Growing Backyard Vegetables
Growing your own food isn’t rocket science. Start small and plant things you’ll really eat. Pick a spot with at least 6 hours of good sunlight and access to water. Use contaminant free soil – try a raised garden bed – you can control the soil and nutrient blend you mix. Talk to neighbors, farmers or call your local Extension Office for more details. Gardeners are always willing to share ideas and what works best for them. Just ask! Gardening is fun for the whole family and gives you pride in taking steps towards healthy choices.
Vegetables from your own garden are higher in nutrients than the ones that have traveled several thousand miles to get to your grocery store. Growing them yourself offers you the opportunity to reduce the amount of pesticides that you use in your garden, making them healthier. You’ll increase your whole family’s physical activity when they take responsibility for the garden. Not to mention the value of the rich nutrients, especially photochemicals, anti- oxidants, vitamin C, vitamin A and foliate. A diet rich in vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce the risk of stroke and cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and may protect against certain cancers. Eating vegetables that are low in calories instead of other higher-calorie food helps cut total calories, too.
Having your children assist you in the garden can increase the chance that they will eat more of the vegetables they have helped to grow. Plus give you and your family a new appreciation of nature and how things grow.
Gardening is a great opportunity to create memories with your children that last a lifetime.
Environmentalists have been admonishing us for years to conserve fuel to lessen our impact on the planet. Another reason to have a backyard garden, with so much good produce, you’ll make fewer trips to the grocery store. It’s not just a savings on what you grow, but it’s also what you don’t buy that helps you save. Saves gas, too.
Be patient as you cultivate your relationship with your garden and the Earth. Before long, you’ll reap the benefits.
Getting started: Start small with vegetables you and your family will really eat. Observe the path of the sun and make sure your garden bed will receive 5 to 6 hours of sunlight everyday. Another important factor – make sure you have access to water. To have a true successful garden – it’s all about the soil. We’ve talked about preparing the soil , compost and water retention. Keep all those things in mind when laying out your garden. If you’re in a hot climates, in-ground beds require less water than raised beds but you have less control of the exact soil elements. Plus in ground beds are easy to establish since you have nothing to build other then improving the soil. Double dig is a good way to remove rocks and roots from the garden area while adding compost to the turned layers. Garden soil should be well aerated to promote root growth and worm activity. The soil should be crumbly, not clumpy. Add peat or coir as needed. Compost adds nutrient-rich humus which fuels plant growth and restores vitality to depleted soil. Make sure to level the soil and rake it smooth - this final touch only takes a few minutes but this enhances consistent water absorption from rain or the sprinkler, and encourages more uniform sprouting.
A raised bed will be filled with good soil you’ve designed, that provides the best drainage and prevents soil compaction. Your soil also warms up more quickly in the spring for early harvest. Plus raised beds give easier access to work in the garden with less bending and strain on your body. Either way your choose to establish your garden bed – remember soil ph is important. Acidic soils (low ph) can be sweetened by adding lime. Alkaline soils (high ph), need gardener's sulfur and rich organic matter and should be mulched with acidic materials such as pine needles and forest duff.
The best advice we can give is to put your attention to building rich, organic soil. It is amazing how plants which are bedded in rich soil will grow vigorously and have a natural resistance to insect pests and plant diseases. And as plants grow rapidly and their vegetative growth expands, soil-borne weeds become blocked out and less of a nuisance. Rich, organic soil is not something you buy in a bag, it is developed and nurtured year after year, using strategies such as crop rotation, green manurers between crop rotations, and the occasional applications of peat to reduce compaction and rock phosphate to ensure adequate phosphorus.
Once you start deciding what to plant in a garden with vegetables, you'll probably notice that the possibilities for are endless. There are thousands of tomato varieties alone! Seed catalogs are a great sources on plants and growing instructions. Or talk to your local nursery man or call the Extension Office for help and ideas.
It may seem like a good idea to plant every edible plant that you love to eat… but it may be better to start with a small, manageable garden in the beginning. If you plant too many of one plant, you may find yourself selling tomato sauce to all of your neighbors this summer. Start small and expand each season. Experiment with various plants and find what grows best. You can pick up other veggies that you enjoy but didn’t grow at your local Farmers Market. That way you both benefit.
Many vegetables can be started early indoors or purchased already started from a garden center. The benefit of this approach is that you can have a crop ready to harvest several weeks earlier than if you were to plant seeds in the ground. Starting vegetables indoors is not difficult, but it does require some time and attention. Seed packages list the options you have for planting particular seed.
Most vegetables like a steady supply of moisture, but not so much that they are standing in water. About an inch of water per week is usually sufficient, provided by you if Mother Nature fails to come through. Water when the top inch of soil is dry. For in-ground crops, that may mean watering once or twice a week; raised beds drain faster and may require watering every other day in the extreme heat.
Weeds compete with your vegetables for water and nutrients, so it's important to keep them to a minimum. Use a hoe or hand fork to lightly cultivate the top inch of soil regularly to discourage weed seedlings. A mulch of clean straw, compost, or plastic can keep weeds at bay around larger plants like tomatoes.
Fertilizing your crops is critical to maximizing yields. Organic gardeners often find that digging in high quality compost at planting time is all their vegetables need. Most gardeners, however, should consider applying a packaged vegetable fertilizer, following the directions on the box or bag. Don't apply more than recommended as this can actually decrease yield.
Boost your garden yield per square foot by adding vining crops like pole beans and snap peas when planting a garden with vegetables. Alos, Research traditional methods of natural gardening to grow plants that complement one another such as permaculture. Beans and squash grow well together, so do potatoes and corn. Complementary growing helps soil nutrients and overall plant success.
Many vegetables can be harvested at several stages. Leaf lettuce, for example, can be picked as young as you like; snip some leaves and it will continue to grow and produce. Summer squash (zucchini) and cucumber can be harvested when the fruit is just a few inches long, or it can be allowed to grow to full size. The general rule: If it looks good enough to eat, it probably is. Give it a try. With many vegetables, the more you pick, the more the plant will produce.
