The best six tips for starting your garden with vegetation – rnz

At any time, it is an appropriate time to plan a vegetable garden in the backyard.
Photo: Philip City

While the summer vegetation season for vegetables can be in the middle, now is the right time to start planning – and plow – if a vegetable garden is in your dreams.

Growing your own vegetables can save you hundreds of dollars a year, not to mention the mental satisfaction of harvesting and eating something that you have nourished by seeds or seedlings. And spending time in green spaces, also known as nature, relieves stress and anxiety.

Permaculturalist Kat Ervine is behind the popular fit -offed backyard guides, which helps beginners to turn their underly used garden into a thriving food basket. She talks to rnz Saturday morning How to start a vegetable garden from scratch without it costs too much.

“It’s never too late to get started. You can get started at any time,” Ervine said.

Kat Ervine.
Photo: Supplied / kathane

Here are her tips for those who are willing to stain their hands:

Preparation is key

Separating time to plan your garden – where to put it and prepare the soil – can mean a more harvest and less financial investment.

“Take a little time in the beginning because how you set up your garden, has a huge impact on your workload, and also has a huge impact on the amount of fertility – purchased fertility such as compost, fertilizers – which you need to buy to keep your garden grow Okay. “

Rear yard – edible – November Vegie Patch
Photo: Kat Ervine

Think about the sun

Getting to know your land is crucial. Take a look at where the sunspots are in the summer and in the winter. If your proposed location is sunny between 10am to 2pm in the winter, then you may have chosen a winner.

“The winter sun is so important to make sure you can continue to grow your crops,” Irvine said.

Do you get freezing in the winter?

Frost can mean disasters for many vegetables, but their impact can be avoided or reduced. If your backyard was predisposed to freezing, then choose a raised space.

“Frost is like a thick syrup. It moves through the landscape and always goes to the lowest point.”

Hetlina Apple Semi
Photo:

How is soil drainage?

“Nothing is thriving in moist, slightly drained soil,” Irvine said.

Often this happens in low areas or when there was a large amount of water from water from something like a road.

“It just means that all spaces in the soil are filled with water and when they do, it shifts the air and the air is absolutely crucial to maintaining your soil healthy.”

Growing your own vegetables can save you hundreds of dollars a year.
Photo: Kat Ervine / edible rear yard

Test your soil

No, you don’t have to send it to a laboratory. Take the shovel, put it in the ground and remove some soil. Was it hard for a shovel to enter the ground? How many worms did you find? What did the roots of existing plants look like grass? (Something like the appearance of Dreadlocks is good.) Do these roots stop or deviate because it can mean bad drainage?

“Squeeze it in your hands. Give it shaking. A good soil cultivation sticks freely with a few lumps that drop.”

“If it is too dry, it slides through your fingers and if it is too wet, it will keep the shape of your fingers.”

What about the beds raised?

Ervine was not a “fan” of raised garden beds unless you really need them. The soil of the top had to be constantly filled and the soil tends to dry faster.

The garden beds raised were an option if you have poor drained soil that cannot be fixed or if your backyard is a mass of impenetrable rock, Ervine said.

The preparation of your existing soil was “much healthier and easier to maintain moist.”

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