Starting Garden Guide

The Best Way To Get Started Is To Get Started!

Matthew W. Williams, M.S. Crop Science

 

To start, I want to be sure that we have shared expectations of this guide. Please realize that this is meant to help you get started and is in no way a comprehensive guide.  This is geared towards getting started with eyes wide open to the process and potential considerations or challenges.  Once you get started and fine–tune your personal gardening philosophy, you’ll want to dive deeper to keep your garden, and yourself, healthy!  Let’s jump into the why!

Why Are You Considering Starting A Garden? 

Maybe it’d be easier to just discuss why I started to garden a couple decades ago. It’s great for the body and mind. Gardening provides some light exercise (although we’ve all felt really worked after a heavy weeding session or moving mulch and compost for half the day!) and after gardening success, it also provides nutrient dense food that can feed your health.

When you’re gardening you control all the inputs, so know exactly what you are feeding your plants and therefore your body. It can also be a budget – positive activity if you find yourself constantly paying more for organic or similarly produced high-cost produce. In addition to the physical health benefits, it’s also been proven that gardening can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, offering an experience that is relaxing and healing. Wanna go barefoot? If so, you may also realize the benefits of grounding or earthing which is a therapeutic technique that may help you focus on the present moment, potentially reducing anxiety, inflammation, pain, stress, and improving mood, and sleep. Outside of gardening being good for you, if done right, it can also be good for the environment by reducing your carbon footprint and providing pollinator habitat.   

Considerations Overview

Seasonal Overview

Basic Gardening Considerations

In this article we will cover the following:

• Tools
• Location
• Garden size and method
• What to grow
• Planting Plan
• Irrigation and watering
• Soil testing
• Amending and fertilizing
• Adding organic matter
• Planting seeds or transplants
• Weeds
• Diseased Tissue
• Pest Control
• Compost
• Garden observation
• Harvest

Obtain garden tools

• Gloves
• Hori Hori knife
• Pruning shears for shaping plants and removing damaged branches
• Hoe/hoop hoe
• Watering can, hose, sprinklers, irrigation supplies
• Shovel
• Soil probe for collecting soil samples and checking soil moisture levels between irrigation cycles. One of our favorites is American Made and from a small business.  You can find it at: MySoil DIY Soil Probe
• Hand trowel for weeding and transplanting
• Garden fork, tiller, or weasel
• Leaf Rake
• Hard Rake
• Kneeling pad
• Wheelbarrow or garden cart
• Garden Journal so you can continuously improve season to season, register for access to the free MySoil Calendar and receive soil temperature notifications as well

Location

• Sunny – 6+ hours of sunlight
• Shady – Plant shade tolerant plants
• Somewhere that you see it
• Fence for deer, rabbits, and other pests if necessary
  

Ideally, you will choose a sunny location with a bare minimum of six hours of sunlight per day for most species; more sunlight is preferable. Don’t have that much sun? No worries, choose plants that are adapted to shade such as radishes, carrots, potatoes, beets, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, arugula, kale, bush beans, summer squash, or adapted varieties of certain tomatoes, being sure these species are adapted to your growing zone.

It is also helpful if your garden is located somewhere conspicuous, so you are seeing it as part of your typical daily routine. I’ve found that out of sight, out of mind is particularly true for gardens!

If you live in a location where deer, rabbits, or other grazers may frequent your garden, you’ll want to fence the garden area off or place your containers in an area that isn’t easily accessible. Deer fencing needs to be quite high, with eight feet recommended and six feet being an absolute minimum. Fencing for smaller animals can be just three feet high. There are of course liquid repellents that you can apply around the perimeter of your garden as well, but we’ve seen mixed results with that product category.

 

Choose a Size and Method for Gardening

• Containers
• Raised beds
• In ground or native soil

Start small with containers, a raised bed, or reclaim a small space (~100 square feet) in your yard and choose just a few of your favorite species that are adapted to your growing zone to get the hang of it. Gardening is a great application of the crawl, walk, run principle and after just a few seasons of slowly expanding your garden area you’ll be running a highly nutrient dense and fulfilling garden grocery store. 

Going with containers or a raised bed? Choose the bagged soil that is best for you. The SoiLab YouTube channel has a great series that can help you choose the potting mix or bagged soil that is best for you. Check it out at: Which Potting Soil Is Best? Collection 1

Why would you choose a raised bed?

Maybe you don’t like to, or can’t, lean over or kneel for long periods of time while working on an in-ground garden. You may just have poor-quality soil that is really heavy in clay, perhaps it’s excessively or poorly drained, extremely rocky, or there are many surface roots from surrounding trees. Perhaps you just want complete control of the rooting medium or soil from the start. There is also the benefit of starting with much reduced weed pressure. If you’re in an area with significant populations of burrowing rodents, these beds can mitigate that concern as well. Lastly, this may be your only option if you are part of an HOA, as some consider in ground gardens too untidy or unsightly.

Raised beds may be purchased or built using many different materials. If building raised beds just consider using materials that will not leach any chemicals into the ground, an example of what to avoid would be treated railroad ties. Raised beds often require a bit more water than in ground gardens, but you can often grow more intensively as well. Consider adding trellising to incorporate vertical gardening and maximize space.

Why would you choose a container?

You can grow many veggies in containers as long as the container is deep enough to support the root systems. Larger containers tend to lend themselves to greater success, but are harder to move about. What type of container should you use? Anything that holds soil and has drainage holes can be used, many people have great success with re-purposed containers as well as store bought.

Containers are great for growing many herbs, as well as full ‘salad container gardens’ where a couple containers contain successively planted lettuce, a couple contain successively planted carrots, peas, or whatever greens you prefer. Then it’s just harvest fresh salads all season long! Adding a simple drip irrigation system to your containers makes it a pretty simple method of getting fresh food! Containers are also great, as you can move them around if necessary, and keep them close by so you never forget to water. They also allow you to choose the growing medium that you prefer and significantly reduce the need for weeding.

Why garden in ground? 

It’s easy to get started if you have the land, or access to a garden area as you may find in many community gardens. If gardening in ground, you’ll likely want to consider applying compost or other organic materials to enhance soil health prior to planting, as well as incorporating any pH adjustment materials such as lime or sulfur. A MySoil test will not only analayze your soil pH, but also recommend a vetted pH amendment to take the guess work out for you. Especially for in-ground plantings we recommend starting small, as weed pressure is typically more significant than in containers or raised beds.

Plan on visiting your garden every day or two and picking weeds. In terms of pulling weeds, my Grandfather (who had an amazing garden every year) always said “Pulling a bucket full a day will keep these weeds at bay.” Don’t forget to add these weeds (that are not yet producing seed) to your compost pile as an excellent ‘green’ or nitrogen source for your compost. One more key consideration in minimizing weed pressure while increasing soil health is the use of mulches or considering weed barrier like you see below. Some place cardboard on the ground between the rows first, then add mulch on top, while others may opt to use ‘weed tarp’ or other similar synthetic options.

Choose veggies and herbs that you like and are adapted to your growing zone

For a starting point, be sure to check out the species recommendations that you just got from www.WhatsMyGrowZone.com. Don’t remember them? Click here to enter your email and have a .pdf sent directly to your inbox. You are certain to put more care and attention into your plants if you are craving them and anticipating seeing them on your plate or incorporated into your favorite dish. For me, there’s no need to grow kale or butternut squash so I’ll focus more on banana peppers and mixed lettuce greens!

Develop a planting plan or diagram and avoid over-crowding… Remember that these plants will grow!

• Plan for multiple years
• Plan for crop rotation

 

Decide how you will water or irrigate

• Rule of thumb = at least one inch of water per week
• Check soil moisture
• Irrigation/watering options

How much to water? Although it varies greatly by weather patterns (rain, heat, drought, etc.) a good rule of thumb is to supply the soil with at least one inch of water per week throughout the growing season. Use your soil probe to check moisture. You want the soil to be moist, not wet, as those roots need oxygen to breathe, or respire. Too much moisture is just as bad for plants as too little. Another key is to water the soil if possible, as opposed to overhead watering the plant itself. Watering the soil instead of the plant will reduce the likelihood of plant diseases occurring.

So what are the options? There are five main options to consider, with many variations of each.

1. Watering Can
2. Hose
3. Overhead Sprinkler Irrigation
4. Drip Irrigation
5. Soaker Hose Irrigation

Watering Can

For larger gardens and multiple raised beds I wouldn’t recommend using a watering can, but they work great for container gardens, a single raised bed, or other very small growing space. When using a watering can, be sure to gently pour the water at the base of the plant to minimize both watering on the plant, and soil erosion or movement. Even distribution is greatly enhanced when there is a rose spout attachment.

Hose

Of course, you can just turn the hose on and add water to the garden. This is certainly more efficient than using a watering can, especially if you have a larger growing area. However, if you use a hose to water, it would be recommended to use a rain wand to minimize disruption to the soil surface and wetness of plant leaves.

Overhead Sprinkler Irrigation

Although these can be highly effective for watering larger areas much more efficiently than by hand, there is the likelihood that this overhead irrigation waters much of the plant foliage as well, which could lead to increased disease (fungus, blight, bacterial) pressure. If you live in an area that has very low humidity, such as in desert regions, this may be a more viable option than in regions with high humidity. Another advantage is the ease of setup and takedown, very little labor is needed. Then there is the cost, this is a relatively low cost option. One consideration in opposition of overhead irrigation is that it waters areas (alleyways) that don’t need water, isn’t as efficient as drip irrigation due to evaporation and wind drift, and it has a higher likelihood of causing or encouraging soil erosion. Couple your sprinkler irrigation with an automatic hose valve to make irrigation even easier. I sure like the Rachio Smart Hose Timer!

Drip Irrigation

Drip Irrigation is my number one option for raised beds and in-ground applications, and using micro-drip components work great for containers too. I like it because of the precision application of water to each plant (or on a chosen spacing), high level of efficiency, and minimal water moving off target or being lost to evaporation. With the application of water directly to the soil, there is also a low likelihod of causing plant diseases. Additionally, you’ll spend less time weeding as you are only watering your garden plants, not all of the soil between the rows. There are many kinds of drip irrigation and design to explore for what will work best in your growing area. I have found that both Black and Choclate Labs love ruining drip lines, so if you have a ‘good boy’ or ‘good girl’ you may want to try  a small area first before investing in a drip system for all of your garden space! This setup will be quite a bit more involved to set up, and it’ll also be more pricey.

Soaker Hose

This slowy applies water for the entire length of the hose, so some areas not needing water will receive it, but far less so than with hose or overhead sprinkler irrigation. These are made from a variety of different materials. Setup is straightforward and you garner many of the benefits of drip irrigation. A couple of considerations are that these don’t work as well if they are located on a slope, and they are really only suitable for a single row or bed per soaker hose.

Test your soil nutrient and pH status using a MySoil Test Kit

• Soil testing = insurance policy for success
• pH and essential nutrient levels
• What if the values are high?
• Vetted fertilizer and amendment recommendations

The MySoil test kit is perfect for beginner and veteran gardeners alike. It measures pH and the levels of available nutrients in the soil, then recommends vetted fertilizer and amendment products in the amounts you need for your garden area. Turnaround time for the lab results is 6-8 days from when you put the soil sample and pre-paid mailer in your mailbox. Check out the example test report below.  Know before you grow for the healthiest soil and most nutrient dense plants!

In this soil test, we see values that are low, optimal, and high. For the low values, such as Nitrogen, you can see that either a 12-0-0 (N-P-K) or 46-0-0 are recommended in an amount that will bring those values up to maximize plant health and nutrient density.  You’ll notice that the second two numbers on the fertilizer are ‘0’.  That is because phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are already present in amounts beyond the need of the plant. In this case, there is nothing to worry about, we just let our plants bring those levels down through time as they absorb those nutrients and you remove them in your harvest.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the three primary nutrients and are what are represented on the fertilizer analysis (N-P-K). These are also the most likely to cause yield reduction or limit plant health, so they are the nutrients we focus on first. In the soil test report on the previous page, you’ll also notice that sulfur is a bit low. Sulfur, Calcium, and Magnesium are the secondary macronutrients, so are essentially the second tier of focus. You’ll need to read the fertilizer label, but often they include sulfur.

If sulfur isn’t on the label, you can opt to add it with a different product as a second application at the same time. Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) are the other secondary macronutrients and have the same tier of importance, but they are not usually deficient as often as sulfur.

You’ll notice even more nutrients on your soil test report. These are the micronutrients iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and Boron (B).  Although essential, additions of these nutrients are considered ‘icing on the cake’ and may be delivered in high enough amounts with your compost. If you are wondering what the nutrient status of your compost is, you can do a MySoil test of your compost too! Of course, the MySoil team also recommends micronutrient products, just click “pH and micronutrient products” in the Shop Recommended Products section of your soil test report.

If you are soil testing your garden, then you can also click on the Nutrient Density Score. This is an estimate of the nutrient density of the food you will produce based on the current soil nutrient status.

Amend your soil with organic material

• Benefits of adding OM
• Concern with adding OM
  

There are very few instances that I can think of when one wouldn’t want to add more organic material to their garden, whether a container, raised bed, or especially if in ground. Why? Let’s look at a list of the benefits of adding additional organic matter such as compost, aged manure, cover crops, or biochar.

1. Provides nutrients as it breaks down
2. Improved soil structure
3. Enhances the ability of your soil to hold water
4. Enhance drainage and aeration
5. Enhances the ability of your soil to hold nutrients in the rootzone
6. Increases life in the soil, from worms to beneficial microorganisms
7. Sequesters carbon
8. Likely reduces soil diseases and pests
9. Enhances soil temperature regulation
10. Reduces soil compaction
    

What are some concerns or things to look for? Some organic inputs may have high salt levels. If you start to see a white film at the soil surface, this is likely salt that has been left behind as water evaporated from the soil surface. If you are seeing this, then irrigate heavily to flush, or leach, the salts below the rootzone. You’ll want to be sure not to leach immediately following a fertilizer application as you may be washing away your much needed nutrients as well.  If your soil test showed that you were excessively high in sodium, then an application of gypsum at the label rate prior to flushing the salts is recommended.

Decide if growing from seed or transplants

• Advantages of growing from seeds
• Process of starting seeds indoors
• Advantages of buying transplants

There are advantages to both using seeds and transplants, let’s look at a few of those. Seeds are less expensive and give you a larger selection of varieties that are available as compared to transplants. You could also start the seeds indoors, create your own seedlings, then transplant them. Be sure to follow the instructions on the seed packet carefully for each species as planting depth, spacing, and timing may vary. If growing your own transplants, start the seeds indoors, or in a hoophouse, greenhouse, cold frame, or other growing structure 4-8 weeks before the transplant date. Slowly harden the plants off, or acclimate them to outdoor growing conditions, by putting them outside in the sun for a longer period of time each day over the course of 7 – 10 days.

Don’t have the space or time to learn how to start seeds? Transplants may be for you. You can get a quick start when the weather is right by buying transplants from your local nursery, garden center, farmers market, or big box store. Using transplants also helps minimize the risk of seedling failure, which even veteran gardeners fight from time to time. Transplants should be planted at the same depth in the ground as they were in the container; tomatoes can be planted a bit deeper than in their container. The cost of transplants will be greater than that of seeds and the available varieties will be a bit more limited, but they are a great option for beginner gardeners. One caveat is that transplants of root crops such as carrots and beets don’t do too well, so it is recommended to establish those from seed in the location that they will be cultivated.

Stagger planting of fast maturing veggies such as beans and lettuce

• Strategy for extended harvest

Successive, or staggered, planting is very important for fast maturing species if you want a season-long bounty. You can choose your interval, but I like to plant successively on two week intervals to start and then adjust based on how fast we’re consuming the produce. Running out too fast? Tighten the interval. Didn’t quite eat it all? Lengthen the interval. This is certainly one of the decisions that is more art than science and is geared specifically towards how you are consuming or preserving your harvested goods.

Weed, weed, weed and add to compost before they start producing seed

• Why control weeds? 
• How to control weeds

They don’t help your crops grow, in fact, they directly compete with your plants for water, nutrients, and sun. Some weeds may also have toxic effects (allelopathic) on other species near them. One example is spotted knapweed which exudes chemicals from its roots that suppresses the growth of several other species occupying the same, or closely adjacent, rootzone space. Outside of those reasons, aesthetically, many of us like the look of a neat, tidy, and clean garden area.

I, and likely you too, will come to have a love-hate… or is it a hate-love relationship with weeds. Especially in in-ground gardens, this is where much time is spent. Don’t forget my Grandpa’s advice, it’s stood the test of time and I still adhere to it at a minimum. “Pulling a bucket full a day will keep these weeds at bay.” Hand pulling weeds can consume much time, but an often overlooked benefit is the ability to add those weeds (that aren’t producing seed) to the compost pile. These provide a great ‘green’, or high nitrogen, addition to your compost pile. In my situation, I have predominantly leaves and woody, brown, material from Fall cleanup and my compost pile is craving some ‘green’ additions to really start breaking everything down. The type of weeds that you are seeing can also be indicators of your soil condition. Seeing a lot of clover, medic, and oxalis? You’re soil is likely low in Nitrogen. Seeing a lot of broadleaf and buckhorn plantain? Your soil is likely a bit too compact. There are some great articles and books out there on weeds as indicator species if you’re interested in learning more.

Quick Tips: Hand pull or hoe just after a rain or irrigation cycle for easier weed removal.

What are some other strategies besides hand pulling weeds? Although many avoid it, you may opt to use pre-emergent or post-emergent herbicides. If you do choose this route, be sure to closely follow the label to avoid damaging the plants that you want to grow. Mulching is great option. Many will put a layer of cardboard against the soil surface, then add mulch on top. Using drip irrigation will also help your plants be more competitive. You can also use hoes and various other tools, till lightly, or use flame as options. Whichever method you choose, diligence is the strategy.

Remove diseased or unhealthy leaves and branches

• Why to remove unhealthy tissue?

It is important to remove any diseased or unhealthy leaves and branches to minimize the likelihood of that disease, or potentially other pests, from spreading to other plants or plant parts. Removal will also facilitate better air flow which often reduces relative humidity and therefore disease pressure.

Pest Control

Did you think that weeds and weather were going to be your only challenges?! Think again, insects and diseases may also try to get a few bites out of your produce.

There’s no way for me to cover each potential problem, so instead, let’s just look at some basic principles of integrated pest management.

• Prevention
• Monitoring and Identification
• Multiple control measures
• Biological
  • Cultural
  • Mechanical
  • Chemical

Prevention

We need to first try to prevent pests from becoming a large issue in our garden. We can do this through first focusing on maximizing soil and plant health. This is one of the reasons that we soil test, fertilize and amend to the recommendations, create our own compost, add organic matter to soil regularly, remove damaged plant material, remove weeds, and irrigate appropriately. Functionally, we are trying to have a healthy, neat, and tidy garden that doesn’t attract these pests. You can research planting ‘trap crops’ or ‘sacrificial crops’ that act as a decoy for pests and are more attractive than the crops you have planted. 

Monitoring and Identification

This is one of the reasons we’ll speak to the importance of garden walk throughs later. You should regularly be checking for new insects and diseases in the garden. Look for early warning signs or symptoms such as leaf discoloration, speckled appearance to leaves, or chewed leaf edges. Don’t forget to turn some leaves over as well, some insect species only lay their eggs on the underside of leaves. Today, identification is much easier than decades ago. You’ll find identification apps on your phone, and extensive resources online as well. Local nurseries and experts are always a great resource too.

Cultural Control Methods

One of the primary cultural control methods is crop rotation. If we are rotating beds with the types of crops we are growing, we are constantly moving their preferred food source to a different area. Another strategy is to choose pest resistant varieties. Outside of the plants themselves, you can also use mulches, intercropping, increasing air flow, and overall just culturing the healthiest plants possible. Having diversity in your plantings is considered cultural control as well.

Mechanical Control

Not any different than hand pulling weeds would be hand picking insects. Placing traps fall into this category as well, as do exclusion tactics such as netting (individual plants, beds, or rows). Pruning off injured plant parts that may be infected is considered mechanical as well. Another strategy is simply using water to spray insects off of plants. One of my personal favorites as a defense against aphids is the application of diatomaceous earth; others have had great success with horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps.

Chemical Control

As we are discussing Integrated Pest Management, we must consider all options. If we have exhausted our resources and have a pest problem that needs a cure, organic or synthetic pesticides can be employed. Insecticides and fungicides are commonly used and have the ability to be highly effective. Please remember to read and follow all label directions.

Common Garden Pests

Insects and Slugs:

Aphids, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, scales, tent caterpillar, bean beetle, flea beetle, whiteflies, ants, earwigs, thrips, mites, cutworms, mealybugs, slugs, cabbage maggot, grasshoppers, codling moth, stink bugs.

Diseases:

Powdery mildew, downy mildew, root rot, damping off, black spot, leaf spot, rust, gray mold, blossom end rot, bacterial spot, peach leaf curl, fire blight, mosaic virus, fusarium, apple scab, anthracnose.

 

Create compost

• What is it
• Types of composting
• What to add and avoid
• How to

What is compost? Compost is a mixture of organic materials, or organic materials and soil, that have been allowed to decompose to a form that is semi-stable and ready for the garden. The result is an amendment that can be used as a mulch, addition to native soils, or as a low analysis organic fertilizer.

Hot (thermophilic) compost, compost tumblers, vermicompost, counter-top composters, which is best? The one that you have space for and will actively maintain is best! I’ve had success and failures with each of these, and any failures were always due to my lack of attention.

What needs are considered when starting to compost in each manner?

For all methods you need:

1. Good Aeration
2. Adequate Moisture
3. Organic inputs
4. Time

Common Organic Inputs to Add to Compost

1. Shredded Leaves
2. Grass Clippings
3. Kitchen Scraps
4. Wood chips and small branches

What not to Add?

1. Dog or cat feces
2. Human manure
3. Meat scraps (I add these occasionally in a large hot compost pile, the only downside is the attraction of pests/animals)
4. Plastics or wrappers
5. Weed seeds
6. Glossy or coated paper

Hot Compost

To successfully hot compost you’ll generally need more space than with the other methods that will be described. Depending on your stream of organic inputs you may not produce enough organic ‘waste’ to have a successful hot compost pile. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to have the pile at least 3 ft x 3 ft x 3ft to produce enough heat to fully finish the compost. I think of this size as making a cube with four standard pallets. Probably my favorite way is the three bin pallet composter like you see below, with compost moved between bins as it matures, or as you turn it.

To be successful, just add your organic additions, keep moist, and turn regularly using a garden fork, shovel, or pitch fork. In low humidity and warmer climates or seasons you’ll likely need to add water occasionally. You want the compost to be moist, but not wet. When you grab a handful of compost and squeeze it, a few drops should come out, but water shouldn’t run out. A compost pile shouldn’t stink or smell anaerobic, if it does, add more dry ‘brown’ material such as leaves or shredded paper.

Compost tumbler

These barrels sure do make it easy to turn your compost compared to a pitchfork, shovel, or garden fork. To be successful add your material and turn regularly. I typically just turn it multiple times after each addition. When choosing a compost tumbler, be certain that it has drainage holes for excess water and air exchange. If you find your compost getting too wet, simply add some ‘brown’ material such as dried leaves, shredded paper, pine needles, or even sawdust. If you’re high in those materials, add some ‘green’ material such as kitchen scraps or grass clippings. You can target about 3-4 parts brown materials to one part green materials for optimal breakdown. I always like to add a couple handfuls of finished compost and a couple handfuls of native soil to each batch in the tumbler to act as an inoculant of sorts to jump start the process.

Vermicompost

Vermicomposting is the use of worms, primarily red wigglers, to produce compost. I use vermicomposting for the bulk of our kitchen scraps and one bin is enough for a household of four if it is active. When done correctly, there is nearly no odor and no pesky bugs, however, if the vermicompost bin is overloaded, you may see many small insects.

So how do you vermicompost? There are many different options, pre-made or DIY, but functionally you add worm bedding (coco coir, shredded paper, shredded cardboard) to a bin, ensuring that there is drainage, add a small amount of finished compost, some grit or native soil to help the worms grind down the food, then add kitchen scraps.

Check out this video for more information! DIY Vermicompost Free Homemade Fertilizer

Counter Top Composters

If you don’t have the space for one of the above options, you can go with a relatively new to market counter top composter. There are several brands, but the one I am most familiar with is the Lomi. To operate these, you simply add your food scraps to the bucket, push a button, and wait until the cycle is done. That’s it! This machine will first heat and grind the food waste, then monitor the moisture level and temperature ensuring optimal conditions for microbes to get to work. You can then add the finished product to your containers, beds, or garden. This is great if you are short on space, such as in apartments, but have a container garden.

Check your garden often

Do frequent walk throughs

Even if you’re not planning on working in your garden, it’s a great practice to do frequent walk throughs. While you’re walking through be sure that you are also scouting, looking for anything that has worked well, or looking at plants that are struggling. You should simply be observing and seeing how everything is doing. Look to see if weeds are creeping in from adjacent areas, look for insect pests, look for beneficial insects such as ladybugs and praying mantis. Brainstorm how to improve or adjust for next season. These garden walk throughs, when you’re not focused on specific tasks, are often the source of inspiration for the next season.

Harvest and enjoy often

Eat and Enjoy

Start harvesting your cool and short season crops early, then successively through the growing season, followed by your longer season crops. Eating seasonally is always a joy and mixing up the menu from your garden grocer is exceptionally rewarding. Don’t forget to save those new recipes that you tried! Well planned gardens can provide food throughout the growing season, and the most ambitious gardeners have some form of greenhouse or controlled growing environment so that they can enjoy a year round bounty.

You’re putting all this work into growing the most nutritious food you can, but don’t forget to enjoy the space as well. One of my favorite garden features is a small table and a couple of chairs to enjoy fresh snacks and time with a loved one.