Photograph Copyright 2005 Thomas Brown Enterprises

Green Thumb
by
Rosemary Fern

Rosemary is a published writer with 40 years of experience gardening. She has written many articles on gardening. Gardening is becoming a lost art. She enthusiastically tries to spread the word and save our seeds for future generations. She has a special interest in heirloom and endangered plants and seeds. Her latest project is teaching her five-year-old granddaughter the wonders of the garden.

Benefits of a Backyard Garden

In this world of rising cost a home garden can provide a family with an abundant supply of high-quality vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Many fruits and vegetables are perennials and once planted will provide your family with years of eating pleasure. Gardening can give you the satisfaction of having grown your own produce for a fraction of the cost of buying it in the grocery store. Gardening is not difficult nor does it have to take a lot of time and effort.

There are as many ways to garden as they are people who work the soil. First think about how much time you have and how much equipment you will need. I prefer to use raised bed-no till method of gardening. My equipment list includes a shovel, spade and a good pair of gloves.

To the entire garden should be planned in detail before anything is planted. In planning you should consider the location of the garden, the crops and varieties of each to be grown, when and where each crop will be planted, and the amount of each crop to plant. Start small and you can always expand the garden the next year. What vegetables do you like? No point in growing zuchinni if you can't stand the stuff.

It is not always possible to have a rich soil and it may be beneficial to improve your soil by adding compost, aged manure, lime, and organic matter. Take a sample of your soil to your nearest Agriculture extension office. They will test it for you and tell you what you is needed to amend and enrich your soil. The garden should receive direct sunlight all day. In addition, it should be far enough from trees so they don't compete with the crops for water. If you have only a small site available for a garden, we suggest you grow crops that will yield the heaviest over the longest period of time.

Vegetables suitable for a small garden include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, bush summer squash, bush lima and snap beans, and onions. Read thoroughly on small gardening techniques. There are thousand of sites on the internet for that purpose. Read the back of seed packages. Look for on the back of the package for your growing zone and suggested times to plant. Look at your first garden as an experiment. Grow the vegetables you love. But most of all enjoy your time with nature. Put a bench near your garden and take time to watch your garden grow.

Rosemary Fern

Did you enjoy Rosemary's Column? If so, please send your comments via our Feedback form and we will pass it along. Since we use this form for many different purposes please mention Rosemary's name or column title in the message.
CLICK HERE