Having a vegetable garden can enrich your lives in many ways. Not only with food to eat but it will add exercise, pleasure and excitement to your life.
These are a few things I tell people who ask for my advice about starting a home garden.
[1] Buy plants not seeds. At most, you will only be planting a few like plants, starting seed setting will only lead to quilt over what to do with the left over plants.
[2] Plan ahead. If you are the only one in the family that likes squash, only plant one hill. If all members of your home like tomatoes, you will need 1-2 plants for each person, depending on the size of the person and the fruit.
[3] Make sure you buy the right kind of fertilizer for the area you live. If you aren’t sure what kind of soil is native to your area, ask the best gardner in the neighborhood, before buying. Of course, if you have a friend who farms they may supply you with the universal fertilizer, cow manure.
[4] Keep it simple. Replacing 4 store bought items with home grown from your garden can still make a big change in your food budget, if it’s the right four.
[5] Choose plants like pole green beans that grow upright or a bush bean that will give you more food for the space than using a free running plant.
[6] Take time to research your plants. There are many different plants in your garden centers that can be grown successfully in small places and supply you with months of fresh food.
[7] You do not want to spend a lot of money until you know you like gardening and the work that comes with it. If you can barrow or barter for your supplies, do it, it will help keep your expenses low.
If you find you do like gardening but do not have to funds to buy all the latest gardening tools. Start a garden club with some neighbors who are of a like mind. Go together and buy your supplies, then share the use during the planting and growning season. It will cut your expenses and you’ll have some one to pass on all that extra squash on to, because you didn’t listen to me when I said only plant one hill…<wink>