Planning a home garden

As long as I can remember I have been in and around a family garden. I have the memories of my grandma better known as Mama Jane sitting on her old 5 gallon bucket picking beans. I also remember the experience of my great uncle Tommy teaching me how to properly hoe out the garden. Most of all I have the memories of harvest. During harvest time we would go to work all day picking the fresh sweet corn ,tomatoes, peppers and my favorite squash. After we'd pick the garden dry during the day. Mama Jane would bring in our fresh homegrown vegetables and throw together one of her wonderful meals. Like her world renowned fried okra , boiled squash and her creamy, butter bathed lima beans.

When planning a home garden there are 4 main things to take into consideration.

LOCATION

SOIL PREPARATION

CHOOSING CROPS

LAY-OUT

The first thing to put into consideration is the location of your home garden. Location is a deciding factor for the success of your home garden. When picking your location you need to pick the brightest sunniest spot in your whole yard. The sunniest spot is the place where your garden should be because only a limited number of vegetables can grow in shaded areas. So the sunniest spot is proven to be the optimum area to grow vegetables. since virtually all vegetables grow in the sunlight. Another factor to take into consideration is the fertility of the soil. Fertile soil is just as important as sunlight. If your soil does not have the right amount of nutrients your vegetables do not have a chance to survive. So remember when choosing the location of your garden. Fertility of the soil and sunlight are two main deciding factors for its success.

The next thing to consider in planting your garden is the soil preparation. Soil preparation like the location is another key factor in the success of your home garden. Soil prep is actually more than running a tiller over an area where you want your garden to be. Soil prep takes time and effort to get right. The first thing you need to do is use a tiller or hoe to break up the soil. You need to till your soil first to map out the size of your garden and to break up the hardened soil. The next thing you need to do apply generous amounts of organic humus over freshly tilled soil. Organic of humus consist of compost, well rotted manure or processed manure (already bagged). After you applied the right amount of organic humus it is time to till
your garden once more. You till for the second time to breakdown the soil even more and you also do this to thoroughly mix in your organic humus with the soil.

After your ground is all worked up and full nutrients from your humus it is time to decide on what you are going to plant.

When choosing the right plants to grow you need to consider the space in your garden, the plants that can grow in your regions and the eating habits of your family. If you do not know about what plants you can grow in your region you should go talk to someone at your local county extension office or buy your seeds from a local company who can help you decide on what plants to grow in your home garden. After you find out what kind of plants you want and can grow in your garden there is only one final step in planning your dream garden.

The last step is deciding on the lay-out of your garden. The lay-out of your garden is a crucial part to it's success. It is important because if you plant the vegetables in the wrong spots or too close they could shade the other plants and stunt their growth or take away the other plants nutrients. So when deciding where to put your plants you should remember that all of your tall plants like peppers, peas, corn, etc. should be planted to the northern side of your garden. These plants should be planted on the northern side because if they are planted on the southern side they would shade the rest of the smaller plants and stunt their growth as they would not get any sunlight. So next you will plant your medium sized plants in the center of your garden. The medium size plants consist of tomatoes, squash, broccoli etc. The southern most part of your garden is for the smallest plants so they are not shaded by the larger plants. After you have figured out where your plants are supposed to go in your garden it is time to lay out your rows.

When laying out your rows you should always run them north to south for the best sun exposure as well as for optimum air circulation. When you think ahead about where to plant your vegetables you have the foresight to help the vegetables grow up and thrive within your home garden.

Thorough all my experience in gardening with my family I have learned a simple lesson.
By taking the time to think ahead and plan out the steps of our garden such as selecting the correct location , preparing the soil, hand picking the proper crops and making a plant lay-out.
With all this extra preparation I've found out that number of errors has drastically decreased and the yield of our bountiful harvest has increased more than ever. I would like to end with a quote from my grandmother "Nothing good in this world comes without time and effort."