Helpful Garden Tips for a Bountiful Vegetable Garden

The cost of everything goes up every day, but in the summertime, you can control your food costs, save money, and increase family's health growing your own vegetables.  Here are a few gardening tips that will help your garden grow smoothly.

You can grow vegetables all year long, just choose your favorite vegetables and plan beds for early, middle of the season and late varieties.

Most vegetables require at least 6 hours of sunlight per day, some need 8. Some quick growers like lettuce and radish can be grown between the rows of plants that take longer to mature, like beet or corn, thus making full use of the area available.

An with anything else, throughout dry periods, vegetable gardens need extra watering. Most vegetables benefit from an inch or more of water each week, especially when they are fruiting.

During the growing season watch for insect pests. If you discover a bug problem early it will be much easier, but be careful to not use pesticides once the vegetable are close to being picked unless it becomes an absolute necessity.  One excellent gardening tip is to use organic sprays.  This way, you can get to help reduce pests without adding harmful toxins to your vegetables. 

Once you have harvested your crop, put the vegetable waste into your compost pile so that it can be recycled for next spring.  You might also want to consider starting a worm composter.  Feeding the worms you compost will make for some excellent soil for your other plants too!

Make sure your garden is surrounded by a fence that will keep out dogs, rabbits, and other animals who may be looking for a feast.. The harm done by wandering animals during one season can equal the cost of a fence. A fence also can serve as a frame for peas, beans, tomatoes, and other crops that need support.  Protection is needed in order for your vegetable garden to yield a bountiful harvest.

Gardening may seem like hard work to some, but to others it is a relaxing past time which will pay off handsomely in excellent food for a long time; there’s no better tasting vegetables then the ones you’ve grown yourself.

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