How to Grow a Garden

Before you can map out your vegetable garden, you will need to decide whether you will grow them indoors in pots and containers, or outside in an in-ground plot, in raised beds or large containers. There are trade offs for each, that can help you determine which you will ultimately prefer. The type of soil and its preparation, watering methods, the control of pests and diseases, and the varying degrees of labor necessary to maintain your garden.

Soil preparation and maintenance for an outdoor vegetable garden can be labor intensive. If you have chosen to place your vegetable garden in a large plot of dirt in the back yard, you must start by tilling the ground to loosen the hardened soil and clay which is no small task, not to mention balancing the pH in such an area. However, this may seem easier to some, rather than dealing with preparing and changing out the soil in several containers. Planting the same crops in the same areas year after year can sap the soil’s nutrients, while fertilizer is both consumed by plants and lost to deeper soil. Controlling disease of the soil is more difficult.

For indoor vegetable gardens, less fertilizer is required to prepare the soil for planting, although it is not always easy to estimate the right amount. And over-fertilizing can happen easily as the nutrients are not consumed or leached away as readily as with outdoor soil. Achieving the proper balance of moisture retention and drainage in containers can be tricky, while outdoor soil tends to regulate this balance naturally. Over watering is extremely easy to do, due to less natural evaporation within the indoor environment, resulting in the death of the poor plants.

Automatic watering systems are less expensive and easier to install and maintain in an outdoor vegetable garden. Attempting to set up such a system indoors can be painful to your pocketbook, in both initial set up and regular maintenance, and especially if there is a failure in the system and water ends up leaking all over the floor of your home. For indoor gardening, using a watering can to provide the moisture for the plants is simple and can be enjoyable, as well as cost effective.

Providing adequate sunshine to your indoor vegetable garden without scorching the plants can be problematic, particularly if the windows in your home are not southerly facing. If you are fortunate to have south-facing windows but cannot be home during the hottest time of the day, investing in an automatic shutter system may be of interest to you. This way, the plants can be shaded automatically when the sun is hottest, and reopened a bit later to allow for a few more hours of good light. And during the cooler seasons, placing the plants near glass windows in full sun can be similar to having a greenhouse without the added expense.

If planned correctly, outdoor vegetable gardens will rarely have issues with proper amount of sunlight. Proper planning will include researching the type of and how much sunlight each plant prefers and requires, in addition to keeping in mind the height of all of the veggies – you would not want something tall, such as corn, to block out the sun of smaller plants like peppers, tomatoes, or squash.

Both environments will have their share of pests and disease, although fighting these outdoors will be a far greater challenge. Additional chemicals or natural components may be necessary, and constant vigilance is key. Insects will have virtually unlimited access to your vulnerable plants in and on which to deposit their eggs and perpetuate the nuisance if left unchecked. And the outdoor environment in a vegetable garden provides far better conditions in which fungi will prosper with night time humidity.

However, the methods for fighting these pests, whether by natural organic substances or artificial chemical, can leave powerful and pungent odors, of which few people would want to endure for an inside vegetable garden. Not only that, but the good insects that help an outdoor garden thrive may not be welcome in your house. Fortunately insect pests occur with less frequency indoors, so one would only need to occasionally use any odoriferous controls for those.

Another thing to consider when determining whether to set up your vegetable garden indoors or out, is the types of vegetables you will be growing. Certain vegetables just won’t do indoors due to the space they require. For instance, corn grows very tall and is not suitable. Squash plants spread out and the gourds can become quite large, quickly outgrowing even very large pots. Even large tomato plants may be best for an outdoor vegetable garden as these grow quite tall as well, and are also rather bushy. Indoor gardening is best for miniature varieties of veggies, and for herbs, and for starting the sprouts in the spring if it is still too cold outside for in-ground seed sowing.

Ultimately, each individual will need to look at the pros and cons for each growing method for vegetable gardens, and decide which will suit their particular habits, desires and needs – and whether the effort required will be worth it to them. Vegetable gardening can be very rewarding, and there’s nothing better than the taste of fresh vegetables from your very own garden, as a result of your hard work.