Growing a vegetable garden may seem like a complex task, but truth be told it is really quite simple. You can easily squeeze in a small veggie garden into most yards – and indoor herbs on windowsill and patio gardens are very popular vegetable garden ideas for those with no yards at all!
I grow an extensive veggie garden in pots in my inner city apartment balcony – you will be surprised by just how much food (like peppers or tomatoes) you can grow from a single pot. You will have the peace of mind knowing that the food you grow is super fresh, nutritious and pesticide free.
This article will outline some of the benefits of Veggie gardens, different types of Veggie gardens and ways to set them up, supplies you will need, some of the foods you can easily grow, and then finally how to harvest, collect and store seeds for future crops.Table of Contents
Benefits of a veggie garden
Having a backyard garden will bring various amazing benefits to your life. Here are a few you need to consider.
- When you grow vegetables using natural fertilizers it will have better nutritional value. Thus, your overall health will improve.
- You will be able to save money in the long run.
- Having a vegetable garden is eco-friendly. It means you are playing your role in maintaining a sustainable environment.
- Using pots you can easily create a small garden on your balcony or kitchen window sill.
- You can minimize waste by using kitchen waste as a compost for your soil.
- There is a huge variety of vegetable garden ideas available. Thus, you can easily grow your garden using the idea that suits your style the best.
Veggie Garden types and layouts
There are many types of vegetable garden ideas available. Therefore, the selection of the best one often becomes tough. To help you in the process here we have a list of the best ideas for the backyard garden.
Row Veggie gardens
It is the most basic type of garden plan. You will design long, straight rows in the north to south orientation. This orientation will allow your garden to get the best sun exposure as well as air circulation. Besides that, if you design your garden in the east to the west direction it will have more shade. Thus, growing crops may become difficult. You can even apply raised garden bed ideas while creating rows.
Four square Veggie gardens
Divide the vegetable garden into four quarters. It will be the life you have four squares on a piece of paper. As well as, there is a cross inside every square. Each square inside a large square will indicate a different bed.
Square foot Veggie Gardens
It consists of plots in a garden set up in 4 x 4 grid squares. All beds are equally divided into square feet using wooden planks or strings. Each section is used to plant a different type of vegetable.
Vertical Veggie gardens
It is a unique way of growing your vegetable garden. Besides that, it is ideal for people who have a small garden space. You can benefit from a vertical garden by growing your plants along trellises, upside down, or in hanging baskets. If you are living in apartments it is a perfect solution.
Raised bed veggie gardens
One of the best vegetable garden ideas is having a raised bed. There is a huge variety of raised garden bed ideas like planting in containers. Besides that, you will get a higher yield and more chances to experiment with your plants. This type is perfect for a large space. It is a perfect alternative for direct to ground planting. You can even have a vegetable garden with this technique if you do not have ideal soil.
Hugelgarden bed veggie gardens
It is a type of vegetable garden idea where you will create a base using large logs, stumps, wood, or branches. After that, you pile it up with organic matter and other compostable material. From there, use soil to cover the entire mound (about one foot thick) and you can plant your vegetables on top.
This type of vegetable garden comes with various benefits. It is a great option if you like the idea of a raised bed but want a much simpler, natural solution, are looking to recycle organic materials from your property, and want to provide good drainage for your plants. Furthermore, living in locations with high temperatures this helps raise plants off the ground and promote airflow keeping them cool. Finally, over time, the wood and organic matter break down providing nutrient rich and high quality soil for your vegetables.
Easy Veggie Garden starter crops
Remember that most vegetables are really easy to grow – literally stick them in the ground in a sunny spot, water them once a day and provide a bit of compost, mulch or fertilizer like Seasol to keep them happy.
Growing from seed is always much cheaper and will allow you to grow a wider variety of veggies and food crops, however choosing to plant established seedlings from nurseries will give you a much higher success rate and will speed up the process, allowing you to harvest your food crops quicker.
Why not try giving these popular
- Tomatoes
- Peppers or Capsicum
- Chillies
- Beans – Green, Purple, Climbing (there are so many varieties and these are so easy to grow!)
- Peas – Snow peas, sugar snap, and climbing
- Cucumber
- Zucchini (courgette)
- Carrots
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Herbs like Mint, Basil and Lemongrass
- Swiss chard
These vegetables do not need a lot of space. You can easily grow them even if you have a small raised garden bed, especially if you have some kind of trellace or structure for them to climb up in the case of peas, beans or cucumbers. These vegetables are perfect to start your journey of growing a backyard garden.
Supplies for a veggie Garden
For a backyard garden, you can buy pre-made beds or build them yourself. There are only a few supplies you will need if you choose to build them yourself. Things you can use to make a Veggie garden include;
- Wooden boards or sleepers (if making a raised bed or boundary)
- Topsoil.
- Layers of newspapers (to suppress weeds)
- Compost.
- Peat
- Grass clippings.
- Wooden branches, logs or stumps if making a Hugelgarden bed
- Moss.
- Water.
- Seeds or Seedlings
- Hand liter.
You can easily make a veggie garden for practically zero cost, with just a few hours of your time
Tools for a veggie garden
Tools that you might need will include;
- Shovel
- Spade
- Rake
- Pick, Mattock or Hoe
- Seed dibber (can literally use a teaspoon)
- Garden hose
- Bucket
- Hammer, Saw and nails (if constructing a raised bed)
How to start off your veggie seedlings
Using seeds to grow your seedlings offer your more control over the vegetable garden and flexibility. Therefore, you can select your favorite varieties and grow as many plants as you need. If you are finding it hard to grow seedlings in the vegetable garden ideas you have selected here, we have a few tips to help you out.
- Set up extra light for the seeds because they may need 12 to 16 hours of light.
- Select the best growing containers for your seedlings.
- Properly select and create soil that is ideal for the vegetable you are planning to grow.
- Sow your seeds and keep the soil in raised garden bed ideas moist. Apart from that, assure that soil is not soggy because it is not healthy for seeds.
- Once true leaves sprout start fertilizing your seeds.
- Thinning is important to remove extra plants so the strongest one will survive.
- Use a larger container to pot up the plants.
- Keep the pots outside so your plants will get used to the outdoor environment.
- Transplant your plants in the backyard garden.
How to save seeds for future crops
If you want to grow a vegetable garden sustainably and cheaply, one way is to save the best seeds for your future crops. Here is a step by step guide to help you with the process.
- Harvest the seeds and remove as much pulp and fiber as possible.
- Wash away any slime or dirt from seeds.
- Keep seeds on a towel, paper, or newspaper to dry.
- Shake plants with scattering seeds; cover the seed heads with a paper bag first. Therefore, you can easily collect as many seeds as you need in a paper bag to store.
- Preferably, let seeds dry on the plants in your backyard garden before harvesting
Conclusion
Regardless of the veggie garden bed ideas you use, there may come some failures on the way. It is an essential part of gardening – you will kill plants. I am an experienced gardener and I kill more plants than anyone. Secondly while starting a vegetable garden do not make the mistake of buying various expensive gardening tools – Always start with a few plants and basic tools.
Once you master your basics you can move on to the next step, and start looking for improved tools to make the process easier. Working a Veggie Garden and watching vegetables grow and flourish in your backyard garden is very satisfying – nothing tastes quite as good as that which you have grown yourself!
