How to Start and Maintain a Vegetable Garden: Benefits and Practical Tips

6 min read
27/08/2024
How to Start and Maintain a Vegetable Garden: Benefits and Practical Tips

What is a vegetable garden, and what are its benefits?

  • A vegetable garden is a garden design category dedicated to producing seasonal vegetables. Depending on the size of the vegetable garden(s), it can be used to grow vegetables for self-consumption or sell a portion of the harvest.

The benefits of managing a vegetable garden are:

  • Quality leisure time management by working outdoors with plants, soil, etc.
  • Quality products since they will have been produced by the person himself/herself, knowing the way of production and the inputs used.
  • Increase the individual's self-confidence, as he alone will produce part of his food.
  • Improving the general well-being and psychology of the individual
  • Reduction of the cost of buying products from the market
  • Increase in income by selling some of the products.

How can I build my own vegetable garden?

How can I build my own vegetable garden

The vegetable garden can be established either in our yard in raised beds or on a plot (land property). After deciding the garden's location, we need to define the type and design of the vegetable garden (e.g., what species of plants we are going to grow, how many plants per crop, in what arrangement, etc).

If our vegetable garden is in a planting bed—which, if we build it ourselves, we can use wooden planks, stones, bricks, and various other materials according to our taste and style—we should first remove the weeds from the area, add manure, a 1:1 peat—perlite mixture, and compost. Still, if it is easy to find, we can add zeolite, attapulgite, and pine needles.

vegetable garden

All the materials mentioned above are suitable both for enriching the soil with useful nutrients and improving its structure, mechanical and physicochemical composition, and water-holding capacity. These materials do not have to be used all together; it is sufficient to use them individually or in combinations, such as manure with peat and perlite, compost with peat and perlite, manure with compost, compost with zeolite or attapulgite, etc., to provide their soil improvement and nutritional benefits.

Depending on its origin (sheep, pigs, and chickens), manure has a different composition and amount of nutrients. The best manure to choose is well-digested (well-rotted) manure. Well-digested manure has about 1-3% nitrogen, 1-2% potassium, 1-3% phosphorus, and significant amounts of trace elements and an earthy smell. In addition to the nutrients that manure provides to the soil, it also improves its structure and boosts the beneficial microorganisms. The same effect and approximately the same nutrients are added to the soil by incorporating compost. The compost can be purchased from a plant nursery, or even better, we can produce it ourselves at home. We will need the weeds we take from our vegetable garden, branches, leaves, shoots, etc. (but always only from healthy plants). We can also use manure and food wastes, but not dead animals, cooked food, oils, meats, pet droppings, or soil with weed seeds (or stolons) to prevent them from spreading to the new field. Manure and compost are incorporated into the soil in the same way.

They are incorporated either by hoe or trowel, mixing them with the existing soil and integrating them into it. Apart from tools, farm machinery, like tillers, can also be used for the same process. Once the incorporation is done, we will use the rake to level the soil and start planting and growing our favorite seasonal vegetables.

Some practical tips...

  • To make compost, fill a large barrel or several barrels with water and put in all the abovementioned ingredients. Stir daily until the water is absorbed and becomes a thick mixture. Then, you can incorporate it into the soil in the manner mentioned.
  • A different way to make compost is to dig a large pit, where you can throw in many of the materials mentioned above, enough to cover the pit and create a mound. Then, cover it with soil and wait until it has been broken down and fermented by microorganisms. Then, incorporate it into the soil as I taught you. To avoid waiting too long for the process of decomposition and fermentation, you can, throughout the growing and maintenance period, put material in the pit and cover it up again. So that when you need it, it's ready for use.
  • You will need about 3 kg of well-rotted manure for every square meter of your vegetable garden.
  • In addition to flower beds, gardens, and plots, you can establish your vegetable garden in a construction trolley, which you may design with different colors and patterns, in large pots and planters, etc.

What do I need to maintain my vegetable garden

What do I need to maintain my vegetable garden?

The maintenance of the vegetable garden involves :

  • plant thinning
  • watering
  • pruning
  • wedding
  • fertilizing
  • pest and disease control

Plant Thinning:

If we have plants growing at close distances, we may need to thin them to avoid competition and help the remaining plants to grow. This is more frequent when we sow our crop.

Watering:

Irrigation is important for proper plant growth, good yields, and high-quality products. Watering should be neither excessive (waterlogging) nor scarce (droughts), as both can stress the plants. Common stress symptoms in plants include the appearance of yellow leaves due to dehydration stress or over-watering because the plant suffocates, the appearance of fungal diseases, and root rot again due to over-watering. Irregular watering should also be avoided, and a constant irrigation schedule should be maintained. Otherwise, there will be leaf loss, stunted, and poor quality fruiting.

Practical irrigation tips...

  • Use drip irrigation. This way, you can regulate the amount, duration, and frequency of irrigation based on your crops' needs while saving water.
  • Avoid wetting the leaves. High moisture in the leaves and mild temperatures can favor plant pathogens, causing disease outbreaks.
  • The best time to water is early morning or late afternoon to evening due to reduced evapotranspiration. Watering at that time helps the soil retain moisture for longer.
  • When you transplant seedlings and young plants, dig a furrow next to the planting row and water them with very low water pressure to prevent injuries.
  • The need for irrigation is greater during flowering, fruit formation, and ripening (but do not overdo it). The same is true right after transplanting.

vegetable garden

Pruning:

Some vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc., need pruning. While pruning, we remove side greedy shoots, dry leaves and shoots, and stunted shoots. The reason is to lighten the plant so that it imparts its juices to the fruits, producing large, robust, and quality fruits.

A secret for pruning...

Pruning the top of some vegetables, such as cucumbers, offers better production (allocate resources). In some vegetables, such as peppers, cutting off some flowers/fruits (thinning) helps the rest of the fruits to become larger and of better quality.

Weeding:

Weeding is necessary to reduce the competition between weeds and our vegetables for water and nutrients. If left uncontrolled, they can decrease the production of lead to crop failure, especially when the crop plants are still young and small.

Fertilizer:

Fertilization can be done with organic products such as manure and compost, as well as chemical synthetic fertilizers (or better, a combination of both). Chemical fertilizers are more economical than organic media, contain more nutrients, and are more readily available to plants. Meanwhile, biological fertilizers contain organic matter and beneficial microorganisms (e.g., mycorrhizae) and work as soil conditioners, offering an efficient and sustainable solution.

Pest and Disease Management:

Pests and plant pathogens can infest and infect our vegetable plants, putting them and their production at risk. Controlling them after establishment and infection is more challenging, and more measures may be needed. For this purpose, we can use biological or chemical insecticides, release natural enemies of crop pests, or use traps (e.g., sticky yellow traps). As for professional vegetable cultivation, we advise gardeners to invest in preventive measures and on-time action.