Even if you start your garden by purchasing seedlings, resist the urge to put them in the ground as soon as you get them home. It may be true that you’ll find the biggest selection of varieties if you shop early, but have a plan for hardening them off and for protecting them if a late frost is predicted. Otherwise, you’ll be right back at the nursery buying more plants. Two other considerations are available water and sun exposure. Most vegetables require at least six hours of sun a day. Not enough will result in weak plants with fewer fruits that won’t develop full flavor. Consider how you will get water to your garden in times of insufficient rainfall. Hoses and watering cans may become necessary and the closer the garden is to the water source, the easier it becomes to keep your plants hydrated. Avoid working your soil too early. Soggy springtime weather can be frustrating but it pays to wait to dig, hoe or til up your garden until a handful of soil crumbles when squeezed in your fist. Working wet soil causes compaction which causes poor root growth and weak plants. Too much variety can also overwhelm you. Tomatoes are popular, but growing great tomatoes involves a lot more effort than growing potatoes or kale. Every vegetable variety will require different levels of attention from you, so start with a handful of plants you really enjoy eating or that you can’t purchase fresh locally. Learn how to grow them well and then expand your repertoire. To make the best use of space, interplant early vegetables like spinach and lettuce underneath or around those that require a longer growing season. You have to do some strategic planning to stagger your harvest times. The payoff will be an extended period of time during which you can enjoy all your hard work with fresh vegetables on the table. Your hoe may be the best tool in your shed. Weeds are the bane of all gardeners but they compete with your vegetables for water and nutrients. Allowing weeds to fill in will stunt many plants and reduce yields. Weeds also provide cover for insect pests that carry disease and eat your garden. There are a number of ways to feed your plants. You can side dress growing vegetables with compost or hoe or till in appropriate fertilizers. Be careful to avoid too much early on as this can promote lots of leafy green growth at the expense of the fruits later on. Without regular water, the right nutrients, plenty of sun and air circulation plants will stress and shut down. They go into self-preservation mode and refuse to set fruit or simply bolt to seed, to ensure the propagation of their species. Deer can jump and require either a high fence, electric fencing, or one of the clever angled or double fences that makes them unsure about jumping in and being trapped. Burrowing animals, like groundhogs, rabbits, and chipmunks, need both an above-ground fence that is at least 3 to 4 feet tall and about a foot of buried fence. Angle both fences outward from the garden, to deter them even more. Whether the problem is caused by a bacteria or insect infestation, if may not be necessary to treat with commercial sprays and insecticides. Some plant problems such as blossom end rot on tomatoes can often be remedied simply by removing the affected fruit. If you do have an overwhelming insect infestation, be sure to choose to correct solution for that insect and always follow all precautionary measures written on the label.
