I am such a happy camper when the truck load of vegetable plants arrives at the nursery, because that means it is vegetable garden time! My favorite aspect of gardening is creating and caring for my vegetable garden. While yes, flowers are so pretty.... I find caring for my vegetable garden is so peaceful and rewarding, but believe me when I saw when I first entered into the gardening world veggie gardens were just about the scariest thing in the world! When I was a kid, about 6 years old, I remember helping my mom every summer prepare and plant the veggie garden on the side of the house. We grew all types of peppers and tomatoes, peas, herbs, and cucumbers. I loved going outside and picking the different type of produce when my mother would say it was ready and it truly is one of the fondest memories I have as a child. As I got older and so did my younger brother my mom stopped with the vegetable garden and I never really got to learn how to care for one. Last year I decided I wanted to go back down memory lane and with all the amazing non-GMO vegetable plants we sell at the nursery, I wanted to create my very own veggie garden. I always heard how beneficial it is to your health to grow your own food and it's true, I felt so much better eating food I grew instead of produce that is not what is should be. When it became time to get to work on this project, I remember thinking "How in the world am I going to do this when I know nothing about it?" But with a little research and help from some farmers my garden got under way. Now with a year of successful experience I want to share with all of you how to get started and care for your veggies. Getting StartedI did so much research before I got started and every thing I read said start with seeds. Two things I knew was that I did not get started early enough and I doubted all abilities to grow veggies from seeds my first go around. I decided to start with starter plants (hence the name). At the nursery we sell beautiful non-GMO vegetable start plants with so many different varieties, and I began picking a few different tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and herbs out to start. I highly reccommend visiting a local nursery when chosing starter vegtable plants because they are well taken care of. Many of my friends have attempted box store start plants and got no where as much produce out of their plants as I did with mine the first year. Once I picked out my starter plants, it was time to get planting! There is so many different places you can grow vegetable plants. The most common way to make a veggie garden now a days, is creating raised beds, however that is not necessary (even though it is totally fancy). I did mine right in pots on the back patio, but you can always designate an area of your yard to your veggie garden and plant those veggies right into the ground. Now depending on where you live I suggest putting a fence around your garden to keep out as many critters as possible. While you will never be able to keep all the critters out you can keep out some, and typically the ones you are keeping out are the ones that do the most damage such as deer, groundhogs, and bunnies. Once you get those veggies in the ground the fun part kicks in! Caring for your Veggie GardenSo many people, including myself, don't get into creating a vegetable garden or any gardening for that matter because they really don't know how take care of it. The first thing I did when trying to figure out how to care for all my veggies was I did a little research and also went to the website of the brand of start plants I purchased called Chef Jeff. There I found so much wonderful information about each type of produce and how it grows and how to care for it. It also tells you when to harvest each different type of veggie which is so useful because you don't want to pick it too early and you don't want to not pick it and it go bad. After all the research and information I gathered on caring for veggies, I decided it was best to compile a list of tips to follow..... 1. The rule of thumb for watering is about an inch of water a week (But know your soil because that will determine how fast the ground dries out and how often you really need to water) 2. Check on your veggies daily, making sure everything looks healthy and nothing weird is going on (like a fungus starts growing) 3. Use cages when growing tomatoes and produce that can grow on vines as a support to the plant. 4. Pay attention to harvest periods and harvest your produce whenever necessary. 5. Find joy in caring for your vegetables and make it an enjoyable experiences. Whatever you do, remember growing your own vegetables should not only be enjoyable and fun but is good for your body too and you wont regret the little bit of work you had to put in to see the amazing results.
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AuthorMy name is Jacquelynn Hart and I am a Junior at Rowan University. While going to school I also work at a plant nursery where we grow and sell a large variety of plants, trees, and flowers. I am here to supply Tips & Tricks to help anyone with their gardening needs using my own first hand experiences. ArchivesCategories
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