Have you ever thought of starting a garden but you are not quite sure how to begin? Or you are not sure what are the things that you need to start gardening? Gardening is the most rewarding feeling you can get.
You get your hands a little dirty and grow a plant. You shower love and care to the plants that you sow. That is just a snippet of how gardening can make you feel.
You may think of growing your own food just because you wanted to make sure that what you eat is free of chemicals. You may think of gardening as a stress reliever. It may also allow you to unleash your creative abilities in gardening.
It can be a vegetable garden, herb garden, or flower garden. Either way, you have to start it right to make it grow and last. If you want to learn more about gardening, read on.
1. Consider What to Plant
Decide on what kind of plants you want to grow. Look around and visualize the plant that you want to see every morning. Imagine that if ever you plant this kind of plant, will it give that happy feeling? If you want to have a vegetable garden, think of vegetables that you and your family usually eat or if you want a flower garden, think of the color and the scent that you like the most. If you are still unsure, you can be a generalist and start small, eventually, you will find out what garden you like to make.
2. Pick the Right Spot and Clear the Ground
Choosing the right location for your garden is essential in growing healthy plants. Look around your background, check places where you could possibly grow your plants. You need to consider what area receives the full sun and which area has full shade. Some plants thrive in a sun-filled area, while others don’t.
After considering the spot, clear out the ground from weeds and any other threat to your plants. Choosing the right location is detrimental to the growth and survival of the plants. Some plants thrive even if you just let them grow by themselves and not give extra care whatever the location situation maybe.
3. Choose the Right Soil or Improve the Soil
This is where the trick comes in. You need to determine if the resident soil is loam soil, dry, or too muddy. Usually, resident soil needs improvement. When making your garden beds, it is important to boost the soil for optimum results. Soil shouldn’t be too acidic or too alkaline; your soil should be fertile. So you better add organic matter to it, such as decayed leaves, decayed banana peels, or cow manure. Aside from that, the height of the garden beds should be just enough for the plant to grow and spread its roots. In addition to that, you also need to work on the soil like cultivating it. You need to make sure that the nutrients and the water is properly absorbed by the plant. You can use a cultivating tool to do this. You can dig or till the soil depending on the kind of soil and when you are mixing organic matter with the soil that you are using for your garden.
4. Start Planting in Your Garden
After determining what to plant and preparing your soil, you are now ready to plant. Plant those plants that are suitable for the current weather condition. Many plants can be planted regardless of the weather condition, just like sunflowers and lettuce, these plants are easy to grow and can be planted for any season. While some plants are seasonal, you must know when and how to plant them for the plant to survive and bear fruit or bloom. Planting in the wrong season without taking extra precautions to protect them from too much coldness or heat will make your gardening in vain.
5. Water at the Right Time
Adequate water supply to your plants is another key factor in growing your plants. If you are still sowing seeds then you need to water them daily. You should not let them dry too often for them to sprout rapidly. Transplants also need frequent watering until their roots have been established in the soil.
Depending on the kind of soil, the frequency of watering plants varies from plant to plant. For example, if the soil is dry, it will easily be absorbed, but it will dry easily, and if it is super moist soil, it does not absorb quickly. It is important to provide a water supply to your plants accordingly.
6. Nurture Your Garden
Apart from providing for your plants’ needs, you also need to maintain taking care of your garden. Plants have their own way of expressing their emotions. When a plant is left out, it will dry up and slowly die by itself. But if you take time to take care of them, talk to them, your plants will respond in a fruitful manner. Just like what the old saying goes, “A gardener’s shadow is the best fertilizer to a garden’.
Giving your plants the needed fertilizer will boost the plant’s growth and aids in making plants productive. But the most important of all is daily tender loving care from you, as a gardener.
7. Enjoy Your Harvest
As your plants grow and mature, they either bear fruit or bloom with beautiful flowers. Since you have done your part in taking care of your plants to grow and thrive, it’s now your time to reap what you sow. Enjoy cooking your own produce, smell the fragrant flowers, and see the beauty of a blooming garden.
Now that you already know how to start your own small garden at home, it’s time to take action and build that garden that you have in mind. It’s okay to start small and to start with a lot of varieties, what’s important is that you take your first step in making a garden. Make gardening a hobby and enjoy!
