Most veggies are annuals (planted each year). If you’re planning on growing “perennial” crops such as asparagus, rhubarb, and some herbs, provide permanent locations orbeds. This information is especially useful for growing perennial plants — that is, plants like trees, shrubs, and many flowers that can live for several years — because often it’s the coldest winter temperatures that determine where these plants can thrive. The larger the scale of your gardening, the more tools you’re likely to need. One of the major reasons people are interested in gardening is its impact on bringing down food costs. Adding unnecessary equipment costs to that may feel counterproductive. Algert SJ et al. (2014). Vegetable output and cost savings of community gardens in San Jose, California. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24751664/ Incomplete fertilizers: These are missing one or more of the macronutrients, usually the P or the K.

Planning your landscape helps to keep you on budget, find the right trees and other plants for your needs, and keeps you focused on your landscaping wish list. Use these steps when planning your landscape: Keep your garden clean. By cleaning up spent plants, weeds, and other garden debris, you eliminate hiding places for many pests and diseases. Don’t fret if your garden gets more shade than sun; plenty of plants thrive in the shade. This chart names annuals and perennials that do well in the shade, so keep this list handy and you can decide which plants you want for your shady garden oasis. Annuals This process is easy if you are simply growing two or three tomato plants. But if you plan to grow a full garden, you need toconsider: Have a shadier plot? Research which plants prefer shady conditions if you have less light available. (Also, stop hatching shady plots. You are not the supervillain you think.) Water

The USDA offers this helpful map that shows which plants are most likely to grow in which parts of the U.S. Community gardens provide another great alternative for people with limited space to get their hands dirty — or for those who’d rather not get their hands dirty alone. Plus, given the recent COVID-related concerns around food supply, even more people have jumped on the trowel train this year. Green lacewings: Their voracious larvae feed on aphids, mites, thrips, and various insect eggs. Release them in your garden in late spring, after the danger of frost has passed.

Before you buy fertilizer for your garden, be sure that you understand what’s available. The following list offers the common types of garden fertilizers and explains their components and uses:

Helpful Hints & Tips

If you want to plant melons, for example, you’ll want to make sure that you can find a variety of melons that can grow fully within the length of your growing season. The Old Farmer’s Almanac offers an excellent online garden planning tool that makes your garden planning fun and easy. With this tool, draw your garden plan on the computer and drop in your preferred vegetables, and it automatically calculates the proper spacing for each type of crop! This way, you don’t waste seeds or crowd your plants. The Garden Planner automatically pulls in the frost dates for your specific location, identifies easy vegetables, and even identifies companion plants. Then you can print out your plan, and the tool reminds you of your seeding and harvesting dates for everyvegetable! In larger farming operations, different nutrients cycle through the soil as different plants grow. This is what they mean by “fertile” soil — nutrient-rich bounties of growth for new plants. Bierman PM, et al. (2005). Nutrient management for fruit and vegetable crop production: Nutrient cycling and maintaining soil fertility. https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/197962 Consider your water sources. If they’re not close to your garden plot, it will be important to figure out a system for transporting water to your garden.