Grow Vegetables and Save on Cost of Food

Considering the country's current economic condition, it's no wonder kitchen gardens are the hottest trend in gardening this year. All successful gardening depends on preparing the earth well.

A little tender loving care -- plenty of sunlight, attentive watering, a little fertilizer and some weed control – is all you need to reap the harvest of the seeds you have sown. Happy gardening!

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Steps

 * 1)  Cultivate the soil deeply if working in a garden plot. Add sand, organic material and fertilizers as necessary. The soil should have a fine texture and good drainage, and once danger of frost has past you can plant seeds directly in the ground.
 * 2)  Know what you are going to plant. Lettuce and baby salad greens are some of the easiest and most satisfying crops to start with since they germinate fairly easily and grow quickly – you can actually begin to harvest some in about 30 days!
 * 3) Have a plan.  Gardeners of all walks are often over eager at the beginning of the season. We plant way too many seeds and buy more plants than we have room for. Developing a garden plan will help to determine how much gardening or container space you have to work with.
 * 4)  To grow herbs from seed, try annuals as some of your first experiments. Basil, chervil, coriander, dill, parsley and summer savory can all be sown in the same manner. New gardeners may want to grow a few perennial herb plants this year and attempt to sow the slower-growing perennial seeds next year. (Furthermore, the home gardener probably doesn’t need to sow as many perennial seeds as annuals (unless of course you’re swapping plants or growing for others). We may grow a row of basil in our gardens and sow whole packets of cilantro and dill at once while having no more than a few sage or rosemary plants.)
 * 5) * Many vegetables are easy to grow from seed, too; however, they take up a lot more space than salad greens or most herbs.

Tips

 * Consult the Container Gardening Guide: http://www.whgmag.com/container-gardening-guide
 * Further reading: http://www.whgmag.com/seed-savvy-grow-your-own-and-save

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Make Trellises for Beans
 * How to Grow Swedes or Rutabaga
 * How to Prevent Too Much Leaf Growth on Vegetables
 * How to Grow a Bag of Potatoes