Planting a garden?

If you live in Florida, gardening began months ago, and this post is too late for you. In Pennsylvania though, this is the time to start preparing and even planting. If you've never planted your own garden, there are a few reasons you might find it worthwhile. This post will talk about those reasons and go over a few gardening tips.

Picking vegetables from your own garden can give you that feeling of accomplishment experienced only after having built something of which you can be proud. And it's true that it is difficult to find anything as juicy or tasty in the supermarkets, who sell products that have been grown to survive packing and shipping long distances. I've enjoyed the smell of tomato plants as I pick through (or weed around) them.

In our modern life, we not only don't take the time to grow our own foods, we are completely losing the knowledge and ability to grow our own foods. If things get really bad, we might regret being this vulnerable. It's not that difficult to figure out the basics, practice a little, weed a bit and, before you know it, enjoy a garden of your own.

In determining when to plant, it does matter where you live. There are a number of zones, shown on the back of seed packs and planting too early can risk frost damage or plants that don't grow well in weather too hot or cold for them. In Pennsylvania, now is a good time to start things like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in starter pots, so they can be planted outside in May. Lettuce, onions and cool weather crops like broccoli, cauliflower and spinach can be planted now and will do better than if you waited until later. Last frost in Pennsylvania can be as late as some time in May.

Most plants like a lot of sun, but some things, like lettuce, tolerate a good bit of shade. Seed packs usually tell you this kind of information. You may prefer buying little containers of plants already started, which can be more dependable than growing from seed and onion sets can be purchased about this time giving you scallions and eventually full onions. You can even plant every couple weeks to spread out when the vegetables mature.

You don't have to plant a huge plot, but don't crowd too many plants in your space if you can avoid it. Some tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, radishes, beans, squash and peppers (bell and hot) are the most popular and seem to grow best. Carrots from the garden are good, but I've found them difficult to grow and definitely don't transplant them from starter pots. Melons and pumpkins can also grow well, but take a lot of space. Pumpkins and other cooler crops should not be planted until mid-summer, so they don't take too much heat.

Beans and cucumbers may like growing on support stakes or strings, but this is a learning curve, since each plant is different, so I usually have just let them grow without support. If you are planting corn, you need a good number of plants in at least several rows, like a block of plants, to improve the pollination by bees. Without a correct approach on this, corn planting is a frustrating experience.

Soil acidity is not usually a problem, but vegetables usually like a soil ph of 6 to 7. Inexpensive soil acidity testers can be purchased if this is a problem, such as planting where evergreen needles have created a very acid soil over the years. Using compost and even composted cow manure, peat moss or good topsoil mixed in the garden can produce a soil rich in nutrients and moisture holding qualities. Fertilizing helps and the stores all have products which could be applied moderately every few weeks.

Lastly, I try to mulch, especially since weeding can be a chore that discourages many gardeners. Straw and grass clippings can be placed between and around the plants to keep the ground moist and the weeds down. Strips of black plastic can work, but I prefer the more natural approaches. A mulched garden works better, takes less weeding and helps keep gardening fun.