Gardening is not just a part-time activity anymore. People have realised the importance and beauty of plants and greenery.
Now, maintaining and growing different kinds of plants is a full-time job. Horticulture has been gaining importance all over the world. It’s beautiful and harmless to anyone.
If you’re a person who would love to practice it someday, the biggest challenge you could face is getting the right equipment.
Gardening is all about the quality of seeds you use and the way you maintain them. Hence, being associated with a store that fulfills all your gardening equipment requirements is important. For instance, online stores like The garden gate have a huge variety of products!
Getting the basics right
- Decide the crop you want to grow
Choosing a plant or crop might seem easy, but it’s not. You need to understand everything about the plant you want to see bloom before even planting it in! Think of it as a child. You need to know all its needs before you decide to have it. The best way one can do it is by reading and researching. If you are getting into horticulture for the first time, some easy crops to grow would be Garlic, Radish, Carrots and Peas.
2. Choose your place
You need to think of a place which gets sunshine as well as rain. Again, it also depends on the type of crop you’re planning to grow. Some crops like rice require a huge area. On the other hand, few crops do not require much sun and want a shady place to grow in. Therefore, your crop type and the place they grow in go hand-in-hand.
3. Plan your garden beds
Once you know what you want in your garden, now decide the type of garden beds. You can get raised beds as they are easy to work on and gather lots of sunlight. However, these beds dry up quickly. For crops requiring more moisture, one can go with deep sunken beds.
Make sure to plant seeds while keeping enough distance in between. The goal is to minimise walkways and maximise the growing space.
4. Purchase some basic tools
Gardening should be fun and not feel like a compulsory task. For this, you need the help of some multipurpose tools. Namely:
- Garden hoe
- Leaf and Dirt Rake
- Garden shovel
- Some other hand tool
5, Test your soil
Before we dive further, one important aspect to identify is the quality of the soil. You need to see if your soil is acidic, alkaline or neutral pH? Is there a risk of soil contamination due to your nearby roadways or buildings? And the nature of the soil is clay, rocky, sandy or mixed?
Some of the details could be understood by looking at the soil; for others, we need laboratory or home testing.
6. Get your seeds ready
Many people who do home harvesting prefer to go fully raw. They do not buy seeds; instead, they use the ones which they directly get from fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, some prefer to buy good quality, organic seeds to get a kick start with their cultivations.
You would be happy to know that you can also buy seeds online! Sites like the garden gate offer great discounts and value for money products.
7. Plant
After laying all the groundwork, it’s a fun time now! You can plant seeds as instructed on the packet or simply check out a plant-specific tutorial online.
Make sure to be regular with watering and nurturing the plant! Also, you can spray occasional pesticides to protect it.
8. Harvest!
Finally, this is the time when you reap your efforts. Enjoy your organic crop and spread the joy of sharing your harvest with your loved ones!
