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HOW TO PREPARE SOIL FOR A VEGETABLE GARDEN

A good garden starts with a good soil—and there's no better example than a vegetable garden. Here are some tips to make sure your vegetable garden succeeds.

Spring is around the corner. If you have not prepared your soil now is the time.

Choose a sunny spot that gets at least 8 hours of sun and is close to your water source. Dig up the area you want to use including walkways at least 30-40cm deep. Place cardboard boxes at the bottom. This reduces the risk of weeds growing through. Cardboard is biodegradable and will break down in time adding nutrients to the soil. Create rows for planting 80-90cm wide and walkways 50-60cm wide. Soil needs to be loose and aerated. walking on the soil will compress the soil. Then place a mixture of topsoil, compost and fertiliser on your rows. The topsoil is the soil you removed, sift the soil to remove old plants, stones and weeds. If you have grown your own compost this is the best you get and if you are buying try to get organic compost. If you are growing a particular vegetable e.g. Tomato get the compost that is correct for this type of vegetable. For general vegetable gardens get a balanced NPK organic compost. Budgets are always tight but if you can buy CocoPeet, this adds a medium that retains water and oxygen for slow release when the plant needs it.
The next step is to mulch the area, mulch that is easily available is dried grass, dry leaves or a combination of both. Chop down the mulch as fine as possible and layer on your grow bed about 5cm thick. Mulch stops weeds from coming through, keeps the soil cool and limits evaporation of the soil keeping the moisture availabe to the plants.
Water the area well and you are now ready to plant from Seed or Seedlings.
Plan your veggie garden according to what you eat. Succession planting is planning to get a regular supply of a particular vegetable. planting all your carrot seeds at once will give you a bumper crop that has to last the whole year. plant what you eat every month to have a continuous supply throughout the year.
Companion planting is planting vegetables that grow well together next to each other e.g. Basil will keep away Aphids and sweeten tomatoes.
Continue adding Fertiliser every month near the base of each plant. Remember to water the soil nearest the base of the plant and not directly on the leaves of the plant. Weeding and pruning should be done at least weekly. Water after sunrise before 10am and in Summer after 4pm before Sunset. Each plant needs about 100ml of water every few days, obviously this depends on the plant. Do not over water. If you have 100 plants thats 10L of water.
Grow Healthy - Grow Organic - Grow Well