So You Want a Garden!

Gardening is very rewarding and with a little research very doable. Gardening can be done in containers, raised beds, or gardens. To have the most success you need to know whether you direct seed the veggie seed or need to start the veggie seed inside. Now not everyone has a grow/plant room set up so buying plants would be the route to go. Some veggies are direct seed or start inside, it's a choice. I start my pumpkin seeds in my greenhouse because of critter pressure (my seeds get eaten), a lot of people direct seed pumpkins.

Direct seed:

• Beans

• Beets

• Carrots

• Sweet Corn

• Swiss Chard

• Sunflowers

• Zinnia's

Buy plants or start seeds indoors:

• Cabbage

• Eggplant

• Basil

• Onions

• Peppers

• Summer Squash

• Winter Squash

• Tomatoes

• Tomatillo

Can be started inside or direct seeded:

• Cucumbers

• Gourds

• Kohlrabi

• Lettuce (depends on variety)

• Kale

• Pumpkins

Now that you know what can be direct seeded and what either needs to be started inside or you need to buy plants, when do you plant? There are two different camps: some start planting May long weekend and some people won't start til June. It all comes down to what is the weather doing, you need to watch the weather. If nights are going down below 10 Celsius most plants won't be happy, but seeds should be okay in the soil. When the weather is warm and night time temperatures are staying above 10 Celsius plants can be planted in the garden.

I have written articles on how to container garden and how to harden off plants. Another tip is to do research on what veggies you are growing to see what they like and don't like. Such as tomatoes need to be planted deep. Cucumbers need a trellis otherwise they will spread and take up a lot of room. You only need one or two zucchini plants, unless you like to be overrun by zucchini. Sweet corn needs to be planted in blocks, not a single row (for pollination).

Each plant and seed needs to be planted at a certain depth and width apart from each other. Too crowded and plants can't breath, which than can cause plants to get diseases. If rows are too close together weeding and hoeing can be difficult.