I happen to be an amateur gardener who learned a few gardening basics and ended up with a spectacular garden for the past two years. I started out dumb-ignorant, knowing no more than the next guy about how to grow a garden. After my successes, I have had numerous people compliment me on my garden and then tell me how disappointing their own garden has been year after year.
So I resolved to write up a short, practical guide (aimed at newbies) to growing an awesome garden. The following gardening rules must be followed not in part but in the whole. Disregard any rule and your garden will suffer.
#1 – Make good soil.
You need to have a minimum of 12 inches deep of fertile soil. The deeper the better. If you have 2 inches of topsoil on top of nonfertile ground you need to have a truckload of topsoil hauled in. Even then, the topsoil you have (or get) is not fertile until you make it so. Don’t assume that just because you paid a bunch of money for a load of topsoil, that it’s ready for primetime. It still needs lots of nutrients.
This soil mustn’t be too sandy or full of rocks. Once you have it in place, work in lots of steer manure (the cheap stuff at Home Depot is fine). I recommend 1 bag of manure per 25 square feet of soil. When you start putting it down, this ratio will seem like too much, but it’s not. This is the food your plants will eat all summer long—don’t starve them. You may wish to research what other nutrients should go in the soil. If applied properly and in the correct ratio, this can only help. But I find that a ton of manure is the most important single ingredient.
#2 – Create a good watering system.
A common mistake of would-be gardeners is thinking that they can water their garden by hand or merely adjust a few of their lawn sprinklers to spray the garden. This is folly. You need a good watering system. You can build one by hand in 3-4 hours and for under $50. I will explain the details of how I did mine, but there are many options. The most important thing to remember is that you need a watering system that will put consistent amounts of water on all your plants, and do it automatically on a timer.
You’ll need to buy some parts. Everything I’ll mention here can be found at Home Depot, Lowes, or similar.
Most people can get water to their garden in one of two ways. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a pipe (on its own controller) at or near your garden that you can tap in to. Or if you’re like the rest of us, you’ll have to run water through a hose from a faucet outside the house. This is what I had to do. Buy a valve timer for around $20 that attaches to an exterior hose bib (faucet). Attach it to your hose bib, and attach a standard garden hose to the valve timer. Run the hose to your garden. Turn the faucet on but leave the timer off. Configure the timer later (you’ll have to experiment to see how much water goes to your garden).
Buy an adapter that attaches the end of a garden hose to a ½” PVC pipe. Use this to attach your hose to the ½” PVC pipe in your garden. The pipe should run the length or width of your garden. Cut the pipe in every place there will be a row. Attach a ½” PVC tee (slip/slip/thread) for every row. Cap off the end of the pipe. Now you’ll need to connect EITHER soaker hose or laser-drilled poly tubing to each of your tees and run each hose/tube down each row of your garden. Cap off each end.
So I resolved to write up a short, practical guide (aimed at newbies) to growing an awesome garden. The following gardening rules must be followed not in part but in the whole. Disregard any rule and your garden will suffer.
#1 – Make good soil.
You need to have a minimum of 12 inches deep of fertile soil. The deeper the better. If you have 2 inches of topsoil on top of nonfertile ground you need to have a truckload of topsoil hauled in. Even then, the topsoil you have (or get) is not fertile until you make it so. Don’t assume that just because you paid a bunch of money for a load of topsoil, that it’s ready for primetime. It still needs lots of nutrients.
This soil mustn’t be too sandy or full of rocks. Once you have it in place, work in lots of steer manure (the cheap stuff at Home Depot is fine). I recommend 1 bag of manure per 25 square feet of soil. When you start putting it down, this ratio will seem like too much, but it’s not. This is the food your plants will eat all summer long—don’t starve them. You may wish to research what other nutrients should go in the soil. If applied properly and in the correct ratio, this can only help. But I find that a ton of manure is the most important single ingredient.
#2 – Create a good watering system.
A common mistake of would-be gardeners is thinking that they can water their garden by hand or merely adjust a few of their lawn sprinklers to spray the garden. This is folly. You need a good watering system. You can build one by hand in 3-4 hours and for under $50. I will explain the details of how I did mine, but there are many options. The most important thing to remember is that you need a watering system that will put consistent amounts of water on all your plants, and do it automatically on a timer.
You’ll need to buy some parts. Everything I’ll mention here can be found at Home Depot, Lowes, or similar.
Most people can get water to their garden in one of two ways. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a pipe (on its own controller) at or near your garden that you can tap in to. Or if you’re like the rest of us, you’ll have to run water through a hose from a faucet outside the house. This is what I had to do. Buy a valve timer for around $20 that attaches to an exterior hose bib (faucet). Attach it to your hose bib, and attach a standard garden hose to the valve timer. Run the hose to your garden. Turn the faucet on but leave the timer off. Configure the timer later (you’ll have to experiment to see how much water goes to your garden).
Buy an adapter that attaches the end of a garden hose to a ½” PVC pipe. Use this to attach your hose to the ½” PVC pipe in your garden. The pipe should run the length or width of your garden. Cut the pipe in every place there will be a row. Attach a ½” PVC tee (slip/slip/thread) for every row. Cap off the end of the pipe. Now you’ll need to connect EITHER soaker hose or laser-drilled poly tubing to each of your tees and run each hose/tube down each row of your garden. Cap off each end.
If you struggle with putting together things like this, get some help. The guys at Home Depot will answer all your questions and get you all the pieces you need. It’s really quite easy to put together but it will take a few hours.
Once the watering system is in place and the timer is configured, it’s time to prepare your garden soil for planting. With the hoses/tubes temporarily moved out of the way, rototill the garden, rake and smooth it, and make raised rows about 3 inches high and 6 inches wide. These dimensions may vary and don’t matter all that much. The idea is to get the plants growing in a slightly raised bed of soil for drainage purposes. Plant the seeds, put the watering system in place, and begin watering. Water enough so that all the soil around all the seeds stays very damp or lightly wet all the time until they sprout. When seeds touch water they sprout. If the soil dries out after the seeds sprout, they’ll die. After sprouting, reduce watering.
How much should you water after sprouting?
This is the tricky part, but hard to mess up if you don’t overwater or underwater. If the soil is wet all the time on the surface around the sprouts and never dries out, you’re watering too much. The right amount of water for seeds is too much for sprouts. Too much water will stunt the growth of your plants. If the sprouts seem “dry”, you’re watering too little. You should water just enough to where the plants seem green, moist and healthy. You may have to experiment. Ask questions, do research, try watering different amounts. Figure out what your plants need. Last year the peas at the end of my hose got the least amount of water and grew the best. The peas that got the most water (close to the PVC) barely grew above 1 foot. Moral of story: more water is not always better. Get the right amount.
#3 – Plant at the right time
Depending on your climate and what you’re planting, when you should plant a given vegetable will vary widely. The easiest rule here is read the instructions on the back of your seed package. They’ll tell you when and how to plant the seeds. Follow these instructions religiously—they’re written by experts! Ask local gardeners what grows well in your area and ask them for advice. You’ll learn a lot this way and prevent lots of mistakes. Some plants just don’t grow well in some areas. Use the Internet for tips.
#4 – Pull weeds
Once your plants begin to grow you may start to get weeds. Pull these weeds out every day. If you pull weeds frequently and when they’re small, it’s easy. But if you let them go a week and the weeds explode, you’ll become discouraged and your garden will be taken over by weeds. Depending on the size of your garden, plan to spend 5-10 minutes per day weeding. I cover my garden with grass clippings because they prevent weeds by starving them of sunlight. Make sure the clippings don’t cover your plants.
#5 – Harvest at the right time
This is the easiest part. Most people know intuitively when it’s time to harvest, but if you have questions, ask other gardeners and do research on the Internet. And you’ll be able to taste when something is not yet ripe, or when it’s overripe. Some plants are more time-sensitive than others regarding when you harvest. For example, peas must be picked and eaten within a few days of ripeness or the flavor will begin fading fast. I learned this from personal experience. Other vegetables may have much longer harvesting windows.
If you follow these five basic principles, you’ll still make some mistakes, but you’ll have a successful garden. You will be amazed how fast you learn from mistakes and gain experience, even your first year. Your second year will be even better because of your newly-gained experience. Your garden will be a very rewarding experience for you and you’ll come to love working in it.
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