Everything You Need to Know About Vegetable Gardens

Growing a vegetable garden is not difficult. If you haven’t produced a vegetable garden before, here are ten things you should be aware of as you prepare for the growing season. If you are a knowledgeable gardener, review these tips before passing them along to a neighbor or a friend in need.

You can grow vegetables year-round no matter where you live. And you can start your growing at any time of the year. The tips in this article are advantageous, no matter if you are a beginner or an advanced level vegetable gardener. Rest assured, you will come across a tip or two you were not aware of before.  Here are the steps and tips to get your vegetable garden growing and improving.

1. How to Begin a Vegetable Garden.
   The most suitable start would be if you visit closeby vegetable gardens. Make a list of the vegetables your family prefers to consume, and start producing these crops first.
   
   
2. Types of Vegetables. 
   There are two rudimentary kinds of vegetables to grow: cool-season crops and warm-season crops. Cool-season plants are leafy crops used in salads and root crops for stews, soups, and munching. Warm-weather crops include fruiting crops—cucumbers, beans, melons, tomatoes, peppers, and squash. You need to plant each crop at the correct time of the year.
   
   
3. Growing Season.
   Be aware of the average time of the final frost in spring and the initial frost in autumn. The time in between is the natural growing season. If you grow before and after these times, respectively, you will have to be particular about protecting most vegetables from the weather. Protecting crops from adverse weather is called season extension—you are extending the natural growing season.
   
   
4. Seed Starting.
   There are two ways to begin growing your vegetable garden: from seeds or transplants. Some vegetables are quickly started from seeds planted directly in the garden; others are best started indoors under optimal conditions you can’t always get outdoors. If you grow from transplants, you can begin to seed in your kitchen or buy seedlings at the garden center that were started by a grower.
   
   
5. How to Grow.
   Every vegetable crop you choose to grow has preferences—site, sun, soil, planting requirements, watering, and feeding requirements. You can’t go wrong if you allot vegetables eight hours of sun each day, grow them in compost-rich soil, keep the soil moist enough, and feed them organically. More mature compost will do the trick.
   
   
6. Soil.
   True garden wisdom articulates: Don’t plant a five-dollar plant in fifty-cent holes; plant a fifty-cent plant in a five-dollar hole. That means to plant seeds in great soil. All of the moisture and nutrients plants require for a flavorful and generous harvest originate from the ground. Organic gardeners emphasize on feeding the land, not the plant. If you feed the soil, you will automatically nourish the plant.
   
   
7. Watering and Feeding.
   Around all of the nutrients vegetables need to reach harvest are distributed through the plant’s water-conducting capillary system. Plant nutrients originate from the soil and are passed throughout the plant by water. Add aged nutrient-rich compost to the ground, and the soil will be both well-drained and moisture retentive. Keep nutrient-rich soil moist, and you will naturally feed your plants.
   
   
8. Pests, Diseases, and Problems.
   Almost every garden will be afflicted by a pest, disease, or environmental related problem at some point. Do not panic; it’s part of the course, and you can often curb pests, diseases, or other issues before they extend from a single plant to the entire garden. If you visit your garden every passing day or so, you will literally be able to nip problems in the bud.
   
   
9. When to Harvest.
   The most flavorful vegetables are harvested before or at the crowning of maturity. When you plant them, make a note in your calendar of the crop and its days to maturity, also count the days ahead mark the harvest date on your schedule. Harvest when the plant is nearly mature—you will be amazed at the flavor.
   
   
10. Season Extension.
    Season extension refers to growing vegetables outside of the natural growing season. One way of extending the season is starting seeds indoors in early spring before the soil when the weather is warm. Continuing to grow crops following the first frost and throughout the winter is another method. That means you can prolong the season both late and early. Season extenders to maintain crops warm in cold weather consist of row covers, plastic tunnels, and cold frames.

Through these tips, you will be well on your way to planning a beautiful vegetable garden. These tips will equip you to counter any problems and to be prepared beforehand!