One of my favorite activities is gardening. In addition to producing my own veggies for eating, it is also a great activity for burning some calories and improving mental health. A study conducted by the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 2018 found that “there is increasing evidence that exposure to plants and green space, and particularly to gardening, is beneficial to mental and physical health.”
It doesn’t take much to start a home garden if your expectations are not too high. You need somewhere to plant your seeds or starts, either directly in the ground or in a raised bed if you have the space in your yard, or in a container of soil on a patio, porch, or balcony, or even on a windowsill. From there your plant(s) just need proper water and some care.
Of course, if you want to have a big robust garden with tons of variety and plants producing award-winning harvests, there is more to it. However, when people are first getting started, I always recommend starting with something simple to help keep the stress level low and boost the chances of a successful harvest.
Various factors need to be taken into consideration when deciding what crop(s) to include in your home garden, and conducting proper research before starting is very important. Some things to consider include:
- Space: Some crops take up considerably more space than others, and you will want to limit what you include in your garden to what can fit in it when everything is fully grown.
- What you eat: When people ask me what they should grow, I encourage them to think about some of the things they eat often and consider growing those things if it makes sense to do so.
- Where you live: If you are cultivating indoors, then this doesn’t matter as much, but if you are gardening outside in the elements then where you live makes a big difference. The United States Department of Agriculture has a great online tool where you can punch in your zip code to see which ‘hardiness zone’ you live in, and that will give you a better idea of what plants prefer to grow in those zones.
- Time and patience level: Some plants are harder to grow than others and require more care than others. Consider how much time you realistically want to put into your garden each day/week and plant accordingly. I often encourage newbie gardeners to start with tomatoes, zucchini, and/or herbs because they are fairly easy to grow and don’t require much time, and the odds of those plants succeeding are better than many other crops.
A great online resource for home gardening that I recommend to anyone who asks for tips is the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service. While the university itself is located in Oregon (Corvallis), they have published tons of amazing gardening advice and tips over many years that can help people in many parts of the United States, with the information being heavily researched by very smart people.
OSU also offers an ‘ask extension‘ page on its website where you can submit your individual questions and get personalized answers. In my anecdotal experience using their resources and asking them questions, the OSU Extension Service has been consistently helpful and amazing.
Right now is about the time that many home gardeners can consider starting plants from seeds, and OSU recently published a great article on OregonLive.com about how to start your own seed-starting mix to get ahead of the spring gardening season. If that sounds like something you are interested in, check it out. Happy gardening!
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