Get started on the production of fresh vegetables in your own garden

Are you fond of gardening? Fond of taking care of plants and watching them produce beautiful flowers and tasty fruits? Then you must have also considered vegetable gardening at some point. Must have craved the sense of achievement of harvesting and enjoying the produce of absolutely fresh vegetables from your own garden.

But vegetable gardening still remains an elusive concept to many gardeners because most people consider it a daunting task. They think that vegetables need a lot more attention and pampering than any other plant which could be tiresome. People also think that limited space could be a hindrance to the growth of green, leafy vegetables.

In reality, actually, vegetable gardening is not that much different from nurturing other plants. Limited space is also not much of an issue if other conditions are met. If you are cautious about a few things, you can easily grow lots of fresh vegetables like tomato, carrot, lettuce, coriander, cauliflower, etc. in your yard, patio, balcony, or rooftop.

Tips on Vegetable Gardening:

1. Regular Watering: This is the most basic rule for any kind of gardening actually. But in the case of vegetables, maintaining the routine of regular watering is even more important because they generally consume more water than other plants. You can relax when it's the rainy season, but other dry seasons require you to be really diligent about this practice. Whenever you are watering, try to maintain a 1-2 inch water level above the garden bed. Instead of spraying , you can use a hose pipe to water the vegetable plants. Locating the garden near a water source is paramount so you don't need to drag out the pipe too far. Also keeping the water source nearby will keep you motivated to keep watering your plants daily.

2. Ensure Enough Sunlight: Locate your garden in a place where your plants can get direct sunlight for at least 6-8 hours daily. Most vegetable plants need ample amounts of sunlight on a regular basis to yield a bountiful harvest, so don't be negligent about it.

3. Avoid Overcrowding: Sow the seeds in moderation so the garden beds or containers don't get overcrowded. It's a bit difficult to estimate when you are absolutely new to vegetable gardening, so be careful. You can let the seedlings sprout and then check to see if you need to thin out the seedlings. Here 'thinning' means to get rid of fragile seedlings to maintain the appropriate spacing over the soil bed. If you don't pay attention to thinning, then you are running the risk of creating a hindrance to the potential growth of a plant. Thus you might end up with a not-so-satisfactory yield of fresh produce. 

4. Staking: Vertical gardening is a pretty common phenomenon in vegetable gardens. Many veggies like beans, melons, peas, and cucumbers grow splendidly well vertically and give superior produce. And vertical gardening can be especially handy for those people who have very limited space to grow plants. So for this kind of gardening, you need to do staking pretty early on, preferably around the time of seed planting. Install supports for your vines like trellises, stakes, tripods, or teepees, and let them flourish and grow.
   
   

5. Enhance the Soil Quality: Vegetable plants absorb a lot of nutrients from the soil to produce healthy, superior-quality veggies. So it's important to replenish the soil from time to time with organic matter or fertilizers. Cow dung and leaf compost work great for these purposes. Or you can always go for store-bought fertilizers. They provide the soil with living microorganisms that feast on negative organisms and act as food for plants thus enriching the soil. Every vegetable has different nutrient requirements. Soil quality differs from place to place as well. So first, research carefully about the needs of your plants and choose fertilizer accordingly. You have to fertilize your soil before planting seeds and also throughout the season when the plants grow.

6. Take Out Weeds: Weeds are the biggest enemy of plants because they steal their nutrients. This is why it's of utmost importance that you remain extremely careful throughout the growing season so that weeds can't get close to your vegetable plants. Maintain a habit of checking your garden regularly to get rid of even the smallest amount of weeds. Take out the weeds from nearby places as well so they don't creep onto your garden beds. If you don't remain cautious enough, you would have to later invest in artificial herbicides if weeds go out of hand. That won't only be expensive, but also harmful to your vegetables.

7. Mulching: Another really important step to keep your crops healthy throughout the gardening season is mulching. Mulching is putting a layer or cover over the soil surface which helps improve soil fertility in many ways. Mulch helps soil conserve moisture, keeps the plant roots cool, improves soil texture, provides organic matter, and keeps weeds and harmful insects away from plants. There are various types of mulch you can use for your garden, both organic and inorganic. Organic mulch includes seed-free straw, hay, shredded leaves, chipped bark, newspaper, grass clippings, etc. Inorganic mulch includes plastic, fabric, stone, gravel, etc.
   
   

8. Fence: Keep your precious vegetable garden protected from outside animals with the help of proper fencing.