Gardens can be a great pastime that not only gives you something enjoyable to do each day, but also that provides many benefits to your health and the environment. If you’re new to gardening it can be daunting if you don’t start with a plan. There are plenty of decisions that will need to be made and having a plan in place can really make all the difference in how your garden turns out. Below are a few bits of advice on how to get started in producing a garden full of fresh foods you can enjoy.
Select a Location
You might think that you can just set up your garden in any location but this is not the case. You are going to need to select a good location for your crops to grown. You want to select a location where there is a decent amount of exposure to the sun as well as easy access to water.
Check the Soil
Another part of starting your own garden is checking the soil. You will need to make sure that you have checked the soil to see what type you have and also assess whether your soil needs anything else to help your garden grow more productively. If you’re not sure of how to test the soil you can easily talk with a landscaping professional who can have it tested for you.
Choose Your Crops
Now comes the most challenging part of gardening. There are so many plants out there to choose from that making the best decisions can be tough. The main things to remember when choosing plants are the soil type as not all plants will grow in all types of soil. Other than that you must consider the types of plants you want to grow and how much time you have to invest in caring for them. Consider choosing plants based on their level of maintenance.
Purchase Your Tools
There are plenty of varieties of tools and resources that you can use to make the task of gardening a lot more convenient and fun. However, there are some tools that just about every gardener should have including shovels for digging, pruners, and other tools. It is ideal that you don’t go overboard when choosing tools for gardening because chances are you won’t get much use out of them. Be sure to purchase tools that are comfortable and durable for longer use.
Now all that’s left to do is plant your seeds or plantlets and begin caring for your garden. Try to keep a list of the crops you have, their care instructions, and a schedule for caring for them. This will help you to remember to care for the crops on the routine basis. While you may have heard that gardening is hard, once you’ve gotten the hang of it there is something so rewarding about growing your own foods that the chore of gardening becomes relaxing. With a bit of hard work and routine maintenance you should be able to start harvesting your crops within a few short months.