Hey, loves! I’m excited to introduce you the lovely Ann Sanders, a founder and editor of the delightful blog A Green Garden. With her endless passion of organic living, Ann has created her beautiful green blog to provide people with helpful tips about healthy lifestyle, including plenty of gorgeous ideas about gardening, health and beauty. Today, Ann shares with us 5 Spring Gardening Ideas, that are so inspiring! There is nothing better than growing your own veggies, greens and herbs at home, and eating clean organic food as much as possible. Let’s take a peek…
5 Spring Gardening Ideas
You may think starting a garden can be a little too risky during the cold season, but the early spring is actually a great time to start investing on your vegetation. The food you plant will give you an additional food supply when almost every produce is highly expensive. These cold-hardy plants can shrug off occasional frosts, and may be grown even indoors so you’ll have no excuse not to garden. If you’re looking for ways to maximize your gardening, and of course what to plant in spring, here’s a list of those that will not fail you and give you healthy greens in no time.
#1. Can or Container Gardening
Via https://pixabay.com/en/rain-wet-succulent-garden-rain-wet-2307993/
This idea does not only save you money by re-using trash items, but it is also helpful to the environment. From plastic water bottles, ice cream tubs, or canned goods, make your own garden by removing the top part of the container, making sure no rough edges are present and poking out just a few small holes on the bottom. These cans and containers can be arranged as pots on the ground, or hung on nails for easier watering. The best part is you can get creative and paint the cans with bright colors, making gardening a family activity and a creative project.
#2. Vertical Wall Gardening
Via https://pixabay.com/en/eetbarewand-gift-herb-vertical-1847143/
If you think your space is just not enough, think again. Vegetable gardening does not only work horizontally, but also vertically. You may want to put cyclone wires to your walls to allow beans to grow, or hang small pots for light plants such as herbs. With this approach, only a few of the heavy vegetables are placed directly on ground soil conserving more space.
#3. Pallet Wall Gardening
Via http://www.neatologie.com/transform-wooden-pallet-amazing-herb-garden/
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Grab a couple of old pallet, nail them together, and you got yourself a soil bed for herbs. Herbs are not tricky to grow, they require sunlight, good soil, and of course water. These can be separated from other vegetables in a way that you have easy access to them (as they’re usually used as relish).
#4. Raised Bed Gardening
Via https://pixabay.com/en/raised-bed-garden-urban-gardening-2209807/
Sometimes there’s trouble in gardening, rodents can get the fruit of labor before you. With a raised plant gardening method, there’s better chances of protection for your vegetation. This is also a great alternative for those of you who prefer not to bend too much during gardening. A raised bed allows for easy maintenance and harvest.
#5. Hanging Containers Gardening
Via https://pixabay.com/en/floral-flowers-hanging-basket-967119/
This is almost similar to vertical wall gardening, but different in a way that you are not only utilizing walls, but other spaces as well. If you have porch posts for example, screw in a ledge to hang your baskets and you have additional space for gardening small plants such as herbs and a few cherry tomatoes within your reach. Who said these are only for flowers? I’d say food more than flowers!
Now that the design options are tackled, here are the vegetables you can start your garden with:
#1. Lettuce family
These leafy greens cannot be taken for granted if you want to start a vegetable garden in spring. They’re the perfect option- easy to grow, maintain, does not take up a lot of space, and comes in a lot of varieties. For an early spring planting of lettuce, make sure to keep them away from too much snow. But the best part is you don’t have to regrow lettuce from seed every time you harvest. When you remove leaves, take up only a few from each plant and after a few weeks a new batch will grow.
#2. Kale
Kale is a tough one in terms of withstanding the weather. Unlike the lettuce greens that may require glass covers when too much snow is present, kale can withstand the occasional snowfall. When planted early in the spring, the trick is to start the germination process indoors, and then once the plant is a bit mature you can place it outdoors. As soon as the leaves harden, you may harvest lightly, so that it can again grow back.
#3. Arugula
In just a few weeks time after planting arugula is able to mature, all it needs is a constant supply of water and a little bit of cover to warm up the soil during the germination process. This is the reason why when you plant them during the early spring, within 40 days you have a fresh option to add to your dish.
#4. Carrots
Aside from the redundant green-colored vegetables, you can also add a pop of color to your garden’s harvest. Carrots come in red, orange, or yellow but they all grow perfectly well during the cold season. These vegetables are sweet, they add texture to any dish, and of course color. Best of all, you can choose to harvest them as tender or baby carrots or as matured crunchy ones.
#5. Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a bit tricky to grow, they require a little more space and time to grow than most vegetables, but is a staple food in the kitchen. You can start by growing them indoors, and then moving the grown plant outside later on when the frost season is over.
#6. Garlic
Yet another star of the kitchen is this flavourful vegetable. Garlic may become expensive during the colder seasons, so this is actually a great option to look at. This vegetable needs little space, little maintenance, but produces excellently. When planted early in spring, you can harvest garlic shoots, and in the summer small alliums are ready to harvest.
#7. Herbs
A good meal is not complete without a sprinkle of fresh herbs. Sure dried herbs can do the trick, but there’s nothing better than having it organic and within your reach. Herbs can do well in pots, during this season try and keep them indoors where enough sunlight is reaching them. These plants are easy to grow all year round, just give them adequate water and put them in windows with sunlight and you’ll have ready to pick fresh herbs in no time.
Growing your own food is not a scary idea, okay when you’re just starting it may be tricky, but when you choose the correct ones to plant then you can never go wrong. Spring is a season for growth, and as we’ve mentioned there are vegetables that can be planted earlier in the season to maximize your garden’s harvest. Please, let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment down below, and don’t forget to share this article so others may know how they can benefit from spring vegetables.
* If you need more spring gardening ideas and beautiful green inspirations, check out Ann’s lovely web site A Green Hand or join her on Facebook!
Wishing you a fabulous day : )
Love,
Gerry
