Gardening season is upon us. And whether you have a huge backyard or a tiny porch you can still grow your own food. Although starting a garden is not rocket science, it can seem like a daunting task to the novice grower.
Questions will abound: What should I grow and where should I grow it? What kinds of soil and pest control should I use? How do I keep my plants healthy and what do I do with my garden come wintertime?
Below are five garden related videos on YouTube that should answer these questions and many more:
1. How to Start a Garden
This is a really good guide for beginners to gardening. It takes you through the steps of deciding what kind of garden is best for you (in ground or raised bed), deciding what to plant and where to plant it, and tips for how to keep animals out of the garden. I especially love the “gardening hat” and the random bunny that appears throughout the video.
Side note: If you’re doing a raised bed garden, take into account how big some plants grow and where you should place them. We mistakenly planted our zucchini in the middle of our bed and it has grown so big that it is creeping into the other plants’ spaces.
2. How to Container Garden
For those without access to a yard, or those who just need a garden on a smaller scale, container gardening is probably the best way to go. This video from Penn State goes through the steps of selecting the correct pot and soil and then deciding what to plant.
The only tip I would add is when selecting your pots, make sure they have some sort of drainage holes in the bottom. We had a container garden one year that was flooded after some pretty bad rains (we had forgotten to add drainage holes to our bin — rookie mistake).
3. How to Make Your Own (Chemical Free) Pesticide
Watching bugs destroy and eat the plants you worked so hard to grow can be really frustrating. Although using chemical laden pesticides on your plants will kill these pests, they will also pollute the soil, and can be harmful to you and other animals. Instead try making the natural pesticide shown in this video, created with items you probably already have around the house.
4. How to Make Your Own Compost
In this video, the editor of Organic Gardening magazine gives you a basic overview of how to start a compost pile in your yard. He discusses what you need in a compost bin, what “ingredients” to include in your pile, and what to do with the finished product.
5. How to Prepare Your Garden for Winter
Taking care of your garden before winter begins will ensure that you have healthy soil come springtime. This video shows you how to plant cover crops in your winter garden beds to add important nutrients to the soil and to mulch to protect plants you intend to keep for the next growing season.
Note: the above video does not allow embedding, please click here to view it on YouTube.
