The idea of creating an urban vegetable garden torments many people sensitive to benefits of garden produce and wishing, in addition to having fun, to preserve their budget because the price increases of vegetables have followed one another for some time. However, if one launches out blindly, it is quickly the disaster, mainly for the neophyte gardeners who have no notion of the 8 fatal mistakes to avoid absolutely not to be discouraged. This is what we are going to discover without delay.
1 – Create an oversized urban vegetable garden
This is the trap into which many inexperienced gardeners fall, whose initial enthusiasm knows no bounds. However, gardening is time-consuming and requires keeping a calendar because you have to be able to do different jobs on time, then harvest and not lose any fruits and vegetables. The lack of availability therefore does not make it possible to properly maintain too large a vegetable garden and generally leads to failure.
To be able to keep up the pace without ever feeling overwhelmed, it is better to start by cultivating 30m² at the most. That’s enough to get your hands dirty, learn the basics of gardening, and produce enough vegetables, fruits and aromatic herbs to meet a good part of the family’s needs. We can even limit ourselves to one or two vegetable plots of 120 x 120 cm eachwhich allows you to garden in height to preserve your back and to discover that a few feet of tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, strawberries or parsley are very productive.
It is necessary to be able to harvest kilos of products in a very short time but also to consume them or can them without waiting. Planting too many can therefore lead to panic and waste.
2 – Create an urban vegetable garden in the wrong place
If the location of his vegetable garden is badly chosen, the efforts made to cultivate will not be rewarded.
One of the essential conditions for vegetable plants to be vigorous et productive is to choose the best location for them. We therefore do not install our vegetable garden under large trees or at the foot of a building which creates too much shade and does not allow the plants to benefit from a sufficient brightness. Also, fruits and vegetables need a lot of sun to ripen and be tasty. Good sunshine also avoids excess humidity, responsible for diseases.
3 – Cultivate without being interested in the nature of the soil
It is not enough to put plants in the ground for them to grow. It exists different types of soil, each being adapted to a specific category of plants. If we don’t take this factor into account, we risk seeing nothing come out of the ground.
Before embarking on the creation of an urban vegetable garden, the gardener has every interest in analyzing his soil. A blow of the spade is enough because the earth thus turned says a lot about its nature. We can distinguish a rich, fertile soilby its color: black or dark brown, it contains a good amount of humus. You can see earthworms there, the soil is loose and the water seeps in well. On the other hand, if it is clear, sticky, if the water stagnates there from the first shower, if it is ultra dry, hard and cracked in summer and if it does not harbor earthworms, it should be lightened with a little river sand and enriched with compost in order to accommodate a vegetable garden with dignity.
4 – Not respecting the planting periods
Sowing or planting as soon as spring arrives is not an excellent idea. The risk of frost are still present in most of our regions, and are sometimes still to be feared in April or May. Sure, impatience is understandable, but it leads to haste, which is not a virtue in gardening terms.
For successful sowing and planting, the fact that the air has softened during the day is not enough. The ground must have been sufficiently warmed by the sun, and the nights must no longer be freezing. The good solution is to take some time to observe the neighboring gardens. We have to wait for signs showing that vegetation has restarted. Otherwise, we invest in a greenhouse or we install tunnels.
5 – Overload your urban vegetable garden
Sowing or planting densely is one of the most common mistakes made by new gardeners, especially in cities because they have little space. Thinking they can enjoy abundant harvests, they tighten their plans as much as possible. But it’s totally counter productive. Under these conditions, the plants do not breathe, they get in the way. They do not develop properly, produce little, and are more often sick.
It is always necessary respect the recommended distances between plants, depending on the species and varieties grown, and above all do not try to overload your beds. It is essential to enjoy generous harvests and quality vegetables.
6 – Drown the plants in the vegetable garden
It is wrong to think that by excessively watering its seedlings or freshly transplanted plants they will grow faster and become bigger! If they have too much water, there is every chance, on the contrary, of seeing them perish asphyxia of their small roots which will not even have had time to develop.
Of course, the frequency of watering is assessed according to the weather situation. In periods of high heat or drought, it is important to water more frequently than if it rains regularly. At the beginning of their establishment, vegetable plants need to be watered every two daysin moderation, for a dozen days, the time necessary for the germination des plants.
Thereafter, we water just enough and to save water, the ideal is to install a mulch which slows down the evaporation process, thus allowing the soil to retain a certain freshness. The icing on the cake, a mulch prevents weeds from developing.
7 – Neglecting the weeding of the urban vegetable garden
Loving gardening is not just about sowing and then harvesting. For lack of time (or lack of desire) some novice gardeners let the weeds between their vegetables. Sometimes it only takes a few weeks for the vegetable garden to look like a battlefield. However, local herbs are very invasive and cultivated plants suffer from this rude concurrence.
It is crucial to regularly devote some time to weeding. This one can be done manually or at the hoe. Weeds are removed as soon as they appear, taking care to also remove their roots. In addition, pass the hoe, every 6 to 8 daysallows the soil to be well aerated and facilitates the penetration of rainwater and watering, which greatly benefits the plants in the vegetable garden.
8 – Planting vegetables that require know-how
Some species are quite complicated to grow because they are demanding or grow slowly like melon, cabbage, leek… If you don’t have any gardening experience, you can quickly give up.
It is recommended to start by planting fast-growing and high-yielding vegetables without the need to spend all your time caring for them. This is among others the case of radishes, salads, cherry tomatoes, beans and even strawberries and also aromatic herbs such as parsley, mint, chives, bay leaf.