A new garden - what a great idea!

Having a garden of your favourite herbs and vegetables is really satisfying experience. Starting and planning your garden is not easy for most people, as it is a new experience to get dirty hands also known as green fingers (if you are any good at it). It doesn't matter if you have only got a small area because you can grow plenty of herbs and vegetables even with limited space.

Some of us have gardens already, but the vegetables and herbs do not grow the way we expect, and then you enter them into bizarre vegetable competitions, and win. This turnip looks like the Pope.

Above: Prize winning turnip - Italy

So here are some of the tips you should consider if you are enthusiastic about gardening.

Plan ahead:

If you start with a precise planning there won't be any trouble later and you will enjoy regular harvesting.

Prepare your garden plot:

First decide the space where to want to grow your vegetable garden. It must be at or somewhere near your home so that you can easily manage harvesting.

Make sure your garden plot receives a sufficient amount of sunlight, water and has measures for water overflow. You can prepare metal or wooden containers for the plantation if you don't have much gardening space.

This will help you cope with planting without putting yourself to much trouble.

Soil:

Check the quality of your soil: Test it whether it has enough amounts of nutrients required for the growth of plants.

Organic Nutrients:

If the soil is not suitable enough then bring some artificial nutrients and mix them in soil. Organic fertilizers are always the best choice.

You can also make your own organic fertilizers at your home. For instance you can crush egg shells, mix in blood left while cooking meat, crushed animal bones and tea leaves after you have made tea etc. These are are all good nutrients for your soil.

PH level check:

Test the PH level of soil. For most of the vegetables neutral PH is good i.e. 7, however you can test it according to your crop. Irrigate it well before plantation and wait for few days after digging.