| Wow. Have you seen prices of vegetables lately? | | | | have a compost pile available to add the contents to |
| Week-after-week, I cringe as I walk through the | | | | your soil, go to your local garden center and grab |
| produce isle of my local grocery store. As wallets get | | | | some bags of processed manure and mix it in to your |
| thinner, it seems like prices are skyrocketing. And the | | | | soil. You'll be amazed at the results! |
| worst part is the veggies aren't even that good. | | | | STEP 4: The Fun Part - Choose the Type and |
| So if you're ready to put your hands in the dirt and | | | | Amount of Veggies You Want to Grow |
| grow your own delicious and healthy vegetables...be | | | | So what type of veggies do you want to grow? |
| prepared to save money and have some fun! Follow | | | | Tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, carrots? It's totally up |
| the next 5 steps and you'll be well on your way to a | | | | to you and it simply depends on what you like and the |
| vegetable garden that your friends and family will be | | | | time of year. So have fun with this part. Now once |
| fawning over! | | | | you choose the types of veggies, you then have to |
| STEP 1: Location, Location, Location! | | | | decide how many to plant. Your first consideration will |
| Yes, I know...that's a real estate term but the same | | | | be how many people are in your family who'll be |
| holds true for your veggie garden. Plants love sun...the | | | | eating the crops. But there's an old farmer's saying - a |
| more the better. So when you scout for a location, | | | | row of each for each. That means plant one row of |
| pick the spot that gets full sun for the longest amount | | | | veggies for each member of the family. Of course the |
| of time throughout the day. Now if you happen to | | | | amount you can plant on each row depends on the |
| have a shady yard then you might want to consider | | | | row size. Play around with the numbers. And |
| container gardening. This way you can garden almost | | | | remember, you can always can or freeze the excess. |
| anywhere that's sunny...even on the roof of a | | | | STEP 5: Planning the Layout |
| Manhattan skyscraper! So look around, make note of | | | | Here's where you have to take direction and shade |
| the amount of sun hitting certain areas of your yard | | | | into consideration. Plant your rows going North to |
| and then move on to the next step. | | | | South. This way you won't have one row shading the |
| STEP 2: Choose Your Method | | | | other and stunting the growth of those plants. Then all |
| Are you going to go with raised beds or are you going | | | | of your taller crops (beans, corn, peas, etc) should be |
| to plant right into the ground of your yard? Most | | | | planted on the north side so they won't shade your |
| people like the raised bed method because of a | | | | shorter plants. Medium size should be located in the |
| number of factors. First, it doesn't matter what kind of | | | | middle (tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, etc). And smaller |
| soil you have in your yard, you can use the best soil in | | | | varieties should be on the south end (carrots, lettuce, |
| your raised garden. The soil also warms up at a much | | | | onions, etc). If you follow this layout, all of your veggies |
| faster rate so your plants will grow faster. The easiest | | | | will get the sun exposure they need to grow well. |
| way to do this is to make small frames with 2 x 6 | | | | So there you have it...the 5 critical steps to growing |
| wood planks...no more than 3 to 4 feet wide (if you're | | | | your own vegetables. Use this as your starting guide |
| planting several next to each other, be sure to leave | | | | and then do more regional-specific research on what |
| enough room in between the boxes for you to walk). | | | | types of vegetables grow where you live and the |
| And you can even go less than that, it just depends | | | | best time to plant them. |
| how much room you have. Then simply fill in the frame | | | | You'll be amazed at the amazing flavor you'll get when |
| with high quality soil and you're done! | | | | you pick ripe and ready vegetables for your next meal. |
| STEP 3: Prepare the Soil | | | | And you'll be even more satisfied when you realize the |
| Your plants will need nutrition to grow big and strong | | | | hundreds of dollars you save every year just by |
| and organic gardeners will love this step! Mix a good | | | | putting in a few, enjoyable hours in your garden. |
| amount of something called organic hummus to your | | | | Happy gardening! |
| soil (even if you're using potting soil). Now if you don't | | | | |