It’s always a thrill when I see the first fruit or veggie of the season and this year is our first backyard vegetable garden so we are excited about every little thing.

Today was no different when I saw the first tomato forming on one of our tomato plants. It was one that we had in a container but thought it would do better in the ground in our backyard garden.

It’s about 3 feet high now and was kind of top heavy so we put it in a cage and tried to give it some support. I wasn’t 100% how close to 3 feet it was so I just went back out and measured. It’s almost exactly 3 feet tall, great guess.

All my other tomatoes are still only just over a foot high but then again all my tomato plants are different varieties so I am not quite sure what to expect.

Here is a picture of my first little tomato that’s started. Don’t laugh, it’s kind of hard to see but it’s there.

I probably would have had more by this point but I didn’t notice that one of the branches was not in the cage and when I tried to slowly bend it thinking it would bend enough for me to put it inside the cage I broke it right off.

I lost about a foot. I think I swore out loud so if you heard me I do apologize for that.

We have 5 varieties of tomatoes this year and I put them all in the ground rather than in containers. We did well with containers last year but because we started our first garden this year I wanted the tomatoes in the garden.

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Image by kmvinther via Flickr

Does size matter when it comes to starting your own garden in your backyard? Well if you learn to start a garden in such as way as to make the best use of your available space then no size doesn’t matter so much.

It truly amazing me when I remember back to weeding the garden as a kid. It didn’t amaze me then but today when I think back to how huge our garden was and how much wasted space there was I am sure they wasted far more than half the space they had.

Now I am not saying that was a bad thing. We lived on a 100 acre farm and had plenty of room to waste space but today we live in cities and towns and it can be quite costly to have extra space to just waste.

My wife and I bought the property we now own along with the lot beside it specifically for starting a vegetable garden. We are now converting a big part of that second lot into flower gardens. What??

Well Jenny and I have been learning about square foot gardening, which my wife and I refer to as square metre gardening as we are proud Canadians, and see the benefits. Now we don’t need nearly the space we thought we did.

We have also been using containers for some of our vegetables because it allows us to move them around so they get the best possible growing conditions. Last years, crop of tomatoes was great, this year we will have even more varieties.

This year we are even planting our potatoes into big containers, it’s going to be an interesting summer I believe and most likely a learning experience.

So if you are thinking size does matter when it comes to starting a garden in your backyard you might want to think again and check out container gardening as well as square foot gardening.

We are so excited about our vegetable gardens this year. We decided to go with two square foot gardens. Each are 4 feet square with a strip of lawn between them wide enough to mow. They should look great.

SFG tend to make it easier to reach into the center of each garden for weeding, adding compost or harvesting. Plus if for any reason we need to erect a fence to protect against unwanted critters it won’t take long as the gardens are small and compact.

By the way the major point that attracted us to SFGing is the lack of weeds.

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Jen and I started gardening just a couple of years ago and are still pretty green. As our thumbs get greener we plan to get more green each year. The goal is to enjoy our new hobby and to save a bit of money each year with our own backyard garden. Here are a few ways we plan to grow money in our own backyard.

1. Make Our Own Compost

Well we are already starting to compost and that is going to save us money because we won’t have to buy as much compost. Heck once we get the ball rolling we may not have to buy compost at all.

2. Starting From Seed

Last year I started from seed just a little too late and suffered for it. We ended up buying most of our plants. This year I already have what I need to start from seed. I am setting it up in our basement with a grow light until I am comfortable moving it all to the garage.

This year is the test to see if I get it right. It’s the middle of April as I am writing this post and we are starting to plant our seeds this weekend. I plan to take a few pictures and maybe even a video or two of the process so I can put them on my blog as well.

3. Using Mulch

This was a plan for last year but we go in over our heads as newbie gardeners so we will give it ago again this year. Mulching will help us keep the weeds down which will save us time weeding. Mulch will also help moisture from evaporating so less water and a smaller water bill at the end of the year.

4. Growing Our Own Veggies

Jenny and I started vegetable gardening last year as well but as I mentioned we started a bit late and didn’t get much of a harvest. We will do better this year. We are planning to do square foot gardening this year which should be another time saver and less weeding. We will grow more in less space, meaning we can grow a whole lot more as we have a second lot with our current property.

5. Collecting Water in Our New Water Barrel

Well we haven’t picked up our water barrel just yet as they were not in stock last week end. We will call around this week and see if we can find one elsewhere so we can start while soon.

6. Bonus: Start An Herb Garden

We started an herb garden last year. It didn’t do so well but it was a learning experience. This year I started an indoor herb garden and in a few short weeks we will be starting a herb garden in our backyard as well, close to the kitchen so we can get them quickly when a recipe calls for some herbs.

Really anything you can do to save money is a bonus as long as you remain green.

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If you do love eating uncontaminated vegetable and want to save your money from paying for pricey vegetable in a grocery, then you could plant your own vegetables in a vegetable garden. Having such a vegetable garden isn’t always linked to having large space for growing vegetables. Are you fascinated to identify more about this topic? Take a look!

Furthermore, having their own vegetable garden allows inhabitants to plant the types and quantity of vegetables they will use. The merely limits in doing so is the size of the space they have.

Most products will need a sunny location to cultivate. Although having no space in their yard for a large vegetable garden, populace can cultivate their own vegetable garden in small patio gardens or in containers. The larger the space available for a vegetable garden clearly will result in a better crop at the end of the season. It will also require a larger investment in sweat equity.

Before beginning to cultivate vegetables in a vegetable garden, the primary thing for you to do is planning the kinds of crops that you are going to garden. Memorize to understand about soil preparation and seeds for your harvest. keep in mind to consider the best place for purchasing the plants or the seeds of the plants from a reliable grocery near or your environment.

Selecting the Crops That Will Be Grown

When putting in a vegetable garden you should ensure that only the harvest that will be utilized that must be planted. If an individual is not really like tomatoes for instance, they perhaps should not bother with them unless they plan to give them away. Keep in mind as well that some of the harvest will grow without need for continual attention. Other people may need nearly stable care to insure a bumper yield.

There is no secret that if you are going to cultivate and care for a vegetable garden you have to dig it. Besides, soil preparation is maybe the most time consuming and labor-intensive part of possessing your own vegetable garden in the backyard.

Most plants will plant in loose soil or lightly compacted ground. On the other hand, even soil that contains much clay can yield a good harvest if the soil is worked with things, for instance vermiculate or sand to give a growing medium conducive to improving a good root structure.

The best thing for you to have vegetable garden is comprehend that your vegetables garden well and give the best products for you. Selling the products or offering the products to your close neighborhood will share the joy of harvesting the vegetables with the others. As a result, do you wish to practice it now?

Don’t keep yourself trapped in doubt. Have more knowledge about vegetable garden and get yourself updated with it by clicking the links here!

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Having a vegetable garden is a great asset to your live, with the right vegetable garden design and the right soil you can grow your own healthy and delicious vegetables for your self and your family. But do you need to base your vegetable garden design on what kind of soil you have?

Before you start planning and creating your first vegetable garden design you need to make sure what kind of soil you have.

For a Successful Vegetable Garden Design You Need The Right Soil

To grow vegetables you need good soil, you can define soil in roughly three types. The first soil is also the best soil to grow most vegetables in and is called loam. This type is humus rich, dark, crumbly and soft. It holds water but it also allows for good drainage. This type is an organic matter build up from all kind of living plants, fungus and other living things that have died, decomposed and have returned to the ground. It is also very easy to dig. In this type of soil your veggies will grow like crazy. You don’t need to enhance this type of soil so you can start making that vegetable garden design today.

The next type of garden dirt is clay, this is not as rich as loam and needs a bit of work. Clay consists of very tiny particles and these stick together what causes real poor drainage. Enhancing the clay can be done by mixing it with bone meal, sand, peat moss and other soil nutrients. Mixed together makes the clay suitable for vegetable garden design.

The opposite of clay is sand because the structure is loose and has much larger partials. This means the dirt is dry and poor, but with some work and adding some soil nutrients, you can make it definitely good enough to start with your vegetable garden design.

Your garden is probably a combination of the these three basic types. There are kits you can buy that test the dirt and it tells you what to add to enhance. If you need some more advice before you start with your vegetable garden design you can also ask your local nurseryman.

Prepare the ground for your vegetable garden design

Whatever soil you have you will only grow good vegetables and fruits if it is  properly prepared. autumn or early winter are the best seasons to do this. You need to make sure that the soil is thoroughly spaded and turned to about two spades deep. You can work some (organic) fertilizer in to the ground and during winter the moisture can properly sink in. This will improve the condition of the soil tremendously.

During winter you can start drawing your vegetable garden design and add in all the vegetables and fruits you want to grow. You can look in some books and online instead of digging in the ground and gain some real knowledge about the growing methods and the soil type the many different vegetables need to be very productive.
If you add this knowledge to your vegetable garden design you will have a great garden filled with all kind of vegetables.

Hank Gordon has a passion for gardening and wants the world to know how relaxing and rewarding it can be. On his website he talks about vegetable garden layout the raised bed vegetable garden and much more.

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