Planting Vegetables
Planting vegetables is men’s oldest hobby! There is nothing more satisfying to a gardener than consuming the vegetable and fruit that have come from his or own labor in the vegetable garden. Planning a vegetable garden is a wonderful hobby that will save you money, give you fresh vegetables and of course keep you occupied during the free times. In days of old it was a housewife’s hobby. Today, what with many people starting to work from home, it is everyone’s dream to be able to ‘eat what you grow’. In many ways we are going back to nature on one hand, while we are reinventing ourselves greatly in technological terms on the other! What vegetables you plant largely depends on what you love to eat, and keep the whole family in mind while you plan this.
Preparing the soil
You need to make sure you are using a rich fertile soil free from too many stones and granite. It’s a great idea to till the topsoil before plantation. If your soil is unusually hard, well dig it down to a few feet and replace it – nothing is impossible. A good mixture would be a part of sand to a part of clay – this would give you a firm yet porous soil, just perfect for planting vegetables. Even if you are planning on planting saplings / seeds at a later date, you may want to start preparing the soil right now, maybe when you have free time?
Plantation
If you plan to sow seeds, check out the weather forecast before you do so – a hard rain may ruin your plans for a vegetable garden! Seeds don’t germinate in cold wet ground – they need to be moist and that’s it, not drowned in water. Or else, you could consider planting vegetable saplings, which of course need less care when compared to seeds. Once you have a harvest you’ll want to experiment more. You may want to start keeping a list of crops you’d like to try out at this stage – maybe you could expand your vegetable garden. Rotating your crops is a nice way to make sure you have something growing all through the year. Not just that, it even helps you completely remove all signs of weeds, and keep the soil fertile. Never be under the impression that certain months are ‘wrong; to start planting vegetables. In frosty months like April and May, cabbages and onions can withstand the chill. On the other hand, you may want to wait for the end of May before planting tender vegetables like tomatoes. For a planting guide have a look at the Texas A&M University once you have a little experience and are eager to check out the more complex branches of your new found hobby. Enhancing Fruit and Vegetable Quality is an interesting academic article on this topic.