Where should I plant my garden?

Where should I plant my garden?

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Everyone pictures that perfect garden, sunny, vibrant plants, time at ease. Picking the best spot to plant your garden can take some time and consideration. You really don’t want to have to move it later if you find to spot doesn’t work, especially if you have a fence around it. Below I’ll discuses the most important things to consider when picking your garden spot. 

 

The biggest thing to consider is hours of light. Most garden vegetables require at least 8 hours of sunlight. This means planting your garden right under the shade tree may not be the best idea. Can you grow some things there? Yes! Some plants love shade. Some cool season plants can do well on the fringe of the shade tree to help break the heat of the day. Most gardens are in a sunny spot, where little shade reaches. 

 

Another note on sun light to consider. The sun warms the soil temperature. If part of the garden is shaded more than the other, the shaded part will be slightly behind. You can use this to your advantage to either grow cooler season plants there, or extend your harvest, so not all the produce is ready at the same time. 

 

Another consideration is soil type. Different plants prefer different soils. Most of the time a heavy clay is not beneficial to vegetables, and neither is sand. If you have an area that has rich nutritious soil, your garden will do well. Looks can tell you a lot, but the gold standard is a soil test to tell you exactly the mineral levels in your soil. 

 

Shelter can be a good thing for a garden, if it is in the right place. Blocking the wind can keep young tender plants growing. It can also act as an insulator and buffer the slight frost. You don’t want this shelter on the south side though, as it will block most of your sun light. A nice north tree line can server very well. 

 

Water access is huge for gardens. Most vegetable gardens require quite a bit of water, depending on where you live. Having a hydrant close, or easy to run a hose to is critical to keeping your garden watered. 

 

The biggest tip no matter the garden you choose, is to keep it in your line of sight from your house, or wherever you spend a lot of your time. By seeing the garden frequently, it keeps it in the front of your mind, to tend to. Weed, water, and harvest. Gardens placed in the back where there is a lot of room, tend to be forgotten and neglected.

 

What is the biggest things to consider in planning a garden plot? Amount of sun light, soil type, shelter, water access, and line of sight from the house. 

 

 


 

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Fall Garden To Do's

Fall Garden To Do's
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The air is crisp and cool and the harvest is in. There are still days of nice weather yet to enjoy outside. Fall in the garden is a time of rest and preparation. The ground has produced its bounty for you and is now turning dormant for the winter. But for next year's garden, there are a few things you can do now to care for that soil, so it will continue to produce a bounty for you next year. 

First remove any cages, panels, or supports you placed for the plants over the growing season. For me this looks like tomato cages, cattle panels for the beans, small cages for peppers support. As part of this process, you will be taking down any vines that are still standing and laying them on the ground. 

Next gather your helping hands and start hauling compost. This is for a traditional in-ground garden and any raised bed gardens. I usually shoot for 1-2 inches across the in-ground garden and fill the boxes back up in the raised beds. Different people use different materials for their compost. Horse, sheep/goat, cattle, chicken manure works well and does best if applied in the fall so it can begin to break down over the winter. If you wait until spring the manure can be too rich and burn the plants. In this case you will need to apply extra water. 

If you are refilling raised beds you can go ahead and cover the beds with 4-6 inches of mulch for the next year. This helps the moisture, and reduces the weeds in the beds for next season. Raised beds have the advantage of not needing to be tilled every spring as well, so you can take a step ahead on your spring work here. 

If you are planning on garlic you can plant the cloves in the fall and mulch them with around 6 inches. They do well over winter and can then be harvested early in the summer allowing for a second crop of something else. 

Finally relax! Step back and enjoy what you have accomplished this year. If you took notes throughout the growing season, review them over the winter. What did you plant? How much? What was produced? Was there enough or too much for you to use? Start making your plan for next year and how much you will want to grow. 



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Soil Health

Soil Health

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Healthy soil makes a healthy plant. If the soil is deficient in nutrients, especially nitrogen or phosphorus, plants will fail to grow. If the soil lacks good bacteria, the plants will be more susceptible to disease as well. 

On a nutritional note soil that is depleted in minerals, cannot give your produce minerals. This leaves your food lacking in minerals and cannot give you minerals you need.  The best way to determine what your garden has or is lacking in minerals is to take several samples of the soil and have it tested for the mineral content.  Having the soil tested is the best way to determine how much fertilizer you need as well.

For fertilizer I like to use horse manure as it is abundant and must be cleaned out of the pen anyway.  You can use about any livestock manure for fertilizer. Don’t have any? Talk to people in your community.  Anyone who has some usually has an overabundance and will probably gladly get you some of their excess.  Be mindful of the nitrogen content of the manure.  To much can burn your plants.  Using manure for fertilizer is best when applied in the fall and allowed to sit all winter breaking down.  This will also help any excess nitrogen to work into the soil and not burn your plants in the spring.  You can also water extra during the growing year if the plants are looking a little burned. 
Plants absorbs up what is in the soil, both good and bad.   They take up the minerals, and the water, and any chemicals also in the soil. Therefore, it is important to know the source of your plants, especially when using them medicinally.  When preserving herbs, some of these properties can be concentrated.  This is especially true if the plant is being made into an essential oil.  Make sure you know the essential oil company and they know the source of their plants.  Need help? I know a great company and will gladly share with you.   

Keep these in mind when tending the pests in your own garden. Using mulch for weed prevention is better than round up.  Mulch also helps preserve the moisture and encourages good bacteria growth as it breaks down the mulch and you are not tilling it to keep the weeds out.  Tilling disturbs the soil biome and dries it out.  I till once, to work the manure in just before planting and keep the tiller out after that, mulching the garden with unused or refused hay.  

You can help to keep bugs at bay, by using plants that naturally repel them. Marigolds around the edges of the garden work great for keeping pests out.  Onions and garlic also put off a strong scent that bugs tend to avoid.  Keeping larger plants, like tomatoes spaced out in the garden also helps.  I have had much less bug issues in my tomatoes since I started spacing them throughout the garden instead of all together.  


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