The garden industry is worth millions and sales depend on the coaxing of the customer to buy products that they believe their gardens are dependent on. Over the last few years items such as non-chemical fertilizers, organic soil mixtures, hybrid packs of grown plants, expensive tools, varmint free fencing and state of the art hose nozzles have been mass marketed to appeal to the struggling green thumb who is determined to have a healthy and happy garden. Many end up spending hundreds of dollars purchasing these products from name big companies with the hopes that they will cure all of their gardening woes.
Don’t be fooled…
Propagating a successful vegetable and flowerbed can be done without expensive tabs or exorbitant processes. There’s a better way and a lot cheaper strategy to cultivate your dream garden! All you need are the essentials, most of which you probably have. Here’s my list for my summer gardening needs that are easy and inexpensive to buy or things that I reuse to help my garden beds during the summer season.
The Plot
If you have a backyard with a ton of space, you’re lucky because all you have to do is choose an area that is the right size for your garden that receives sunlight. You’ll need full sun for vegetables and partial to full light for flowers. If you don’t have a useful part of land for gardening, keep reading…
The Soil
Whether the soil that you have in your yard is sufficient to grow plants depends on the consistency, sediment and moisture of the earth. If your ground is soft and adequate for easy plotting than you may have lucked out and you can skip the potting soil step. If you have a hard, dry and coarse platform to work with, you might want to consider making your own raised beds. Please don’t run out and buy a pre-constructed kit from a hardware store or garden center-its not necessary. You can either find some scrap wood planks to nail together to form a hollow square or look around your house for old furniture. If you find a bureau or nightstand that you don’t want, take the drawers out and place them directly in the yard. They make perfect flower and vegetable beds plus you’ll feel great knowing that your green thumb extending to the green reuse of unwanted items.
Seeds
Trust me, there’s no better way to produce plants than starting with a simple germinated seed. Not only can you start them indoors but the roots will also fixate better in the ground than a pre-bought plant that has already rooted somewhere else. If you want a suggested brand for seeds, I would advise on buying from Burpee. Although they are a bit more expensive in some nurseries, you can grab great deals at discounted stores such as Ocean State Job Lot where they are almost half the price!