GARDENING 101
So, you’re looking to have a green thumb? Or at least not a black thumb? You’ve come to the right place!
Here are some of the most important things you can consider and plan for before you even begin to get dirt under your fingernails.
LOCATION
The location of your garden is the #1 thing you can do to set yourself up for success. A prosperous vegetable garden needs at least 8 hours of sun a day; 10 is best, and 6 is barely on the fringe of okay. Now, I know you know the sunny spots in your yard, and you have a great spot already picked out. I’m not here to break your heart, but I am here to tell you that the perfect place where you picture your garden MAY not be the perfect place for your plants.
Make sure that wherever you plant your garden it’s in as much sun as possible. Don’t forget, 8-10 hours is best.
Here’s a little story to explain what I mean.
My sister planted a bunch of herbs in cute metal pots and put them on her sunny back porch. She watered them and tended them, but they became so scraggly and sad, and most of them eventually died. I happened to come up for a visit during this time and she asked me what she was doing wrong. The first thing I asked her was, “how much sun do they get?” She told me they got full sun all day, so sun wasn’t their issue. So, I decided to track her sun for her. About every hour I would go to the back porch and see where and how direct the sun was hitting. Guess what? She was getting less than 3 hours of direct sun on her porch! How on earth was she telling me she had full sun all day? Well, we figured it out. Her porch was right off her dining room, and in her daily routine, and we all have them, the daily time that she was in her dining room was the exact time that the porch was in full sun. So to her, her porch was “always” in full sun. Does that make sense? I have routines, you have routines, and we tend to stick to our routines. You have times when you’re in the kitchen, times when you’re in your bedroom, times in your living room, and times in your dining room; and I’m betting that those times are usually about the same, pretty much every day.
I want you to go put a few stakes out in your yard, close to where you want to put your garden. Then I want you to take one whole day to track the sun across your plot. Watch the shadows of the stakes; watch the brightness of the sun. Watch for the shadows cast by your house and your neighbors’. Watch for the shadows cast by every tree that’s close to you. Track it. Then, let these facts help you decide where your garden should really go. Remember 8-10 hours of full sun is best, and 6 hours is the bare minimum. You may need to adjust where your garden goes. You may need to adjust the shape of your garden. You may need to pick a new spot and try tracking again.
My number one piece of advice to you is, plant in the sun and know where the sun really is.
Secondary in the “location” category is to also make sure you’re not planting in a really low spot in your yard, because of the tendency of that area to hold a lot of water.
SOIL & WATER
SOIL IS WHAT FEEDS YOUR PLANTS
My best soil advice is this: Buy the best that your budget will allow. Soil is what feeds your plants, and a high quality soil will produce more high quality, high yield results.
You can get your soil in bags or by the pickup truck full. Many garden/soil places will even deliver a dump truck full right to your yard. You decide what you need and can afford, but you will never regret buying high quality soil.
See here for a more indepth soil conversation.
WATER WHEN NEEDED
“How much should I be watering?” is by far the most common question I get asked. My answer is always disappointing.
“It depends.”
Watering schedules and water quantity depend on so many things that it’s impossible to have a blanket answer for everyone.
The best answer is, “Water when needed.”
What does that look like? Well, it’s different for every garden and gardener. Your soil composition matters, what the plant is matters, your sunlight matters, your wind matters, the season matters.
Here’s an example: Watermelons need a lot of water. They’re huge and made up of mostly water, so that makes sense. Corn, which grows at the same time as watermelon, doesn’t need nearly as much water. You may be watering your watermelon 1 inch every other day in the heat of the summer, and your corn may only need 1 inch a week.
How much water does you soil hold? Does your water just drain away before it really soaks down deep to the roots? How deep do your roots go? These are all questions only YOU will know the answer to.
Here’s the good news. Well, maybe it’s bad news for some of you, but here we go. As you become a better gardener, as you become more observant and “in tune” to your garden you’ll know when your plants need to be watered.
I promise it’s true!
A TIP JUST FOR YOU
Always water in the morning, when it’s the coolest part of the day, that way you’ll have the least amount of evaporation as possible. Start by watering about an inch of water once a week and then watch your plants. Are they wilting a few days later? Are they perkiest in the morning? I want you to notice their behaviour. If your plants look a little droopy at 4 P.M, remember that you’re probably looking a little droopy at that time, too, ha! Plants that are droopy in the heat of the day, but are perky in the morning don’t need more water. If you water your 4 PM droopy plant because you think that’s why she’s droopy, you’ve just overwatered your plant! Too much overwatering will 100% of the time kill your plant, and probably kill your enthusiasm, and we both don’t want that.
Quick Links
email: wildhoneygardens@gmail.com
Liberty Hill, TX
832.279.2972