How do you start a raised vegetable garden for beginners

How do you start a raised vegetable garden for beginners?

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Want to learn how do you start a raised vegetable garden for beginners? Beginners in the garden or garden are usually frustrated at the first garden because the plants do not grow as they expected or a plague enters them that destroys the entire crop.

In this article, we are going to give you a series of tips to help you best on your next attempt to create your own garden.

 

How do you start a raised vegetable garden for beginners?

We have all been novices in the garden and when we start we want to plant everything to feed the whole family but it is advisable to start little by little and get to know the plants and crops that are good for us in our area or we will feel overwhelmed. (1)

If this is your first year in the garden, plant some tomatoes and peppers or a small garden of aromatic or beans, lettuce, and onions. First of all, you have to get used to the needs of each plant. They should keep your plot small without watering too much, but not dry, well-fertilized, and free of pests.

If all goes well this year it can expand a bit more the next. Ideally, start with fast crops with few pests such as leaf crops such as lettuce or spinach, or root crops such as radish.

 

Pay attention to the living space of each floor

Many farmers in order take advantage of the space because they put the plants closer together than normal and do not realize that this will make the fruits come out smaller and do not develop well. Each floor needs a living space both in-depth and height that must be respected for its proper development.

We must make sure that each plant also has the necessary light and depth so that its roots expand and that some plants do not compete with others.

 

Plant what I know in your climate

Knowing the local conditions is one of the most important things in the garden since this will determine what you can plant and when, if you live in a cold northern area, then you must plant crops that are acclimatized to that place and short-season varieties that the rest.

If you live in an area that stays warm most of the year, you will plant your seasonal vegetables much earlier than the rest of the country. Many times asking gardeners in the area or walking through areas of orchards helps us to know what to plant in each season.

 

Plant what you like to eat

Do you like fresh tomatoes in the salad? Or make tomato jam? Then tomatoes should be on your list of what to plant in the garden.

If you like padrón peppers but only you and no one else in your family because with 3 plants you could have enough, you should always try to plant with the measure of who is going to consume it.

Having said this, there is nothing like homemade food and more if the products come from our garden, that you know that they are 100% organic and that when you taste them they have a different flavor, the strawberries are sweeter, the lettuces have more freshness.

When they are already advanced in the garden they can try new things, even vegetables they have never tried, they may like them if they try them or add them to homemade dishes.

 

Water when needed

Water is very important in the garden but we must apply it in its proper measure, neither go overboard because it can cause diseases in the plants nor water little because the plants simply do not grow enough.

It is advisable to give it at least one deep watering once a week if it has not rained and the rest of the week can be one day and another, it depends a lot on whether it is a garden or a garden pot.

It is important not to water the plants from the top, but from the base and avoid wetting the leaves as this way we prevent many fungi and it is always better in the morning or at sunset so we avoid sudden changes in temperature in the plant that can cause water stress and make let the fruits crack.

 

Make a garden diary

We should not trust our memory and it is better to make a sketch of our garden and where we have planted each thing for the next year to be able to do a crop rotation. We must have a list of the pests that affected us and what treatments did well and those that did not. So next time we already know how to act.

In addition, it is also a good idea to label the plants in the garden or seedbed to know what they are because some seeds take time to germinate and later it happens that we do not know what it is, and even the varieties of each species so you know which ones are. give better and which do not.

 

Don’t forget about the flowers

If we want our plants to produce vegetables or fruits we have to attract pollinators to the garden such as bees, hoverflies, some wasps, bumblebees and for this we need flowers, it is always good to have some daisies that tend to grow well and resist a lot or some other plants how are you.

 

Get familiar with your plants and local weeds

There is nothing more beautiful than taking care of a corn seed until the first sprout appears, to avoid making a serious mistake we must familiarize ourselves with the appearance of the young plants that we sow to avoid pulling them off thinking that they are weeds.

 

Use padding

Weeds are arguably the number 1 frustration of beginning farmers, they grow fast and can choke and steal nutrients from vegetables. The elimination of weeds must be done daily but if you do not want to be on your knees for hours and hours you can provide a mulch or mulch to prevent these plants from coming out.

It also provides other advantages such as retaining moisture in the soil, there are several options for padding, from straw, cardboard to leaves or bark, for color tastes.

 

Prepare for pests

Letting Mother Nature take care of the pests is very complicated because special conditions of several years are needed for this to happen and in a beginner garden the pests destroy because the minimum requirements are not met.

Observe your plants and any inappropriate color can be caused by a fungus or lack of nutrients, holes can be caused by caterpillars or snails and slugs. Nothing happens to eat damaged products, we simply cut the perforated part and that’s it.

 

Amend the soil

Healthy soil makes plants healthy and each year we must provide the nutrients that our plants will need through fertilizer. There are several products that we can contribute to the soil such as cured manure (it is dry, it does not smell and I recommend it for urban gardens), fresh manure, worm castings, or compost.

At the end of each season, we can plant a cover crop that provides green manure for the next year or we cover the bed with cut leaves. If the soil is not well fertilized, you can check here the deficiencies it may have, mainly depending on the color of the leaves.

 

Still, you have questions about how do you start a raised vegetable garden for beginners? Leave a comment and I’ll do my best to help.

 

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