Should You Start A Spring Vegetable Garden?

It’s almost spring. The pollen is off to a good start, the bees are buzzing and it's a great time to start thinking about whether you should start a spring vegetable garden! We know: most people recommend getting started closer to summer time but hear us out. By the time they’re getting seeds in the ground, you could be harvesting some home-grown goodies of your own.

Never had a garden before? No worries. Here’s a quick play-by-play on how to start a spring vegetable garden for beginners. Plus, we got a chance to interview a good friend of Amber’s: Adri Warrick with the Juice Plus Company for some awesome tips on Tower gardens.

Gardening 101: Why?

The best place to start when you’re thinking about starting a spring vegetable garden is: why? There are quite a few reasons that we’re partial to but here’s 3 good ones:

- You’ll save money at the grocery store -- This is a bit of a no brainer but you’ll have to buy less produce at the grocery store. A well maintained vegetable garden can save you hundreds of dollars a year in produce costs at the store. All for a couple of dollars and a lot of love.

- You’ll have fresh, pesticide-free produce on demand -- You control how and with what your produce grows. That means avoiding potentially toxic pesticides that strip some of the nutrients from the produce you grab ath your local grocery store.

- You’ll learn to naturally eat more veggies, which is great for your health -- You grew it, so you’ll appreciate it! That means using your own tomatoes and cucumbers more often than the ones you tossed into the vegetable drawer after a grocery haul. And since you can grow as little or as much produce as you want in your home garden, you’ll reduce the amount of food you waste.

Gardening 101: How?

Gardening isn’t as hard as it seems. It’s 80% patience and 20% love (and maybe 1% luck for 101% delicious veggies). You can get started with a few simple steps:

1. Do some research -- You’re already one step ahead of most by reading this article. Being informed is the most important thing you can do when starting a spring vegetable garden that’s successful and fruitful! Don’t rely on just one source. Pick up a Farmer’s Almanac, watch YouTube videos, and read more articles.

2. Get quality seeds -- Don’t just pick up any pack of seeds. Head to a Farmer’s market or your local gardening specialty store and ask questions based on your research. If you plan to have a successful garden make sure you prioritize quality over quantity for your seeds.

3. Get your soil ready for planting -- This can be as simple as grabbing a bag of potting soil and adding it to a large container or pulling up weeds in the backyard to make room for your garden plot. Pro tip: Make sure you set up for proper drainage as needed too.

4. Maintain, maintain, maintain -- Finish what you start. Make sure you’re checking your crop’s health daily, keeping weeds and pests clear, and watering them the appropriate amount. Showing your shrubs some love can make all the difference.

5. Harvest and enjoy -- This step speaks for itself but once you’ve cultivated a killer spring vegetable garden full of fresh produce, harvest it on time and enjoy! You can cycle through these steps over and over to keep your garden and veggie stores full to the brim.

Gardening 101: What?

Now that we’re all good with the Why and How of starting a spring vegetable garden, the last question is “What’s the best way to do it?”. We can answer that question with another question: Have you ever heard of Tower Gardens?

In our interview with Adri, she gave us the scoop on Tower Gardens and how you can easily use them for home gardens. 

Tower Gardens grow plants with only water and nutrients rather than dirt. Research has found aeroponic systems grow plants three times faster and produce 30% greater yields on average. That means you’ll be enjoying abundant and nutritious harvests just weeks after planting with little maintenance. 

Vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers — you can grow just about anything (except root crops, grapevines, bushes, and trees).

A Tower Garden has a vertical and compact design with a closed-loop system technology so it requires as little as 10% of the space and water you'd use with a traditional garden. In addition, the new Tower Garden HOME lets you grow greens and herbs indoors and year-round so you can grow your own healthy food in a way that's even healthier for the environment.

Adri sells these awesome additions to any gardener’s arsenal and we’ve partnered with her to get you all access to them. Go to https://warrick.towergarden.com/ for more information on how to get started. If you have any questions, drop a line to carter@thegoodkitchen.com.