How to Start a Garden

Hi, I'm Tricia, and organic gardenerOrganic vegetable gardening is very rewardingAnd whether you live in the countryside, in the city, or in the subarbs, you can enjoy homegrown vegetablesToday, I'm at my friend Autumn's house and we're gonna start a brand new garden

If this is your first garden, I recommend that you start smallThe worst thing that can happen is that you bite off more than you can chewAutumn has chosen this 20x20 space, but if you only have 5x10, that's fine too!Site selection is important You need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day for vegetables,and preferably more

If you're not sure how much sun you get,you can use one of these SunCalc sunlight calculators and be sure you've chosen the right spotAvoid snuggling your site up against tall trees, their roots can affect the vegetable growthAnd if you do have trees, be sure that you have a clear southern exposureA very important consideration is your water source

Do you have a hose bib or some other way to connect your irrigation that's close by to your site?A major part of organic gardening is healthy, rich soilIn order to know how to build your soil, a soil test is criticalA soil test is going to tell you exactly what your garden already has, and what it needsCheck our video on soil tests to learn how to take a good soil sample

The next step is soil preparation, and you can prepare the soil by either using a tiller, a broadfork, or a digging forkIf your soil is less compacted, broadforking, or using a digging fork, can be substituted for tillingThis really only needs to be done initiallyOnce you've tilled or worked the soil with a fork, it's time to add some good old organic compost,which is teaming with beneficial microbes

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Next I'm going to build my soil beds by digging out the dirt from the pathways and putting it on the bed,until the bed is about 6-8 inches in heightThe next step is to grade the bedAnd if you want to add some fertilizer per the soil test results, now is the time to do it3-4 foot wide beds are a better use of a home gardener's space than narrow rowslike you would see on a farm

In addition, wide beds give your plants' roots more room to spread outTo prevent weeds from growing in the pathways, you can put down cardboard or newspaperJust put it down in the pathways and then water it so it gets real heavyMake sure that the pieces of cardboard overlap

After wetting down your cardboard, just add about a 2-3 inch layer of strawWater the whole garden area thoroughly We've disturbed the soil so much that the weed seedsare gonna come to the surface and germinateWhile you're waiting for the weeds to germinate, you can start setting up your drip irrigation system

A couple of days later, come back using either the Hori Hori Weeder Rooter, stirrup hoe, or a colinear hoe and take out any young weedsRepeat this process a couple more times before you plantIf you have deer, rabbits, or other wildlife, I highly recommend a deer fenceOtherwise, all your hard work is going to be a donation to the local wildlife!This deer fencing is relatively inexpensive and easy to install

It's finally time to plant the certified organic vegetable starts and seedsI'm planting these peas and they grow really tall, so I'm gonna stake them with the bambooAnd I'm planting them to the north of the garden, so that they don't shade out the other lower-growing plantslike the radishes I'm going to plant from seedLiquid fish and kelp are great fertilizers to help your little plants thrive

They're often applied as a foliar spray, so make sure you have a good sprayer with a fine-tip nozzleSo enjoy your little gardenand Grow Organic for Life!