How do you start a vegetable garden for beginners?

How do you start a vegetable garden for beginners?

Looking to start a vegetable garden from scratch? There are several ways to start a vegetable garden. But not all ways are cost-effective and efficient, especially for beginners.

For beginners, you need a reliable and efficient method. The method must be easy to implement and require a minimal budget. With food gardening on the rise, it makes sense to start a vegetable garden.

You want a garden project that requires minimal skills as a beginner. If you start wrongly, your experience as a gardener will be short-lived. If you’re excited about gardening, then you’ve come to the right place.

Today I’ll share steps beginners can follow to start a vegetable garden. Keep reading.

Garden size and location

The first step towards starting a vegetable garden for beginners is picking the right location. How much space do you have available for your garden? These are two things you much know.

Pick a suitable location in your backyard that receives a minimum of six hours a day. The amount of sun received is crucial. With the amount of sun varying during the winter and summer, consider sunlight levels reaching the location later in the season. 

Generally, pick the sunniest spot possible. 

How big should your garden be? As a beginner, it’s recommended that you start small. But you can choose a bigger size if you have enough time to take care of it. A simple 6 by 6 foot garden is great for beginners. 

It’s recommended that you start small. You don’t want to invest a lot as a beginner. Investing tons of money and time in a new project might be a gamble. You can gradually increase your garden size as you master more gardening skills.

Choosing the right vegetable

With the garden spot selected, you need to choose the right vegetables to grow. As a beginner, consider highly productive vegetables. Ideally, you need to grow what you love to it! What are your favorite vegetables? This should guide you on the type of v vegetables to grow.

You can also consider successive plants that you can grow throughout the year. Most gardeners choose warm and cool-weather vegetables to keep their gardens occupied at all times.

Easy vegetables to grow as a beginner

Read through our list of the 9 best vegetables to grow as a beginner.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes should be top of your list when starting a garden as a beginner. These are tender warm crops that take 60 to more than 80 days to mature depending on the variety. Tomatoes are easy to grow. You need to choose the right variety and a sunny spot for bountiful harvests. If you’d like to grow tomatoes in your garden, Backyard Gardeners Network is a great place to start!

Lettuce: Lettuce is a cool warmer crop and is best grown in the spring and fall. They take 30 to 70 days to harvest.

Beets: Beets are easy to grow and are cold-tolerant. You can grow seeds outside without damage from cold weather. Beets take 7 to 8 weeks to mature for harvest.

Peppers: Peppers are easy to grow and do well in sunny and well-drained soils. They take 60 to 90 days to mature for harvest.

Radishes: Radishes are easy to grow. You can sow seeds outside in pre-warm soil.

Green Beans: Green beans are easy to grow and don’t require a long growing period. You can sow seeds in balanced pH soil, and water and ensure they receive maximum sunlight.

Carrots: Carrots are also easy to grow taking 60 to 80 days. The fleshy parts of carrots are inserted into holes and covered gently.

Peas: Peas are also easy to grow with seeds directly sown into the ground. Plant the seeds as soon as the ground is thawed.

Kale, spinach, orchard: Kale, spinach, and orchard are among the first growing vegetables to try. Transplant seeds mature in 30 to 40 days.

Preparing the soil

Next, you need to prepare the soil for planting. Start by removing the sod. This is probably the hardest stage. Use a flat-bladed space to remove the sod from outside the garden and in.

With the sod clear, you need to loosen the soil a little and perform a soil test. You want to make sure the soil is rich in nutrients. Add some compost material and mix everything.

For a new garden, you need to turn the soil to loosen compact areas. However, for a continuous garden, avoid this to prevent disturbing the microbes.

Planting a new garden

With your new garden ready, it’s time to plant. Planting can be done in two ways. You can sow seeds directly into the soil or use seedlings. Seedlings can be bought or first planted indoors and then transplanted.

Care and maintenance

Lastly, you need to take care of your garden and keep crops nourished. Make sure you pull out the weeds and keep the garden watered and fertilized. For plants that need support like tomatoes, add some stakes.

There you go! Wait for your vegetables to mature and harvest regularly when ready!

Best Flowers That Attract Hummingbirds

10 Best Flowers That Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden

Hummingbirds are one of the most fascinating and beautiful birds you can add to your backyard. If you’re an avid gardener or even a novice and want these wonderful creatures to come closer to you, planting flowers that attract hummingbirds is the first step. Let’s take a look at these top 10 best flowers that attract hummingbirds:

Butterfly Weed

There are many varieties of Butterfly Weed (also known as Indian Blanket), but the orange and red varieties are the most effective for attracting hummingbirds. These plants bloom all year round, making them an excellent choice for zones 8 and above. Their flowers are about 4 inches long, with the top petals orange and the bottom red. These are called feeders because hummingbirds use them to drink nectar.

Cardinal Flower

You’ll find this flower in sunny areas growing in wild meadows and along fences. It has a small purple flower with five petals. A single flower head can produce up to 30 flowers. Hummingbirds love to sip from their long, tubular red-colored flowers. They’re a perfect choice for areas with full sun to partial shade.

Salvias

Several annual and perennial species in the vast Salvia genus belong to the mint family. Salvia is a fantastic plant for the rear or middle of flowerbeds because of its tall spikes of tiny, delicate blooms. The mid-summer flowering period of perennial salvia lasts until the end of the season. If kept wet, they will blossom frequently. This clump-forming plant has a height range of 18 to 36 inches, doesn’t need division, and gets bigger over time. It is quite simple to cultivate this plant.

Mexican Sunflower

This stunning flower attracts hummingbirds as well as butterflies. It grows to a height of about 4 feet and has orange-red flowers. The leaves are dark green and resemble the common sunflower but smaller. They grow in thick clumps and provide plenty of nectar for pollinators. This is one of the best flowers that attract hummingbirds, even in cooler climates.

Globe Morning Glory

This is a flowering vine that grows up to 20 feet long. Its flowers are large and purple with a white center. This is another great flower that attracts hummingbirds, especially in the spring. It has dark green leaves that turn red in the fall. The leaves are heart-shaped and measure 8 inches long. Globe Morning Glory is a long-lasting plant and will flower for a long time if you keep cutting it back.

Scarlet Sage

This showy, red flower is native to Texas and has become a favorite garden because it attracts hummingbirds. It’s a perennial flower with a blue-green color and grows about 6 to 18 inches tall. Scarlet Sage prefers full sun but does well in partial shade. It also does well in sandy soil and is drought-tolerant. The leaves are about 2 inches long and grow in a rosette pattern. Leave some of the flowers in your garden year-round, and you’ll see hummingbirds visiting them until the first frost.

Queen’s Trumpet

This plant is an annual that grows up to 5 feet tall. Its pink-purple flowers measure up to 6 inches across. Although it’s an annual, it could last a few years if you leave some flowers in your garden. Queen’s Trumpet prefers a sunny spot but does well in partial shade. It’s a great choice for areas with sandy soil. The leaves are thin and grow in a rosette pattern. They’re about 4 inches long and have a silvery-blue color. Keep the Queen’s Trumpet watered, and you’ll see it grow quickly.

Desert Marigold

This is a flowering shrub that grows up to 3 feet tall. It’s a great choice for growing in sandy soil and does well in most areas of the United States. Desert Marigold grows in a shrub shape and has orange-red flowers. It does best in a full-sun area and requires very little water. It’s a long-lasting plant that produces many flowers. You can leave some flowers in your garden year-round and see hummingbirds visiting them until the first frost. The leaves are thin and grow in a rosette pattern. They have a light green color and measure about 2 inches long.

Mandevilla

The Mandevilla genus’s tropical and subtropical flowering plants are popularly referred to as “rock trumpets”. Mandevilla can be planted in the ground or in containers, the shape and vivid color of the Mandevilla blooms draw hummingbirds to them.

Hummingbirds can readily delve deep into the tube-shaped, trumpet-like blooms of Mandevilla flowers to get the nectar within because of their form. Hummingbirds are drawn to the brilliant colors, particularly on bushes with red blossoms.

Hanging Begonia

This flowering plant grows best in a hanging basket or on a trellis. It can grow up to 3 feet, and its flowers come in various colors. Hanging begonias prefer partial shade but do well in full sun, too. They do well in many soil types but need water. The leaves are thin and grow in a rosette pattern. They’re about 2 inches long and have a silvery-green color. Hanging begonias are easy to grow and are a great choice for a beginner gardener.

Start a Flower Garden for Beginners

How Do You Start a Flower Garden for Beginners?

Are you interested in gardening but aren’t sure where to start? Maybe you have a small space that isn’t the best place for a large vegetable garden, or your yard is mostly lawn with just a few trees and shrubs. A flower garden may be the perfect way to get started with gardening.

An attractive flower garden doesn’t have to take up much space, nor does it need to be something you only tend on special occasions. You can grow beautiful flowers almost anywhere!

This helpful article will explore how to create your flower garden from scratch. You don’t need to be an experienced gardener or have years of horticultural experience to read and follow these helpful tips for starting a flower garden!

What You Will Need to Start Your Flower Garden

A steady source of water

Plants need water to grow, so you’ll want to ensure a steady supply for your garden, whether you have a backyard or a rooftop garden.

Good soil

Your plants will need good soil to provide nutrients and support their roots, so you’ll need to find some soil that is rich in nutrients and will allow your plants to grow. You may consider buying some soil from a gardening supply store or finding a local nursery to sell you some.

Seeds or plants

If you want to grow vegetables or edible flowers, you can start your seeds indoors. If you want to grow flowers, you can find seeds for various plants and flowers (examples: tulips, Daisies, Chrysanthemums, etc.) at a local garden store or online.

A place to grow

You will need to find a place to grow your plants. If you have a backyard, you can garden in the ground. If you don’t, you can grow your plants in containers on a rooftop, balcony, or porch.

How to Prepare the Soil for a Flower Garden

Before you plant anything in your flower garden, you’ll want to be sure that the soil is well-prepared. You can do this in a few different ways, but here are a few tips for how to prepare the soil for a flower garden:

  1. Add in some fertilizer – Any good soil will have some nutrients, but you may want to add some fertilizer, for ornaments, 20-20-20 fertilizer is a good start if you want your flowers to grow quickly and bloom well. You can find fertilizer at a gardening store or make your own by combining compost with fertilizer.
  2. Mix in some compost – You can improve the soil in your flower garden by mixing in some compost. This will help add nutrients and water retention to the soil, making it ideal for growing flowers. You can buy bags of compost at a gardening store or make your own at home.
  3. Start with good soil – If you don’t have good soil, you can’t improve it. It’s best to start with some good soil, to begin with, and you can even mix in some sand to hold it together better. You can also add some peat moss to promote water retention.
  4. Remove any rocks or weeds – If you want to plant in the ground, you’ll want to remove any rocks and weeds from your soil.

Add in Some Maintenance Covers and Shapes

Once you have planted or started your seeds indoors, you can begin to think about maintenance covers, shape, and color. The best maintenance covers to use in your flower garden will depend on what type of flowers you have. Some of the most common maintenance covers include:

Mulch

Mulch can be a great way to cover the soil in your flower garden. It can also keep the soil cooler and prevent weeds from growing. You can make your mulch from old leaves, grass clippings, or sawdust or buy it at a gardening store.

Bushes and shrubs

If you want to add height to your flower garden, a shrub or small bush can be a great choice. They can also help hide an ugly fence or rooftop, and they can be pruned each year to shape them as you see fit.

Add in Some Lightweight Materials

Once your seeds have sprouted and your plants have grown, you can add lightweight materials to your flower garden. This can include wood chips, gravel, or pea gravel, which will help add some color and keep your plants in place. You can add decorative stones, small statues, and other decorative elements to spruce up your flower garden.

Final Words

A flower garden is an amazing way to add color and life to your yard or rooftop. It can be a great project for beginners, and you can do it in almost any climate. With the right seeds, and soil, you can create a garden that is as colorful and beautiful as you could ever imagine! And we can promise that you will love the look and smell of your flower garden as soon as it is finished. With these tips for starting a flower garden, you can ensure that the garden you create is beautiful and long-lasting.