How to 100% guarantee you can grow a garden.

Follow the big 3 for gardening.

How much sun do you get?

Be truthful here. If you don’t have a spot that gets at least 6 hours of sun then a lot of edible plants are -specifically fruiting ( eggplant, tomato, pepper, fruit trees, berries, melons, squashes etc…) will not flower and therefore will not give you food.

The good news is if you have partial sun you can still grow a beautiful herb and salad garden or try out some unusual fruit trees like the paw paw.

How big is your space and what kind of things are happening there. Do you have animals - pets or wildlife coming around? If so fencing or a critter cage might be something you want to consider.

I moved in to my new house, and was so excited to set out my first ever started from seed lettuces and tomatoes… well the next day they were wrecked!

I was distraught ( but then I had a good excuse to check out plants at the local nursery and farm stands… pull my arm please). Anyway learned the hard way I needed a fence before anything else was going in the ground that I payed good money for. I was the new neighbor not the deer and bunnies, they knew this area!

Where is the space’s nearest water source?

Do you plan to add irrigation or hand water? Watering from below consistency and early in the morning is best. But if that not in your budget or a project you feel like tackling hand-watering is plenty good. I love the ritual of it, I have my coffee and take 10 minutes to admire the garden and water it before my busy day is started, sometime the kids “ help” I give them a squirt bottle or stand with them at the hose.

Is it level, if not how do you plan to work with grade of the land?

This is a huge topic, and something for another day.

And the third and just as important as the others is time.

How much time do your or a family member have to take care of your garden? Once your garden is in place it should only take an hour or so a week to keep it in good shape. That can be two 30 minute, 6 or 10 minute sessions, depending on your garden. I don’t look at this at my usual chore time or anything, This is an escape, its playing, its relaxing. I can find reasons to stay much longer than an hour a week believe you me! But to keep a kitchen garden or a couple raised beds growing and doing well, an hour a week will be just fine .