Have you ever considered that the food you buy from the store on a daily basis might not be so good after all? Not only are they covered with preservatives and GMOs, but they are shipped from different states and even other countries while polluting the air with fossil fuel. Sure, you could go to a farmer’s market and buy local fruits and vegetables, but why pay for local ingredients when you could grow them yourself? Here are some steps to grow your own garden organically.
1. Planning & Obtaining Supplies
You want to make sure that you have all the tools to start your garden as well as the space. Consider the location of where you want the garden, what you would like to grow and how much sunshine it requires. Make sure you have things such as a hose or sprinkler, hand tools such as a shovel, hoe, digging fork, and iron rake, seeds or starter plants, organic top soil, mulch, fertilizer, and something to keep out all the bugs. Make sure there are no harsh chemicals in any spray or soil to make sure your garden is completely organic.
2. Preparing the Soil
Tilling the soil, or making the soil loose, is the first step to prepare the soil. This can be a laboring task to do without a machine, and there are rotor tillers you can rent from nurseries if the task is too difficult. Next comes weeding followed by applying organic top soil over the area. A good recommended size for a garden is 10 feet by 12 feet, but it is not required.
3. Planting
You can either start with seeds or baby starter plants for this step. The best time to plant is May, however there are some plants you can start later with in the season. Here is a picture of different fruits and vegetables to plant with their respective season:
Image via Google Images
Space your plans approximately 12″-18″ apart from one another in rows that are half of an inch deep. Tomatoes need to e planted deeper, and if you use a starter plant everything but the top leaves should show. Keep in mind that they will need something to hold them up when they grow, as well as cucumber plants.
4. Maintaining the Garden
You must be able to up keep your garden by watering it. Usually the best times to water a garden are between 8-11am. Make sure it doesn’t dry out during the day either, because it is important to keep the soil moist. Depending on the weather you might have to water it more on a hot day and less on a rainy day. You can water it by using a sprinkler or a hand held hose with a spray nozzle. Also it is important to weed and debug your garden on an as needed basis. Usually that can take up anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Planting flowers such as marigolds around the perimeter helps keep the bugs away, and applying a layer of organic mulch reduces weeds.
5. Harvest
Within a short amount of time you should begin to see your plants growing. When they are ripe, collect your new fruits and vegetables and use them for cooking. You can truly taste the difference!
