Looking to grow your first vegetable garden this year?
Whether you are brand new to vegetable gardening or a seasoned veteran, there are a few tried and true tips that go a long way in keeping gardening both fun and productive.
Contrary to popular belief, growing a productive vegetable garden doesn’t mean having to buy fancy tools or expensive equipment. Nor does it mean you need to spend countless hours weeding.
The real key to success is to stick to the basics and keep it simple. With that in mind, here are 5 great tips to help make your first vegetable garden a big success.
Growing Your First Vegetable Garden – 5 Simple Tips To Success
#1 Start Small, Grow Bigger
One of the best tips of all is to keep your first vegetable garden space manageable.
So many first time gardeners make the critical mistake of thinking bigger is better. Unfortunately, by mid-summer, a large garden, especially for a beginner, becomes overwhelming.
Weeds take over, despair sets in, and suddenly, gardening becomes anything but enjoyable.
Whether it is a small 10 x 10 garden plot, a few raised beds, or a collection of patio containers, begin with a few things you love to eat, and grow them in a space that is easy to maintain.
#2 Start A Compost Pile
Nothing will help your garden more than a compost pile. Period! And starting one should be at the top of the list for all new gardeners.
Compost builds rich, productive, energized soil. Soil that helps plants stay healthier and more productive year after year.
And best of all, it can be used anywhere and everywhere in a garden. It is perfect as a power-packed mulch around plants. In planting holes, it will help provide nutrients to the roots. And, becomes a great all-natural fertilizer when made into a compost tea!
Composting also gives you a great place to recycle garden plants, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps and more. So whatever you do, make a little room for a compost pile now. (See : Homemade Compost Bin Plans)
#3 Learn To Use Mulch – Everywhere
Using mulch in the vegetable garden is one of the biggest secrets to keep weeding chores manageable. In fact, it can nearly eliminate them!
A thick three to four-inch layer of straw, shredded leaves or grass clippings around plants will help snuff out existing weeds. It also prevents blowing and drifting weed seeds from finding bare soil to germinate.
But using mulch in the garden has several other huge benefits as well. For one, it helps regulate the soil temperature – keeping the soil warm on cold nights, and keeping it cooler on hot days.
Mulch also helps plants and the soil retain all-important moisture. And if that wasn’t enough, as it breaks down, it helps to build valuable organic matter into the soil too. (3 Simple Secrets To Eliminate Weeds)
#4 Visit Your Vegetable Garden Every Single Day
If you want your garden to be a success, then work at it a little every day. Know that working in a garden 10 minutes a day is not the same as working in it for 70 minutes once a week!
In fact, if you work just once a week in your garden, you are more likely to have to spend an entire day trying to catch up.
Weeds, pest problems and disease multiply quickly. But if you walk and work your garden space a little every day, it keeps issues and problems under control.
#5 Grow What You Eat
Finally, make it a priority to grow the vegetables you love to eat. And not everything else!
Too many times, new gardeners (and many veteran gardeners as well) try to grow everything they can think of. Even vegetables they don’t like or want to eat.
Stick to growing the foods you love most. There is no fun in trying to weed and care for an egg plant crop if you don’t enjoy the “fruits” of your labor. But now if you love egg plant, that is a different story!
It sounds so simple, but this one tip can really help to keep your garden manageable and enjoyable. Here is to growing your first of many vegetable gardens to come!
This Is My Garden is a website dedicated to spreading the love and knowledge of gardening around the world. We publish two new garden articles each week. This article may contain affiliate links.
