How to start a garden

What do I like most about spring? [Besides the snow melting, sun shining and a house filled with fresh breezes through open windows of course…] Shake my hands dirty in fresh garden soil! While I certainly don’t consider myself a professional – I have partnered with Macy to bring you some tips and tricks that we’ve collected from one of our favorite hobbies!

Before you start working on your garden, it’s important to do some research! Planting companions (more on this later) is extremely important if you plan to develop more than one item. It’s also important to map out your space so there’s enough room for each thing you plan to grow. You can learn more about the space required for your plants on Farmer’s Almanac. You will see a lot of links here to that site. That’s because we often refer to it as individuals – and we’d better leave some things to the experts!

For our area in Northern Indiana, we usually start planting right after Mother’s Day weekend. You can decide when is best to plant by watching last frosty day for your region and guidelines for what you plan to develop.

If you don’t currently have a garden – you will need to remove the grass or weeds that are currently taking up the space. You can do this in a number of different ways – two I’ve tried are manually with a shovel, or by renting a sod cleaner from a local rental store. If you’re working with a small space, you can probably get to it with a shovel (make sure it’s sturdy and has a sharp, pointed blade), but it’s definitely easier to remove the soda. at the back!

Before you start digging – make sure you’re choosing a space with lots of sun! For most garden plants, that means over 6 hours of direct sunlight a day!

Once you’ve cleared the space, you’ll probably need to fertilize the soil. I usually do this by buying compost from a local feed store. Another option is to fertilize the ducks in the fall.

If you are working in the spring – compost may be the way to go. Buy a few bags (or get it from a #midwestliving farmer) and move it to the top of your garden. Just pour directly from the bags in your garden area. No need to scatter by hand – the tiller will take care of getting it into the soil!

The final step in preparing your soil is tilling, tilling, tilling! Whether you fertilize or not, you’ll want your soil to look nice and fertile before planting. [While these are not the exact tillers we have, they are two great options // 1 and 2] This is especially important if you are working with a recently cleared yard area or if your space has naturally dense soil. If you want your roots to grow deep and healthy (hint – you should!), you’ll need to plow the soil to make room for the roots to spread out. The blade length on your tiller will largely determine how deep you can go into the soil, so keep this in mind when buying.

Safety tips for tilling

• Clear your garden of any visible rocks before you arrive. If the tiller hits a large rock, it can knock it quite far, which could harm yourself, your children, your pets or your windows.
• When tilling, I make sure my dog ​​and dog back a few feet (or inside) to keep them safe from any possible projectiles and dust build-up.
• Wear tight-fitting shoes as a precaution – you’re working with a powerful spinning blade! While there are safety features on the tiller, it’s better than sorry!
• I always make sure to wear sunglasses to keep dirt out of my eyes. I’m sure the correct answer here is to wear goggles, but let’s keep this real and honest!
• If you are using an electric tiller, be sure to keep the cord out of the way of the tiller.

Companion planting is basically growing things that get along well next to each other. Sometimes plants are good companions because they work well together for insect control, shade use, cross-pollination, and sometimes it just seems like they just like to grow close together. As a general rule, check Farmer Almanac’s Guide to Companion Growing for whatever you’re going to plant. We’re stocking some of our favorite items to grow here for reference:

Green bean

• Good Companions: Lavender, Cabbage, Cucumber, Strawberry
• Bad Companions: Onions, Garlic

Onion

• Good companion: Carrots, Beets, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Cabbage
• Bad Companions: Peas, Beans

Tomato

• Good Companions: Basil, Oregano, Chives, Onions, Carrots
• Bad Companions: Potatoes, Cabbage Family

Peas

• Good Companion: Lavender, Carrot, Radish, Cucumber, Bean
• Bad Companions: Onions, Garlic

In our experience, the easiest things we’ve developed are:

• Green beans – This bean grows easily from Seeds and provides near-instant gratification because of its tendency to germinate quickly.
• Onions – Grown from bulbs, I bought in a greenhouse near my house.
• Cucumbers – I grow them from plants that I buy from a local greenhouse. Cucumbers are spreading, but you can use tomato cage or fence if space is a concern!
• Tomatoes – I grow these from plants that I bought from a local greenhouse. Tomatoes grow easily, but need a little extra care when you prune the leaves at first to keep the plant going strong. Let’s read a little about tomatoes firstand make sure to set up cage when you plant.
• Radishes – Can be planted early if you want to start before frost!
• Snow Peas – Another early grower to get you started.

Also easy to grow from our experience are these herbs, starting from Seeds:

• Basil – Grow alone or sprinkle around the base of your tomatoes to enrich the flavor of both and help prevent leaf blight!
• chives
• mint
• Oregano

Be sure to check out this guide to Companion planting – you might find a few easy things to grow together to start with!

That really depends on the size of a garden you’re aiming for! Once you’ve got the soil ready and planted, the ongoing commitment depends a bit on what you’re planting. For the garden to be as successful as possible, you’ll need to make sure it gets enough water (usually about 1 inch per week – use rain gauge for monitoring) and keep it as weed-free as possible to allow your plants to grow. Only one many methods to deal with weeds – in our experience, surrounding plants with straw can help some, but good old fashioned pulling is the surest way.

As your garden begins to produce fruits, vegetables, and herbs, you’ll want to pick them regularly to encourage the plants to continue producing. Even so, that part seems less like work and more like a bonus! [I got this basket as a gift after gardening season last year and I can’t wait to use it!]

Surely there can be a competition between you and other beings outside that want to eat the fruits of your labor! Thankfully, we haven’t run into TONS of personal issues with this, but some of the things we’ve used to prevent critters and bugs are:

• Plant marigolds around the perimeter of your garden. This bad smell makes a lot of animals like deer, deer and rabbits uncomfortable, and they will brighten up the space with color while you wait for your plants to grow!
• Also consider planting flowers that attract pollinators such as zinnias and cosmos. You can read more about how to grow a pollinator-friendly garden this! Bonus – zinnias and cosmos flowers will continue to produce after cutting so you can have fresh blooms indoors for most of the summer!
• Macy’s succeeded with hanging metal cake tins to scare away rabbits!
• In the past, when there was a large amount of bug infestation, I had good luck with this Organic insecticidal soap. I try to limit my use of it because I want to welcome as many pollinators as possible, but there were times when the bugs present did more harm than good. This is a food safe way to get rid of destructive pests.

• If you’re just starting out with gardening and want an easy way to experiment with it – start with a very small area or plant everything in pots. This will give you a smaller area for weeding and watering but allows you to experience growing your own food. Read more about plants that are easy to grow in the patio this!
• Consider using high beds in the garden if you want to start small. Just make sure your edging isn’t made from treated wood to keep your soil as chemical-free as possible. The garden is raised to the bed allows for more efficient planting and often less weeds when used improve the garden soil. Just make sure to book one weed fence down before backfilling!
• Plant a cooking herb garden in a pot, plant pots or plant hanging trees and keep it near your kitchen for easy access. I want to put the basil, oregano, thyme, and parsley in the same pot.
• If you are buying plants instead of seeds – buy early! If the outside temperature has not stabilized to 60 degrees, keep them on the wagon and pull out when the temperature allows, and tow back to the garage or shed for protection from the cold when necessary.
• Consider planting rows far enough apart for the tiller to run through as an easy way to maintain weeds.

As our Operations Manager, Steph is solely responsible for any structures that exist here at LIY. Between communicating with our amazing brand partners, organizing blog content, managing teams, Steph loves organizing *almost* as much as when she makes the latest cookie recipe she thinks out from the beginning. Give her a puzzle to put together, a candle to burn, and new green branches growing in her garden, and you’ve just explained the perfect day in Steph’s world.