A backyard garden is a great way to spend your time in a more fulfilling manner, whole learning a thing or two about life, love and patience.
Benefits of backyard gardening
Gardening has a ton of benefits, in fact I believe it’s the healthiest activity in the world for many reasons.
Grow your own healthy food
Here’s the main reason most of us choose to garden! What comes from your backyard garden is so much tastier than what’s offered in the grocery store, and skip the trip, the lines, the parking lot as well.
Get some exercise & vitamin D
Really the best vitamin D supplement is sunshine itself. This alone brings a ton of benefits for immunity and mental health. And must I elaborate on the benefits of exercise?
Save on grocery expenses
If you make this a conscious goal, and choose to eat from your garden as often as possible, until you absolutely HAVE to go to the store… you’ll notice the difference in your budget (and your waistline?)!
Learn about your ecosystem, microclimate, yourself
Teach your children life lessons in the garden, like patience etc.
Garden salad in minutes. Ain’t nothin better!
certainly your backyard garden will produce food that TASTES better than anything you can get anywhere else.
Backyard garden layout
Depending on what you’re growing, you’ll want to site your garden accordingly. Do your preferred crops need a ton of sunlight or do they prefer dappled shade?
Where to site your backyard garden
The best spot to site your backyard garden tends to be the spot wtih the most hours of sunlight throughout the day. In fact, if dappled sunlight comes through the trees, this could be more beneficial, as long as it isn’t in complete shade.
Backyard garden size
If you’re a complete beginner, it may be best to start small. Are you a family of six, with many helping hands and many mouths to feed? Then go bigger! Plus with more minds at work, your learning curve is steep and then plateaus that much sooner!
Backyard garden factors to consider
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just plop our seeds down and nature could do the rest? In fact, this is sorta how it works, and long as you’ve sited your garden appropriately.
Sun, shade, wind, rain, dips & slopes
While sunlight may be the biggest factor, you also must consider whether certain areas are windier or hold more water than others. Don’t plant your garden in a low spot where it will be underwater when the big storms roll through.
Beds & pathways in your backyard garden
It’s easy to get carried away and create a garden bed that’s so big we can’t reach the middle of it! If you’re prone to this temptation, split that large bed into two or four and leave pathways in between. It helps to sketch it out beforehand.
Backyard garden soil preparation
Many backyards tend to have poor soil simply because most homeowners haven’t paid much attention to building up healthy soil. This is easily remedied in a matter of months, and especially years, with a bit of forethought and preparation.
Organic matter
What’s organic matter anyway? Is it fall and the leaves and dropping to the ground? Looking for a beneficial way to repurpose them? Throw them in the garden and stir!
Compost
Better yet, take those aforementioned piles of dead leaves and throw them in the compost bin. The carbon will work wonders with the nitrogen in your food scraps and yard clippings.
Weeding
I hear mixed feelings on weeds. In some opinions, they’re mutually beneficial with your crops. Many gardeners however, strongly dislike sharing their veggie garden with natural occurring weeds. If you’re one of them, make sure your backyard garden is completely weed-free before beginning.
Plant for continuous harvest
Ever had all your spinach come up at once, so come time for harvest, you can’t possibly consume it all before it goes bad? To avoid this, stagger your planting of individual crops, or opt for planting items to harvest during different weeks. This way you have a continual influx of fresh greens and veggies to pull from.
Take notes and keep records
Keep a garden journal so you know what does well and where. This way you’re continually learning and adjusting so that things work out in your favor.