A quick list of how to have a successful garden.
- Location – all gardens need as much sun as possible. Gardens need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day. 12 hours of sunshine is better.
- Tools – you will need tools to prepare the soil and plant your vegetables. Standard items are hoe, garden rake, shovel, hand trowel. If you are more power tool oriented a tiller works well in preparing the soil, but there is not a lot you can’t accomplish in the garden with a hoe and a shovel.
- Compost or other organic soil amendments – adding these elements to your garden can help your plants be healthier, resist diseases better and produce larger yields.
- Add any fertilizer recommended on the How To Grow pages.
- Plants – the top vegetable garden plants are: Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Squash and Okra. Watermelons and Cantaloupe are almost tied with Okra.
- Water your plants in well after you have planted them then water them as needed until they get established and start growing. After they are established, water them good once a week with a deep slow soaking.
- Be sure to follow up with additional fertilizing as recommended on the How To Grow pages and prune and stake your tomatoes.
- Pull weeds or hoe early and often.
- Harvest as recommended so that your plants will keep producing.
- Bonus: stagger your plantings so that you have ripe vegetables all season long.