How Do I Start Successfully Gardening?

 

HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL WITH YOUR GARDEN

I answer many questions online about gardening and one I get often is, how can I make sure my garden is a success after I do all of this work?

The answer lies in a few straight forward things:

1) If you are new to gardening and want to begin, the best advice, start small with some container boxes or a garden by the square foot box, or two of those. Most people end up hating gardening because they do not put in the prep work required to have success without spending all of their time only managing weeds and insect issues, etc.

Example of a 4x4 Square Foot Gardening Bed
This is a great starter garden with Herbs.

You can use this without the raised bed, just layout your squares with a tape measure .

Basil & round carrots around the basil	Beefstake Tomato (Do on outside so you can stake it)	9 Beets	8 Dill Plants 2 Oregano or 1 Sage 2 Parsley
Bell Pepper (patio) 2	1 cabbage	2 Chives and do remaining with leaf lettuce	Corn Plant Beans to grow up the Corn
Leeks/Spring Onions 9-12 (Harvest and replant)	1 Catnip Plant or other Herb 2 Cilantro	4 Argula or Head Lettuce	Green Beans grow to climb the Corn
4 Strawberry	9 Peas	4 Geraniums (red or pink)	Nasturium With a Stake
			| |------||

There are a million ways to make a raised bed, just google or use pinterest. Above I have given you an example that would be easily done by anyone and if you live in a warm climate the only thing you have to really grow before is the tomato, the rest you can use seeds and it can all be planted as soon as the ground is warm and no frost or cold temperatures.

Do use small varieties for the carrots, the typical round apple carrots, normal size beets, Patio bell pepper and tomato, normal cabbage or red cabbage or a chinese cabbage, the spring onions or leeks you can harvest and replant (I would sow some in containers to keep replanting throughout the summer); Try a pretty strawberry with red blooms, peas you need sugar snap or regular (not tall varieties that have to be staked unless you want to stake).

This is a garden anyone can grow anywhere (except in shade or cold temps). The maintenance is not difficult, water, fertilizer, harvest, weed....

So before you start digging up your back yard, think about what your goal ultimately is. How much time do you want to invest everyday in having a garden? What do you really want to grow?

How much do you want to grow of a particular item? After you answer those questions then it's time to move on to ask yourself do I want to do container gardening, raised bed (or semi raised bed) or in the dirt.

DO NOT rush out and start digging until you have answered those questions because you are setting yourself up for failure. I do raised beds, in the ground, and container gardening, in addition to a hoop house and very small greenhouse which I have half of and I've run out of room, I am now rethinking going vertical. Gardening in small spaces can be difficult if you choose to grow alot of different things like I do, raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries and strawberries. Strawberries take up alot of my garden space mainly because I use them year round everyday and I freeze them, also greenbeans take up a huge amount of space because I also use them all year and freeze them. The other berries I also freeze.

Seriously ask yourself what you grow, research how much space they take (both when you plant and when they mature), otherwise you will be digging up and replanting when they overgrow their space and that's not always with a good outcome.

Start small, grow up and out :)  

Gardening is really all about the joy it brings in growing things, the rest inside your mind and body, the pleasure of actually growing something to eat or cook with, or to use as a medicine.  

If I scared you, that was my intent, I hate to see people give up and it's easily to become discouraged when the weeds and snails or other insects start devouring plants, or the plants become sick.  That's why it's important to have a plan that aligns with your expectations.  As with life, it's all about choices and how they affect our journey.

If you want to start a small herb garden -- a great container garden is a galvanized tub, a wooden fruit box, or plastic or pottery clay flower pots.  Just be aware that you need to use a good mix of coco FIBER mulch, not the stuff that you see lining pots, and a good potting soil or compost.  This is a really great way to start gardening and have herbs to cook with, make salad dressings, etc.  I'll do an article later that outlines some good choices for a small container herb garden.