Vegetables are very beautiful plants to grow in your garden come summer or spring, however, getting the right space and location where they can survive in and produce well is of much importance.
Vegetables are sun-loving plants that require an exposure of about six to eight hours on a daily basis and you must be able to provide them with an area with such exposure.
One of the highly recommended ways of growing vegetables is the use of garden beds which involves the use of well-fertile soil to grow edible vegetables and enhance their productivity.
Before deciding on the vegetables to grow in the garden beds that you have made, it is important that you access the area very well and determine its suitability for growing the necessary vegetables for that season.
There are different methods that can be used to conveniently access the potential of your soil but we will help you understand a few tips on how to go about it.
Veggies are life-saving plants that every gardener loves to grow because of their high nutritional qualities and high essentiality in diets and all the kind of food that we love to consume.
Vegetables are very easy and convenient to grow as long as they have access to all of the necessary parameters that are required for their growth and development and you must always make sure to ensure that these plants grow well.
If you are a new gardener and you are just planning to equip your garden with a garden bed or you just relocated to a new area and you need a garden bed for your lovely vegetables, then you are in the right place where you can learn how to access, understand, know, and make your soil become the best to use.
In this article, we will teach you on how to conveniently access your soil and choose the best soil required for the growth of each vegetable plant.
Why should you access an area before planning a garden bed?
Accessing an area in your garden to be used for housing garden beds is very important for certain reasons and you will be happy that you could make that possible.
Planning a garden bed before actually planting the vegetable of choice is going to go a long way in ensuring a successful growing season.
In subsequent paragraphs, we will take you through the reasons why you should access an area before making a plan for a garden bed there.
Sun exposure of the area:
The ability of the area to get sun that is required by vegetables is an important reason why you need to examine the area.
If the place you want to place the garden bed does not have much sun exposure, then you might have to avoid planting plants that require more sunlight in these places and look for a better place in your garden that can accommodate this kind of plant.
The pH level of the soil:
The acidity or alkalinity of the soil where you desire to install a garden bed must meet the required pH requirement for vegetables.
When the soil is either too alkaline or acidic, it becomes very hard for the soil to easily and conveniently get access to the right amount of nutrients that is sufficient for plant growth and development. You must know this before you make a garden bed out of this area.
Note its ability to drain:
The soil you should use for growing vegetables must be one that drains very well as the presence of water in the soil can affect the health of the plant.
The soil of the area where the garden bed is to be sited must lose its water at the required rate and must not hold water for too long or drains quickly.
Avoidance of unnecessary damage:
In some places or regions of the world, there are pipes that may be hidden in the soil for specific reasons and you do not want to get it damages and cause unnecessary problems for yourself.
For example, there are countries in which you need to call the notice of certain people before you can dig in any part of the house. Always be sure that there is no pipeline that can be damaged before digging.
Ensure productivity:
The type of area that your plant is to be grown will have a substantial effect on how productive the garden bed is going to be.
If the area that you choose to plan a garden bed does not have the requirements to make the vegetables grow and develop to the required level, then there is no point in making use of it for the garden bed.
We all want to consume the best fruits and vegetables from our garden, so we have to choose the right place to grow them.
Tips on how to access an area before planning a garden bed
Planning a garden bed is quite awesome and you definitely want to get the best experience possible. In this section, we will give you some tips to take note of while planning a garden bed. You should read further to know more.
Pay attention to your environment:
This is the number one thing you should always do when you decide to do anything in your garden.
Planning garden beds require digging but there are instances in which pipes are lined in the ground, for example, gas companies do that.
You should call the gas company to ensure that the lines are safe where you are digging. You should also look out for possible tall trees that can cast shades in your garden – if it is a place filled with big and tall trees.
Assess the soil:
The soil of the area where you want to make a garden bed is very important and you must know the suitability of the soil for the purpose for which you want to use it.
Check if the soil is rich in clay or humus and carry out the necessary soil amendments and adjustments in cases when there is a need for one.
Make sure that the soil is rich in nutrients that supports the growth and development of vegetables and also drains well.
Determine your soil pH:
The pH level of the soil is one of the most important requirements for a good garden bed. You should always evaluate the pH of the soil before using it for growing vegetables as this will have a big impact on the plant’s growth.
The required soil pH level for all vegetable plants is 6.5. Below are some of the importance of soil pH:
It helps to determine the availability of essential nutrients. The alkalinity and acidity of the soil (i.e. when the pH is either below or above 6.5) can affect the availability of certain nutrients.
Determine which part of the garden gets the highest sunlight exposure:
The essentiality of light in vegetable production can never be overemphasized and that is why you need to know the part of the garden which gets the most sunlight and to be able to determine where to grow plants that require light the most.
Plants such as peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers do require lots of suns so they must be well planted in places that have the biggest exposure to sunlight.
Have a sun-exposure record for your garden:
You can properly take the record of how much exposure your garden gets at all times. You can make use of a graph paper to take these records at 10 am, 12 pm, 2 pm, and 4 pm respectively so as to easily get acquainted with your garden.
Get rid of weeds:
You must always get rid of any kind of weed that can be present in your garden at the right time so as to ensure that they do not compete with the vegetables being grown on the field.
You can employ the use of yard bags and mulch to cover the area where the weeds can be found and easily get rid of them.
NB: you must always make sure that the environment or area that you are going to make the garden bed meets the above-mentioned requirements to get the best from your vegetable garden.
Conclusion
It is very important to know the place where you are growing your garden and to be assured of its suitability before starting at all. If you can follow the above tips, believe me when I say you will enjoy what gardening really entails.
Please help us to share this article if you find it interesting ! Thank you very much