How to Plant and Grow a Successful Garden

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How to plant and grow a successful garden?  Gardening can be very rewarding especially when your garden is successful. There are many factors that would determine whether or not your garden will be successful.  Most of which depends on you!

How to plant and grow a successful garden

I love to garden.  Not only is gardening great exercise it is also good for your well being.  In the spring I can’t wait to get outside and play in the dirt.  Planting a garden is not only healthy for your emotional and physical well being, but you will also get good wholesome food for you and your family.

Tips on planning a successful garden

•  How much time do you have to devote to your garden?  Many people get excited to plant a garden in the spring with really good intentions.  About the time the seeds start to sprout, so do the weeds and eventually, the enthusiasm goes away and the weeds take over.  Gardening takes dedication and hard work, but doesn’t anything that is worth doing?
• What is your soil like?  We live in an area that some parts of our farm are full of rocks and only a foot of topsoil and other areas the topsoil is a few feet deep with rich soil.  Keeping this in mind may help you determine if you would do better with your garden in boxes, pots or like we do it, right into the ground in a big garden area.  Here are some ideas on how to compost to give your soil the boost it needs.
• The preparation of your soil can make a big difference in how your garden will grow.  When we bought our farm our soil had been depleted by previous farmers.  We didn’t even see many worms.  It was necessary to build up the nutrients in our soil if we were going to have any of our crops grow.  Growing a garden is no different, your soil needs to have good nutrients to feed your plants.  There are many ways to build up your soil and increase the nutrients.  Composting is one way.  This can work easily for a garden area.  A plant cannot grow in hard packed soil.  The dirt needs to be worked and tilled deep for plants like potatoes or carrots.
• What is the length of your growing season?  My husband will say we have a 90-day growing season just not consecutively.  We can freeze any month of the year.  To find out what your growing season is like there are many charts to tell you what zone you are in.  While this can be very helpful we have found it is not completely accurate.  On the chart, it says we live in a zone 4 but we consider it more a zone 3.  When we plant trees, shrubs and other things we look more at zone 2.  Take a look around your area and see what others are successfully growing to get a good idea of what will work.
• Water is a very important factor.  How much water can you use for a garden?  This may also help you determine how big your garden can be and what type of a garden you can have whether it be in boxes, pots or a large garden plot.  There are many watering systems to help you conserve water if necessary.
• Location is also very important.  Choose a spot that will get full sun.  Most vegetables require as much sunlight as possible.

Once you have figured out these important factors it is time to choose your seed.  There are many seed companies you can choose from but not all are created equal.  Choose a company that has good seeds to produce healthy plants.  I like to order my seeds from True Leaf Market.  I have had great success with their seeds and they are a great price.  (I also get my seeds for sprouting here.)

Your garden spot is ready and the soil is prepared now it is time to plant.  For tips on planting here is a blog post to help you.  Click here.

Gardening is not only very enjoyable but can be very relaxing and good for your health.  While we have had some very successful gardens we do still have some vegetables that occasionally fail.  The important point is to figure out why it didn’t work and do it better next year.  Enjoy the journey of learning to grow a  garden and take pride in your successes.

Enjoy your garden.    Feel free to share with others.  Tell us about your experiences below.