My children received plants at the library yesterday. Peppers, tomatoes, carrots seeds, marigolds and vincas. I’m really wanting to make them a little garden in our backyard and keep these all alive, especially the vegetables. I do not know a thing about maintaining a garden, and every plant I have ever owned has sadly perished even with looking up online how to keep them alive…
Can you please explain to me like I am 5 years old, from buying/building a garden bed, to the type of soil I need, watering schedule, sun amount. Anything from a-z would be greatly appreciated! I really want myself and my children to get into this together. Thank you for any help you can give us!
by julesshackles
2 Comments
Ok fist off, you’re going to get other, better answers than mine, but here’s a starter comment😂
You don’t have to spend a bunch of money or build anything fancy. You can probably just stick these straight into the ground if that’s all you’ve got! Other wise, you can do planters or garden bags (a pack of 3 5gallon garden bags on amazon is less than $10). People will have better guidance for soil, but honestly, garden soil isn’t the WORST thing in the world. I used it for tomato plants the first year I had a raised bed and they did fine enough. A garden app or planner may be helpful for you to note tidbits about your plants and water schedules etc. There’s lots on the app stores for free, and half priced books are pretty invaluable resource for local garden books.
At the end of the day gardening is SO much about trial and error- it’s part of the fun to experiment with them! Good luck and have fun with it!
Without knowing anything about your existing setup, at least for the pepper and tomatoes, pick a spot that is mostly sunny. Ideal would be a spot that gets full sun in the morning but is shady in the hottest part of the day, but full sun is fine.
For the pepper, dig a hole that’s 2x as wide and 2x as deep as the pot to loosen the soil, then fill it back up partway (ideally with some new potting soil, or some compost mixed with the old soil), take the root ball out of its pot and put it in the hole so the top of the root ball is level with the soil around it, add soil to fill the remaining gaps around the root ball, pressing down gently until it’s all leveled out. Water thoroughly and add a bit more soil if needed to make it level.
For the tomato, same process, but dig deeper. You’re going to put about 80% of the plant underground so that when you fill the hole there’s just going to be a little bit of stalk and a few leaves protruding from the ground.
Water daily in the morning, fertilizer when you feel like it (follow manufacturer’s instructions)
If you’ve never dug in your yard before, theoretically you’re supposed to call 811 before digging for the utilities to come out and mark any underground pipes or wires. In practice if you’ve look around and there’s no utility box around, or of your neighbors have similar plantings, then you’re probably Ok, especially if you dig gently with a hand trowel. If you encounter any plastic or sand while digging then stop digging and call 811 because those are warning signs of buried utilities.
Finally, enjoy your free snacks!! Nothing better than home grown tomatoes in a caprese with some fresh mozzarella, a little basil, some EVOO and a little good balsamic vinegar, perhaps a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper on top.