10 Tips for a Successful Vegetable Garden - Urban Programs Travis County (2024)

FAQs

10 Tips for a Successful Vegetable Garden - Urban Programs Travis County? ›

Tips for starting an urban garden

Find a place where the plant has access to at least 6-8 hours of sunlight a day. Plants can be grown on the roof (with permission of course). They can also be grown in window boxes, patios, as well as on balconies in hanging baskets. Soil depth is key.

Tips for starting an urban garden

Find a place where the plant has access to at least 6-8 hours of sunlight a day. Plants can be grown on the roof (with permission of course). They can also be grown in window boxes, patios, as well as on balconies in hanging baskets. Soil depth is key.

Top tips for a successful vegetable garden

Full sun is best. Prepare your soil well before you plant. Thoroughly remove all weeds, dig to loosen the soil, and amend with compost and fertilizer as needed. Choose vegetables that your family likes to eat.

Chard, lettuce, cherry and bush tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer squash, Asian greens, and bush beans are all excellent options for a container garden, depending on the size of your container. And don't forget herbs—basil, chives, thyme and more.

Urban agriculture can include community gardens; larger scale urban farms or orchards; growing vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices for market; raising chickens or livestock and keeping bees. It also may include growing flowers and non-food crops for landscaping and other uses.

There are about as many good reasons for having a community garden as there are gardeners. For some, it's a chance to meet their neighbors; others are excited about learning to garden; some gardeners want to create a green space to grow healthy food for their neighborhood.

As a general rule, put tall veggies toward the back of the bed, mid-sized ones in the middle, and smaller plants in the front or as a border.

As in real estate, the three most important factors to success in vegetable gardening are location, location, and location. You want a location with abundant sunshine, good drainage, away from shrubs and trees and their competing roots, and close to an irrigation source.

Home and community gardeners typically grow food for their own consumption, donation, or limited nonprofit sales. Community gardens typically engage a number of stakeholders. Urban farms operate on a larger scale than community gardens, grow produce for sale, and often require a business license to operate.

What are 5 things you should do to prepare a good veggie garden? ›

The ideal garden area gets full or nearly full sunlight and has deep, well-drained, fertile soil. The garden should be near a water outlet but not close to competing shrubs or trees. However, if you modify certain cultural practices and select the right crops, almost any site can become a highly productive garden.

Create a plan: Decide where you want to place your plants and how you want to arrange them. Consider using raised beds, containers or vertical gardening if you have limited space. Hortisketch is the perfect way to plan a garden. Prepare the soil: Make sure the soil is well-draining and rich in nutrients.

Plant carrot seeds 3-4 inches apart in rows set a foot apart, with the seeds 1/4 inch deep. Carrots can be planted three to five weeks before the last frost date in the spring. Applying manure before planting seeds can cause carrots to shoot out roots from their bodies.

Use the planting lists to determine the ideal times for planting in Los Angeles County. It is best to wait until the end of April to sow or transplant vegetables and fruits that prefer very warm weather to mature--including beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, melons, peppers, pumpkins, and squash.