crops should be rotated, so that each type of vegetable is in a different position during the following season.

Planting a vegetable garden is hard work but for both the beginner and experienced gardener the rewards can be delicious.

Abhishek Agarwal asked:

Vegetable gardening at home signifies many things to many individuals – for quite a few people it may be financially prudent to cultivate their own vegetable whereas for many others it is a pleasurable pursuit to grow vegetables. You might be interested in knowing whether your soil is just right for cultivating vegetables. Rest assured that even the most awful soil could be renewed and transformed to produce a decent crop. Four vital aspects need to be committed to memory regarding gardening in general and vegetable gardening at home in particular. To grow and harvest healthy vegetables you should give due consideration to the soil conditions.

1. Every garden requires nutrients and enriched soil contains essential plant elements.

2. Appropriate Cultivation

3. Right Temperature

4. Proper Moisture

In case you are planning to start a vegetable garden at home, then you should be aware that the soil does not continue to stay enriched naturally but rather plants tend to drain the soil of its natural resources. Regular cultivation is necessary for keeping the soil rich as it aids in converting the raw food for the plants into accessible forms of food. A gardener enthusiastic about setting up a home vegetable garden should regularly put in plant food and manure into the soil from external supplies. The gardener should also ascertain the garden spot that receives the maximum sunlight, which in turn indicates a very high temperature in this area. All plants, whether they are trees, vegetables, flowers or fruits require warm sunshine if they need to grow and flourish. Lastly, every garden requires lots of moisture and hence there should be frequent watering to make certain moisture seeps down to the plant roots.

Establishing a successful home vegetable garden calls for locating the ideal place for raising vegetables, having soil that is properly turned over, enriched with nutrients and which is open to plenty of sunlight and heat and has proper drainage. In the first place, you should make up your mind what you wish to grow and where would be the location. Annual plants like rhubarbs, for instance, should be grown together at one corner of the vegetable garden. Vegetables like onions and carrots that are available throughout the season should be planted together. According to the space remaining, you can grow other crops like lettuce or peas. Study garden books for guidelines on sowing seeds and so on and record it against your selected vegetables. In this case, you need not spend countless hours trying to get the necessary information.

If you have a tiny space at your disposal, then your vegetable garden will adopt an intensive approach where the plants are packed densely together. Vegetables that grow best in such conditions are asparagus, beet cauliflower, kale, lettuce, carrots, Swiss chard cabbage, and tomatoes. The optimum season for cultivating vegetables is late in the spring, which produces a yield in the summer season even though beet, cauliflower, and carrots can be sown in June and harvested in October or November.

Abhishek Agarwal asked:

Not everybody is blessed with a house and garden plot or lives in the country with access to farming land, so the option for a garden leave alone a kitchen garden, is a fairly remote one. But, if you put on your thinking cap, you can have a fresh and economical option of growing your own veggies in the privacy of your home – by using cost-effective gardening containers for growing vegetables from seeds and seedlings bought from the local nursery or even ordered from a mail-order or online catalogue.

For those that live in flats and hostels, the need to grow their own vegetables may be limited due to space constraints, but the readily available gardening containers in many different sizes and materials make having a kitchen garden less of a dream and more of a possibility for people with the smallest budget. There are also a variety of indoor gardening plants and vegetables you can bring for your home cooking needs, which only require a few hours of sunlight that they can have access to while hung in the balcony or even in your window-sill planter box. These include herbs, peppers, bush beans, salad greens, bush and cherry tomatoes and baby carrots.

Of course, depending on the vegetable variety you do purchase and the size they grow to, you will need to purchase a planter pot that is ready for holding the full-sized plant, so choose with care. For example, tomatoes are grown one per pot while a big size pot can hold 3-4 pepper plants besides basil herb around it in small quantity. This is typical of 5 gallon pots.

Other containers you can use for your gardening needs include tubs, buckets and barrels cut in half (distillery ones) ranging from 5 to 15 liters. However, you need to keep in mind that if you are also intending to plant herbs in addition to the vegetables in the pots, you need to ascertain that the ones you buy are at least 10 inches in diameter so spring onions, for example, planted in the pot, also hold space for rosemary or thyme.

You need to also invest in a drainage tray (even plastic ones will do) that will allow for proper leaching from time to time so the pots get enough water, sunlight and there is a measure for extra water to leak out too. Do remember to line the bottom of the pot with some pieces of rocks or broken crockery besides a few layers of newspaper before putting in potting soil to prevent the fine soil from seeping out from the drainage holes.

Use well-rotted compost, adequate potting soil till an inch or two below the rim, water plants regularly and also give plant food twice as often as outdoor plants would need as dehydration occurs more rapidly for indoor plants.

Greg F Williams asked:

Weeds are the primary drain on your gardens resources, such as, nutrients, sunlight and revenue for farmers. So the sooner you annihilate them, the better it will be for your garden and crop development. This will take up a extensive amount of your time in different seasons, but if you keep on top of your weeds, then it will for sure be worth the time and effort.

Weeds are ordinarily much worse to get rid of when they have grown. So it might require you need a keen observing eye to really check out and scrutinize your garden for the earliest appearances of these culprits. Cultivating your soil on a regular basis in your garden will help do away with the newer weeds. Once you let those young weeds take hold and get firmly established in your garden, it will become a more serious undertaking to try to take out them from your garden.

The various times of year will also affect the appearing of weeds in your garden. Warm-season and cool-season weeds grow at different times of the year and if you learn to distinguish which weeds are in season, then you can gear up for there coming with your anti weed armoury and deal with the far more efficaciously. Weed seeds also lie in your garden, so it is advised for you to work your soil frequently and the right way

You should make certain your garden is well planted and if you do leave an area unplanted, cover it with a good organic mulch. This will stop any weeds from getting hold in your unplanted area and then from invading your plant territory. Also a organic mulch gives an natural feel to your garden.

In the instance where weeds have already grown when you found them, chopping them off from the ground is the most efficient way to remove them. Some of these weeds may stop once removed, but others will not stop even when you cut them down. But persistent cutting down of those weeds will help eradicate them for good after some time.

The application of herbicides and pesticides is also well advised, but it is not completely needed when you are able to do effective cultivation of your soil. Any pesticides and herbicides, peculiarly the commercially available ones, may prove to have other harmful results. It may also pose as a threat to other useful organisms living in your garden.In the case, when you have a big weed problem, you may use herbicides and pesticides in small amounts.

Mulching and composting are also a effective way to help maintain your soil and fight off any weeds. You should not have to deal with any weed problem, if from the very start, you are able to deter them from growing in your garden in the first place.

If you are really consistent in digging up your space, you will have made the most out of your vegetable garden and have practiced true growth control against weeds that can steal, kill and ruin your organic garden.

Graham Williams asked:

For effective gardening of vegetables in your organic gardening, you must first think about fertilization. This is almost always attributable to mulching. But there are other things to consider as well, such as the introduction of fertilizers that are available to you both naturally or commercially. To simply define this, it means to place materials, wether they be inorganic or organic in your garden around your plants.

By doing this you will also provide fertilization, it also helps to protect your soil as well. If you garden receives a lot of heavy rain, or is susceptible to high weed growth causing it to be a weed trap, then mulches will provide some much protection from this and much needed supplementation that will aid the natural growth process of your organic garden vegetables.

Beside this, you will also find it will help to regulate the temperature of your soil. Also the added bonus of gardening this way is the aesthetic look this lends to your garden and the improved ground texture. By spreading the mulch to areas not planted will also help to keep any weeds under control.

If you do decide to establish mulches in your garden, you will find that you need to water less often. This is because it help your plants retain water. Also your plants will have far better growth levels because of this added water retention. It will also help you with your weed control, but it will never stop them completely stop them.

You should always test your soil, this way you can maximise your fertilization efforts. Never buy your fertilizer in bulk before doing a test on your soil, this way you make sure you get the correct fertilizer suited for your soil type. Just what could be a worse experience, than having not tested and then having bought in bulk to find that it is of no use to you.

When you do apply your fertilizer, it is recommended that you should maintain it. Always go for a high quality fertilizer, this in an absolute must do for any gardener, especially if you are a beginner. There are also many fertilizers available to you, that are tailored solely to the beginning of your planting experience. These will require no extra maintenance through your gardening activities. In any rate, make sure that you are getting your money’s worth and have thoroughly proven for yourself that the given fertilizer you are putting on your garden has been tried and tested on your soil type.

Organic material is always the best source of fertilization for your plants, this is because it adheres closely to natures natural growth process. Always try to avoid introducing any chemicals in to your soil, this is so that your plants will get used to growing and maximizing there potential via natural means. Going organic has many added health benefits for you and your family and by growing green you are doing your bit to help the environment. So why not go ahead now and grow organic?

Rachel Dawson asked:

Planter boxes give you the benefit of raising organic vegetables right outside your door or window. Rising costs of produce have caused some budget-conscious people to reconsider the money they spend on fresh fruits and vegetables. But at what cost to their health? And the price of organic produce is even higher. You can grow your own vegetables, even without much space. Roots, leafy vegetables, and fleshy vegetables can all grow well in planter boxes, if you choose the right varieties and provide the attention they need.

Root vegetables are edible roots of plants. Vegetables which fall in this category include carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, radishes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Root vegetables can work well in planter boxes, as long as the planters are deep enough. Try carrots and radishes.

Leafy vegetables also can grow well in containers. Lettuce, kale, and Swiss chard will provide a base for healthy salads or will give you some extra crunch in your sandwiches. You can also cook some leafy greens for a hot side dish. Whatever your culinary plans, consider growing your own leafy vegetables in your planter boxes.

Finally, some varieties of fleshy vegetables adapt well to containers. Try fresh cucumbers in your salads or make your own dill pickles. You can also grow eggplant and squash in planter boxes. Certain varieties of tomato work well, as do peppers (both sweet and hot). To obtain further information on which varieties of vegetables grow well in planters, consult an experienced container gardener or the staff members at a greenhouse.

When you grow vegetables in planter boxes, your primary concerns will probably be the nutrients in the soil and the moisture of the soil. Some growers recommend a peat-based potting mix as the best base for your soil. Whatever your preferred soil, you can enrich it with compost. Combine your homemade compost with the soil mix, one part compost to two parts mix.

Plants in containers usually require more frequent watering than plants in the ground because the soil in planter boxes dries out more quickly. You should check the soil surrounding your vegetable plants every day to evaluate the need for a watering. If your plants wilt during the day, or seem to have a dull color, these could be signs that they need more water. Give them a little more water and observe if they perk up.

Watering your vegetables in the morning may allow more water to penetrate the soil. Lower temperatures and less wind equal slower evaporation of the water.

If you enjoy the freshest vegetables, try growing your own. Even if you have little space to devote to growing things, you can grow vegetables in planters. Select vegetables that grow well in containers, or varieties of vegetables bred especially for container gardening. Select roots, leafy vegetables, and fleshy vegetables that you enjoy eating. Consider the best ways you can provide nutritious soil and sufficient water for your vegetable garden. Stick to natural options if you wish to harvest organic vegetables. Start selecting your favorite recipes for your homegrown produce.

Jane Thomas asked:

There are several good reasons to grow a garden.

And with today’s economy, everyone is looking for ways to cut expenses.  Lately, we can read all over the Internet and hear all the time that growing vegetables in your garden can be cheaper, more interesting, and better than buying them at supermarkets.

The biggest concern to most people is the fact that it will save so much money. Growing your own vegetables in the garden or in containers, if done properly, can reduce the amount of money you spent on groceries. But, will you succeed in doing so, depends on the costs involved in growing the crops, amounts and types of vegetables you choose to grow, vegetable yields you could expect from your garden, and many other factors. So, to answer the question from the title: “yes” – if done correctly.

It’s possible to spend a small fortune on a garden. If you go out and buy everything that you need (or you THINK you need) to start a vegetable garden, and then calculate all of the input costs (tools and equipment, fertilizers, pesticides, water, etc.) associated with gardening, you could end up with an astonishing figure. These costs can add up quickly, even for a small vegetable garden. The trick to saving money with a vegetable garden is limiting the costs, while purchasing the things you really need for your vegetable garden.

And one of the most important things that will determinate if you will save money by growing your own vegetables is choosing the types of vegetables to grow in your garden! This is done by factoring in the cost of seeds, fertilizer and water (the cost of growing vegetables) against the cost of purchasing those same vegetables in a grocery store. Some vegetables simply won’t save you much money. For example, corn; because you don’t get a high yield of corn from a small garden and because in season corn is inexpensive to buy, it doesn’t pay off to grow corn in your garden in order to save money on groceries.

So, What Vegetables Will Give You the Most Bang for the Buck?

If you want to start a vegetable garden to save money, consider growing vegetables that give a big yield and have a significant return for an investment. Good way to do this is to select vegetables that are expensive to buy in the grocery store (like tomatoes and melons) or to grow large quantities of vegetables that you purchase regularly.

If you’ve never had a vegetable garden before, take a tip from experienced gardener, and take a look at these six classic vegetables you can grow from seed and harvest throughout the summer, and save some money doing so:

* Bush Snap Beans        * Carrots

* Lettuce                        * Peas

* Bell Pepper s               * Tomatoes

These vegetable seeds are top sellers year after year, and for a good reason! Of course, the varieties change yearly, but standby vegetables like tomatoes, beans and carrots all always at the top of the lists.

Except these six vegetables already mentioned, in order to save money growing vegetables consider vegetables like broccoli, beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, summer squash, spinach, tomatoes and Swiss chard. All these vegetables will provide the biggest returns on your investment of space and time you spend in your vegetable garden.

Even a relatively small garden, say 20′ x 20′, will give you enough room for variety, without being overwhelmed. Of course how much you save by growing your own vegetables depends on the fluctuating cost of food.

Remember, growing vegetables will save you money in the long run – the first year might actually cost more if you need to buy tools, pots and all your seeds, but the second and following years will be much cheaper!