subject: Get A Garden Designed And Ready To Go [print this page] The first thing you want to do after you decide that it's time for your very own garden is to determine the best place to put it. If space is in limited supply, your options will be more limited. Picking out the best garden spot depends on the amount of sunlight the area receives, with the best option being exposure from the south. Unless you don't have any choice, stay away from northern exposure sites as they are of little use for a general garden.
When your garden is positioned where it gets sunshine all day with southern exposure, the vegetables need to be planted in north and south facing rows. Applying this arrangement allows the morning sun to increase the heat of the plants on the east side and the afternoon sun to warm them on the west side. Through an arrangement such as this, you shouldn't have any lopsided plants. However, should your garden face southeast, you have to be sure that your rows run northwest and southwest to get the most benefit from the sun.
What you want is for the sunshine to be spread evenly for the longest time possible. No doubt you've seen the effects of what happens when plants don't receive well distributed sunlight if you've looked at a window plant that lists more to one side than the other. Knowing where you will place your garden, sketch out a drawing of where you want each plant to go. At the start, the soil in your garden plot will most likely be concealed underneath sod or other debris. When your garden is going to be in a large space, you will want to plow the ground to turn the sod under; if your garden will definitely be in a small space, you can just get rid of the sod.
You'll be able to take the turf and use it to start a compost pile which you can later use to fertilize your garden. You can include vegetable waste materials to your compost heap during the summer and autumn leaves during the fall. After that you can make use of this compost as fertilizer for your back garden the next year. Your garden area has to be plowed under sufficiently so there aren't any large clumps. Seeds won't mature correctly unless the ground is made up of small particles. Precisely what it takes so you can get your garden started is a spade, a hoe, and a rake.
Although the spade can do a good job of turning the ground, you won't have the ability to eliminate all of the clumps. A hoe will assist in eliminating the remaining clumps and will better prepare the soil. It is hard work while using spade but you need to be more cautious with the hoe and the rake. After you have completed working with the hoe, take the rake and smooth out the garden foundation. When you've gotten all of the preliminary work done, you can start planting seeds.
