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Gardening is one of those activities that can give you pleasure and pain! Aching backs and sore wrists are among the most common complaints. But gardening can also go beyond the hard graft and start paying you back for your effort. You can grow far more than a lawn and couple of shrubs. Flowers for your home and food for your table are not beyond even a beginner gardener.
How To Start
The first thing you need to do is figure out how much of your garden you can allocate to your vegetable patch. You can grow in containers if you prefer not to work into your ground. And if you add weather-proof casters, you can take that container to the sunniest patches as the earth revolves. It also means you can keep it out of the way if you’re entertaining or dining in the garden.
Use Protection
Protecting your crops is important. After all the hard work of building containers, digging out, and planting, you want a maximum yield. Keeping the kids away could involve locking your growing area away with fencing. Alternatively, why not try a polytunnel? This keeps birds and most insects away from your food as well. It can be especially helpful if you’re expecting a frost as it will provide some protection. Some can be used with an electric heat source too.
Pets can be quite destructive to our gardens. It can be expensive railing and fencing every area off to keep them safe. You can find details from Atkins Inc online about other solutions that may suit your garden and pets a little more. Underground or radio fencing could be a better choice for more open areas if you have a large outdoor space.
What Can I Grow?
So what should you grow? The staples like potatoes and carrots are best renewed every couple of seasons. Potatoes, in particular, can succumb to disease if you don’t refresh the soil and the planting stock. Onions and garlic are quite easy to grow, but they can smell quite strong at times. It’s best to keep these farthest away from your house! Seasonal crops like lettuce will continue to provide for you just a few days after cutting back. The choice is yours.
You don’t need to limit yourself to vegetables. Even fruit can be grown in containers. Strawberries, in particular, do rather well in hanging baskets. This can be quite attractive outside your home. Other fruits may be climate dependent. Oranges and olives will grow well when it’s warm most of the year. Apples and pears grow well in cooler climates. Trees take a time to mature, so don’t be disappointed with your yield for the first few years.
Growing your own food is the healthiest way to eat. And it’s the freshest! You’ll still need to wash your crops thoroughly before eating. It’s wonderful to be able to pick your next meal directly from the garden. Without a doubt, it will taste better than anything you get from the grocery store! It’s certainly worth that extra labor. Enjoy.
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