Tuesday 7 April 2009

Home Vegetable Garden Basics - Convenience and Exposure

Many people think that the first criteria when picking the "best spot" for a home vegetable garden is good soil; however, although good soil is important, good soil is made, not found. You can rebuild the soil once the spot has been chosen. When you are choosing where you want your garden patch to be, you must focus on its convenience and exposure.

Convenience means your garden area should be "close by" or as close to your house as possible. You may think that a difference of only a few hundred yards cannot be that significant; however, if you have to largely depend upon spare moments for working in it and for watching it, convenience will be much more important than you think.

Don't wait till you have had to make a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass to gather those "vegetables of the day" to realize that "close access to your home vegetable garden" is important.

Another point to remember is that the garden area does not have to be set in an ugly spot in your backyard or hidden behind the barn or garage. If you carefully plan, plant, and care for your vegetables, this little patch can end up not only producing very nourishing food for you, but it can also end up being a most beautiful and harmonious part of your landscape. Thus having your area in close proximity to your house can lend a touch of comfortable homeliness that no shrubs, border, or flower beds can ever produce.

The next most important criteria when picking out your area for your home vegetable garden which is to give you hours of joy and yield delicious vegetables all summer, or even for many years, is the exposure.

Pick out the "closest" spot or plot you can find where your garden will slope a little to the south or east, will catch the sunshine early and hold it late, and will be, as much as possible, out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds.

It's important to get seedlings growing as soon as possible and to keep them growing; therefore, if a building, or even an old fence, protects your vegetables from the chilling north or northeast winds, your vegetables will be helped along wonderfully.

If this garden patch is not already protected, a board fence or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens would be most helpful. The importance of having such a protection or shelter is greatly underestimated by the amateur.

To summarize, when you are choosing that "best spot" for yourhome vegetable garden, make sure you consider these basics: Find a spot which is convenient and close to your house and make sure your garden is positioned so that it gets lots of sun and is somewhat protected from the elements.

By Marcie Snyder

Bio: A gardener for years, Marcie has learned the value of composting and using it to put nutrients back into the soil. You can download her newly released Free ebook at http://www.OrganicVegetableGardeningGuide.com/blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcie_Snyder

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