How to Make Your Edible Garden Grow Faster
Today, more and more people are starting to “dig” (pun intended) edible gardening. Why not? Growing your own vegetable garden has a lot of perks. Not only does it make a therapeutic hobby, but it’s also a prudent and practical strategy if you want to ensure the nutritional quality of the foods that you eat, without busting your budget.
But not everyone is quick to jump on the bandwagon, because gardening can be a pretty daunting task that requires constant hard work and loads of patience. Luckily, there are tips and tricks that will help you boost your plants' growth, as well as speed up harvest time.
Sound impossible? Wait until you check these out:
Go for plants that are easy to grow and quick to harvest. Arugula, cherry belle radish, and black-seeded Simpson lettuce make wonderful choices, as they all need less than a month to grow and reach your plate.
Try microgreens. Microgreens are baby versions of salad greens and herbs like lettuce, watercress, cabbage, endive, beet greens, and kale. They can be harvested as early as seven days, which is when they’re at their most tender and at the peak of nutrition as well. Microgreens can be grown effortlessly outdoors in a garden bed or indoors in a tray filled with soil.
Sprout. Sprouts deserve a spot in your edible garden not only because they’re superfoods in their own right, but because you can grow them without a sweat, regardless of where you are, thriving brilliantly both in indoor and outdoor environments. While you can use Ball jars for sprouting, using tray-filled soil is a more reasonable route to take, because it produces greater and better-tasting yields and requires very little maintenance.
Supercharge your soil. One of the most crucial factors in drawing out yields, pumping up your soil with natural nutrient boosters like compost, compost tea, and vermicompost will make a world of difference.
Make a mulch armor. Adding a layer of mulch over your soil offers a lot of boons. It effectively prevents the growth of weeds and fungal diseases, reduces the need to water because of optimized absorption, and protects against extreme weather and temperature conditions. Organic mulches like wood chips, shredded leaves, and grass clippings act as bonus organic material when they decompose.
Grow your own seedlings in advance. Why wait for winter or spring frost to be over? Get ahead of the game by growing your own seedlings indoors and then transplanting them into your garden once the weather gets better. This trick cuts back your downtime, heightens up the chances of your plants’ survival, and is especially useful in areas where the growing season is short.
Complement your edible garden with flowering plants that attract beneficial insects. Marigold, sunflower, zinnia, purple coneflower, salvia, yarrow, cleome, and daisy make excellent and eye-pleasing choices.
Try these smart gardening strategies today, and reap the fruits of your labor in no time. Once your friends and family get a taste of your gardening success, it won’t take long before they decide to get their hands dirty, too!
Arrianne Nellaine del Rosario is a writer for Mercola.com. A passionate gardener herself, Arrianne is currently researching urban and small-space organic gardening.
See also: When in Bloom in Bozeman
