Every day this summer you go to your backyard to pick your veggies. You are eating veggies freshly picked for your meals. These are a few reasons you may want to plant a garden. I’ll give you tips and tell you 12 reasons to plant a garden this spring.
It is not too late. You can get a garden planted and enjoy the fruits and veggies of your labor. Soon you will be eating fresh veggies.
Why Plant a Garden?
- Eat fresh veggies from your garden. No more running to the market or store. You can plant whatever veggies you want. Plant the veggies you like and enjoy.
- You will eat more veggies because you have to always think how can I eat this?
- Save money by not buying your veggies.
- You can freeze, can, or dry some of your veggies for the winter months and enjoy them later.
- Eat healthy greens and veggies regularly that your body craves.
- Get many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from your veggies.
- Share your excess with your neighbors and coworkers- they will love you.
- This allowed us to get to know some of our neighbors asking them if they wanted veggies.
- You can teach your kids or grandkids about growing food and the labor skills they will learn in taking care of the garden.
- This allows you to get your hands dirty in the soil which is great for your health as well as the extra bit of sunshine you will get taking care of your garden.
- Gardening is a good exercise with squatting, stretching, standing, and walking around it.
- Finally, it brings joy to your life to see what you accomplished.
Tips to Plant a Garden
- Start small- with container gardening such as herbs and tomatoes or something you love.
- Buy your plants to start ahead or plant them yourself. These may only include tomatoes and peppers. The rest you can start with seeds.
- If you have poor soil, raised gardens are good options which I enjoy. They don’t have to be big.
- If your soil is inadequate, I recommend adding bone meal, for added nutrients.
- Check out your planting Zone to know the best month to plant a garden in your state and zone. Some seeds/plants do well with the cooler temps.
- If you love gardening you can dig up part of your yard and turn it into a garden, just make sure you have good soil for it.
- I would recommend adding soaker hoses around all your plants to make them easy to water. Hook up the hose to the soaker hose, and set the timer for 45 minutes every other day and your garden is watered.
- Add mulch such as grass clippings, straw, or newspaper to your garden to keep the weeds from growing. Less weeding to do. It also keeps moisture in the soil.
- Decide on your top veggies and plant them, not too close or too many. Don’t overcrowd.
Learn and Plan
- When you plant make a chart on paper so you have an idea of how much room you will need. Then you won’t plant too much of one kind of veggie or plant them too close.
- You will learn from your mistakes each year and that is the best part. It’s a learning experience.
- Try a new veggie each year and decide at the end if you liked it or not. I deiced not to plant broccoli this year because last year the broccoli caterpillar visited and it wasn’t the best experience for me.
- Know every year will be different because of growing conditions, the kinds of plants, the weather, and where you planted them.
Get Started
There you go- get your garden ready and start planting because now you know why you should plant a garden. If you want more info on how to plant a garden see a past blog- for 6 steps to plant a garden in the Midwest. Look up info on your planting zone from your extension office. Thanks for learning from -12 reasons to plant a Garden this spring.
This is what I am planting in my garden this year.
Tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, zucchini, peas, basil, cilantro, parsley, lettuce, Kale, spinach, cucumbers, radishes, and flowers. My Rosemary is planted in a pot that I brought in for the winter.
What are you planting in your garden? I would love to know. Leave a comment.
