Haven’t started thinking about your garden yet for this year? Still deciding if you should start your very first garden? Looking for some inspiration? Now is a great time to start, and we want to make it easier by giving you a few tips we’ve learned over the years. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned gardener, you should find something helpful!
Start Small
- If you have never planted a garden before, start small so you don’t overwhelm yourself and give up. Choose 3-5 of your favorite veggies or fruits. If you have more favorites than that, choose the produce that is the most expensive to buy at the store or farmer’s market!
Make it Easy
- If you are starting your garden from seed, you want to avoid regular soil, which can carry diseases that your tiny seedling won’t be able to combat well. Use a seedling starter mix. We like to add some water to the mix before pulling it out of the bag! This way it stays evenly moist during the germination process.
- Mike from our Sandy store demonstrated this on a great gardening segment for our local news channel. You can see him adding the water here before they pull any potting mixture out of the bag. We are working on getting a link to the actual video so we can show you his other great tips!
Protect
- If you want to get your veggies outside and into the ground right now, just be sure to protect them from frost. A wall o’ water is a great way to protect individual plants, the wall of water surrounding the plant will insulate it from any cold nights that will hit. The average last frost date in Utah is May 15th, so a good rule of thumb is to protect your tender plants until about Mother’s Day.
- Ever tried to fill a wall o’ water? It can be tricky! Check out our quick video tip to see a fast & easy way to do it. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more great gardening tips!
Grow Boxes
- If you are trying your hand at container gardening/grow boxes/raised beds, make sure they are the right size for you! You should be able to reach into the middle with your hand…so when you are building them, measure with the span of your arm. This is so when you are weeding, caring for your plants, and harvesting, you will be able to reach comfortably into the center of the bed.
- If you are doing a vertical container garden, make your boxes a few inches smaller than this so you can reach the fruits & veggies that are growing up high.
- Try to get 8-10 inches of soil in your grow box. The roots of your plants will be happier if they can get this far down into the soil.
Compost
- Add a 2-3 inch layer of compost to your garden beds, the nutrients will seep down into your soil, and weeds will be kept at bay.
Pace Yourself
- Try to do a little gardening every day, rather than saving it all for the weekend. Weekly gardening can seem overwhelming, but 15 minutes a day will keep the weeds down and spirits up!
There are as many good gardening ideas as there are gardeners. If you have a great tip you want to share with us, please leave us a comment! We might just feature you in an upcoming blog post!
Happy Planting!
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Becky is a wife, mother, avid cook and novice gardener. She loves growing organic, wholesome food right in her backyard that she can transform into a delicious creation in her kitchen. When she's not growing or cooking food, she enjoys running half marathons, reading, and watching her children pull weeds in the garden.
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