Ready to start your own garden? Got a patch picked out in the backyard, or want to try your hand at a container garden?
Here are some tips on how to get started.
Starting a vegetable or flower garden
– Start small. Choose a sunny spot no bigger than 5 feet by 5 feet, suggests eHow.com. And be creative with your space. If you don’t have a back yard or adequate outdoor space, try other places to grow plants, such as in containers.
– Remove the weeds first.
– Turn the soil over with a shovel to get it soft for the plants to grow in.
– If the ground is hard, water it the day before you plan to work the soil, eHow.com suggests.
– Water the soil after turning it.
– Choose plants that do well in your area — not something exotic — and buy a few small plants from a nursery. For first-time gardeners, this can be more successful than starting with seed, eHow.com notes.
– Water when you’re finished, and don’t add any fertilizer until you see new growth in your plants. Keep your plants well-watered — don’t let them get drought-stressed.
– For specific suggestions or information, visit www.backyardgardener.com. The site provides instructions with photo illustrations.
– Have fun watching and helping your plants grow.
Involving your children or grandchildren
– Let the children help decide what to plant — just make sure there are some sure-success picks in the ones you choose, says Cheryl Dorschner of the National Gardening Association.
– Grow hardy plants. Children will play around them, so it’s important for them to withstand some activity.
– Give them their own tools to work with, tools that are durable and age-appropriate.
– Relax your standards, Dorschner says — crooked rows or weeds are fine. And demonstrate how much you love working with the plants just by reveling in your own garden.
Fun options to keep them interested
– Better Homes & Gardens suggests these plants to keep children from getting bored with garden work:
Sunflowers — Your kids will be wowed by how quickly they catch up to them in height. Keep track with a measuring tape.
Beans — These fast growers can climb ladders, poles or just about anything else in your garden. Great for picking and eating right off the vine too.
Nasturtium — Pretty and edible, flowers and all. They also attract hummingbirds to your garden, a sure delight.
Potatoes — These buried treasures make harvest time and digging in the dirt all the more fun.
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