Putting together the planning for an outdoor garden is almost as much fun as it is to pick your fresh fruits and vegetables when they become ripe. Fruits and vegetables from a home grown garden have more flavor, are more juicy, and are more ripe as you get to control when they are picked, and they don’t have to be shipped across the country, or even across the world. Many commercial farming operatings don’t have good soil, as the soil is depleted from all of it’s nutrients as they raise crop after crop in the same soil. Some higher end better quality farms know how to, and have the money and time to, invest in replenishing their soil so they will have good fruits and vegetables, but as I’m sure you have had the same experience as I do when it comes to buying fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. They are bland. Completely tasteless, not as juicy, not as fresh, as what you can grow at home. As a gardener, at home, I like to replenish the soil each year as I prepare to plant so that my fruits and vegetables are the best that they can be. This takes hard work, and planning, as well as some additional cost. I don’t garden at home just to save money on the ridiculous fruits and vegetables that I buy in the store and throw half of everything I buy away because it just doesn’t taste good. I garden at home so that I can control the growing of my garden, to ensure that everything that I grow is absolutely delicious, so that I can share the fruits of my labor with friends and family. There are many important things to plan for when you start thinking about creating your own garden at home.
Things to Consider While Planning Your Garden
A good sized piece of your property to grow what you are looking to grow A water system, sprinkler system, and drip system will need to be designed Adding the right nutrients to your soil for a healthy and delicious output Fencing to keep out the garden robbing critters
A Good Sized Piece of Land for Building Your Garden
A good sized piece of land is important, unless you are looking for the more condensed types of gardens, like the tower type hydroponics gardens that save space (and can actually be grown indoors). You will want to find an area of your property that you can either build out now into a large garden, or have room to grow as you mature your garden over a number of years.
A Water System for Your Garden
Every outdoor garden requires a good amount of water. If you don’t want to spend your entire spring and summer out there watering for hours on end, it’s a good idea to install an automated watering system combining sprinklers, and drip systems to ensure the right amount of water is given to each vegetable plant, fruit plant, and fruit tree (if you are including fruit trees in your garden). This will save you countless hours each day, that you can spend tending to the funner parts of gardening, picking the fruits of your labor, and the occasional drip system or sprinkler repair.
Adding Nutrients to Your Garden’s Soil
Every year you will want to mix in some good nutrients into your garden’s soil to give your fruits and vegetables the best flavors that they can achieve. Your plants in your garden, as well as the winter weather, will use up or wash away those valuable nutrients, so you will want to make sure that as you are preparing to plant your garden each year that you replenish these nutrients into the soil.
Keeping Out the Garden Robbing Critters
Every gardener experiences critters that come in to rob the garden of your delicious fruits and vegetables. It’s a good, if you can, to fence in your garden, to keep out those critters so that you can enjoy all of the fruits and veggies instead of one of the animals on your property getting to enjoy them. Some types of plants will require additional protections, as you will learn over time, but a solid landscaping decorative fence should do the trick, and if you have additional critters that can jump over them, like deer, there are other tricks that you can do to lessen the theft of your delicious fruits and vegetables.
More About Gardens
Gardening, Aquaponics, HydroponicsGreenhouse GardensHydroponics GardensRaised Garden BedsAbout The Author Mike Mendenhall is the the founder of Mendenhall Outdoors. This website is an extension of the Mendenhall family’s lifestyle and passion for the great outdoors. Everything that they learn, and experience, along the way that they find may be valuable to our website visitors is on the site for you to enjoy. We highlight products and services that you might find interesting. We frequently receive free products from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. If you click a link on this page, then go on to make a purchase, we might receive a commission – at no extra cost to you, and does not impact the purchase price of any products that you may purchase. The Best Gardening Experience Awaits!