The popularity of home vegetable gardening has increased in the last few years and one in every three families does some kind of home gardening. There are some basic home vegetable gardening tips that you can follow to become a successful gardener.

Home Vegetable Gardening Tips

There is not much choice available for urban gardeners in terms of garden sites, but it still remains the most important aspect for successful gardening. Areas that are full of sunlight and that have deep, fertile and well-drained soil is ideal for any kind of gardening. Make sure that the plot is located near a water outlet and does not have other shrubs and trees.

Another important home vegetable gardening tip is to select the appropriate crop. Depending upon the size of the garden, you can choose the vegetables ideally suited for them. Crops like cantaloupes, watermelons, cucumbers and water squash need large spaces to grow. Beets, beans, onions, carrots, spinach and tomatoes are small garden vegetables. Plantations can also be chosen as per family needs but make it a point not to over crowd the plot.

A good home vegetable gardening tip is to plan the garden just like you plan your house. A good planning reduces the effort you will have to put in later and will increase your return on labor. You need to separate the long-term and short-term crops so that long-term crops do not interfere with harvesting and care of short-term crops. Crop rotation is another home vegetable gardening tip as it helps prevent insect build-ups and diseases.

An important home vegetable gardening tip is to have a soil that is fertile, deep and well-drained. Organic matter or sand can be added to the soil if it is heavy clay. Granular soil is ideal for planting and if you do thorough preparation of soil, it will reduce your work of planting and caring for the crop.

Proper fertilization is another very important home vegetable gardening tip. The amount of soil required will largely depend upon crops and soil types. You should plant your garden early in the fall and spring so that vegetables will get ideal conditions to grow and mature. Spring is the time of nice weather and an ideal time for you to start your home vegetable garden. Some good spring vegetable gardening tips are to involve your kids in the entire process, prepare the soil for spring vegetables, choose the appropriate vegetables, and make your child a part of each and every process. Gardening needs patience, and spring gardening can offer a good lesson of patience to your kids.

Another useful home vegetable gardening tip is to provide the plants with enough water at the roots so that the water is able to penetrate the soil up to the depth of six inches. To get rid of unwanted plants in your vegetable garden, use along-handled hoe. Avoid using chemical weed control, as it is not necessary in small areas.

Mulching is a good home vegetable gardening tip that will increase the yield from your home vegetable garden. Control the pests using chemicals if necessary.

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Image by Product of Newfoundland via Flickr

If you have been follow our gardening blog you know we are learning how to be gardeners and that last year we planted about a month later than we should have. We still had fun and learned. We also, even though we started late, had some great produce and were very encouraged.

Last year was really our first year at gardening. The previous two years at this home we spent doing things that needed fixing up and only planted a few flowers and some tomatoes. We didn’t plan any garden in those two years but we had it in our minds.

I guess having it in your mind isn’t good enough we should have planned, at least for last year when we tried a few more things.

That’s called a learning experience so we have already started planning for our 2009 garden.

I thought that other newbie gardeners would like to have a plan so we are going to add a post for each step we do in our preparation planning and will link them here like a little table of contents.

Our Backyard Garden Plan For 2009

Square Foot Gardening

We have decided to do square foot gardening with raised beds and all fresh soil. We decided to go with this method for a couple of reasons. Even though we are metric in New Brunswick, Canada I still think feet.

First, our soil is like clay that has been compacted and second, with raised beds I won’t have as much difficulty with my back. Poor ole me.

Testing Your Soil Before Planting or Seeding

It’s important to have the right PH balance for the plants you wish to grow in your flower garden or vegetable garden. If you’re not using raised beds using good soil you may want to test your soil so that you know what to add to it if it’s not the best soil.

I will link to a few places that will give you a better idea about testing your soil.

How many of us started gardening without the slightest idea about soil PH? Well I am in that group and really didn’t pay any attention to our soil’s PH balance until we found that some things grew well while others just seemed to struggle to stay alive.

I started looking online to find answers and here is what I found. Get a soil testing kit and test the soil where you are planting and compare that with the PH requirements for each plant as some like it acidic while others prefer more alkaline soil.

Soil Acidity, learn more about your PH balance between acidic soil and alkaline soil.

How to test your soil.

More to come as I write up more of our backyard garden plan for 2009 so bookmark this pages and return often.

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Being a successful organic container vegetable gardener takes a lot of time and effort.It is important to follow some basic organic vegetable gardening tips in order to set up your organic container garden properly and avoid problemsIt is important to follow some basic organic vegetable gardening tips in order to set up your organic container garden properly and avoid problems.  
Organic container vegetable gardening gives people a chance to enjoy homegrown vegetables that taste better and are better for the environment, even without having any land.You can use old soda bottles, coffee cans, or any recycled containers to plant vegetables and put them on your window sill, porch, or balcony.

The Basics

In order to start organic container vegetable gardening, you will need seeds.Don’t buy your seeds from just anywhere however because many mainstream stores sell seeds that have been genetically modified.  Buy organic seeds if you want to have a truly organic garden.
Consult a plant book with local information so you know when you should plant your seeds.In many cases it is best to start indoors but you need to make sure the plants get sunlight at least 5 hours per day.  Also purchase organic slow-release or complete fertilizer to keep your plants nourished throughout the entire season.

You can use soil in organic container vegetable gardening but you’ll have the best results if you use a peat or vermiculite-based mix.Plants in pots require more frequent watering than plants in the ground.  As your plants grow and their roots get bigger, they will require even more water so check on them every day.

The beauty of organic container vegetable gardening is that you can grow in just about any situation.  Although it takes time and effort to do container gardening it is a lot easier and more convenient than gardening on a plot of land.  It is also very inexpensive to get started since all you need are some containers (you can reuse old items as containers) and soil mix.  
Some popular crops for organic container vegetable gardening are radish, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and chard, to name a few.  The fact is that pretty much all vegetables can be grown in containers.  Potatoes, corn, and potatoes are challenging to grow in containers however, but not impossible.You can also look for “bush” or “dwarf” varieties of crops such as small cucumber and tomato varieties that are specially bred for small-space gardening.

In conclusion, if you want to grow your own organic vegetables either for better nutrition or to save money, organic container vegetable gardening is an excellent option.It is inexpensive and easy so anyone can get started even with a lack of land or space.Organic vegetable gardening in containers is a fun and rewarding hobby that will make even small living space teem with life.

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Vegetable gardening can be an extremely rewarding experience, giving you a large, cheap source of delicious food, completely free from pesticides or other chemicals inherent in most food grown around the world. While food grown with the use of chemicals might be useful for sheer volume (such as to help feed the huge number of people on the planet), organic food tends to be even healthier for folks to chow down on. Organic food's only downside is that it takes more love and care than food grown with chemicals, so less of it can be grown at once. However, you can still easily grow your own as long as you understand the basics of vegetable gardening.

An Act of Love

The basics of vegetable gardening are surprisingly easy to nail down. Millions of people already practice this form of agriculture, and you can too at little cost to yourself. If you are just starting out and want to get up to speed quickly, you may end up spending some money to buy soil nutrients and the like, but even buying all of your supplies at once is fairly inexpensive (certainly much less costly than buying food at the grocery store). Essentially, the most important basics of vegetable gardening are a few tenets that will give you some of the best home-grown food you've ever had.

The first basics of vegetable gardening include deciding the size of your garden and preparing the soil. You will have a more vigorous harvest if you take care of a 100 ft2 garden than if you take mediocre care of a 500 ft2 garden, so plan to only create a garden of a size which you'll be ready to cultivate for several months. After all, what you save in money will be spent in time, but many folks find it time well spent. You'll know exactly what goes into the food you eat, and most people who try out organic foods attest that they actually taste better as a result.

For planting basics of vegetable gardening, you might want to invest in vegetable gardening containers. You can merely start out vegetables in these containers, or you can have vegetables in them full time. Everything from tomatoes and peppers to onions and radishes can be grown in containers, and they can be decorative and attractive for areas like patios. Simply remember to feed your plants with some soil nutrients before planting the seeds, and they will be much healthier and delicious. Most vegetable plants grow healthily on one inch of water per week, so you may need to water them more during dry periods. Remembering these basics of vegetable gardening will let the most inexperience novice grow an impressive garden.

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If you’re like most people, you probably believe that it’s not possible to do vegetable gardening when you live in the city or lack the necessary space.  If you live in an apartment, trailer, or condo and you can still grow vegetables if you do container vegetable gardening.  
Container vegetable gardening is possible since many different kinds of vegetables can be grown in containers.You do have to make sure the plants get at least five hours of full sunlight per day and take caution to make sure you are using the right size container and good soil mix.  Moreover, you want to make sure that you are spacing, fertilizing, and watering your plants correctly.

Size of Container, Planting and Spacing

The size of the container you need to use for container vegetable gardening will be determined by the particular vegetables you are growing.There must be enough space for the roots of the vegetables you grow to develop.  For the most part, any vegetable can be grown in a container.  Vegetables with shallow roots such as radish, lettuce, peppers need to be grown in a container that is at least 6 inches in diameter and 8 inches deep.  
When it comes to planting and spacing in container vegetable gardening, you should check the seed packet or plant tag for specific instructions.

You have to be careful not to put too many seeds in one pot since one pot can only hold so much but you also want to add more seeds than necessary since 100% germination is rare.  Once the seeds have sprouted, you can thin the plants out to the amount you desire.  
Proper Soil Mixtures for Container Vegetable Gardening
Most container vegetable gardeners have the most success with soilless pot mixtures because they are light, drain quickly, and are void of soil-borne diseases and weed seeds.  You can buy different kinds of soilless mix from any garden store.If you want to make a mixture for container vegetable gardening on your own, mix one part sand, one part peat moss, and one part loamy garden soil.  Heat the mixture for one hour in an oven at 210 degrees F to kill insects, bacteria, fungus, and weeds.

Fertilization in Container Vegetable Gardening

If you are doing organic container vegetable gardening, use slow release or complete organic fertilizer for your plants.Regular fertilizer that is good for container vegetable gardening is an N-P-K formulation of 5-10-10 and 10-10-10.The soilless mixes commonly used in container gardening contain very little nutrients so proper fertilization is important.For best results, as a rule of thumb use half of the recommended fertilizer dosages since many people tend to add more than necessary.

As you can see, container vegetable gardening is much like gardening in general in that it requires time, patience and care.In comparison to gardening on a plot of land however, container gardening is much less time consuming and relatively easier.So rather than making excuses as to why you don’t garden due to a lack of space start container gardening so you can enjoy fresh, homegrown vegetables even without a plot of land.

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