How To Make A Garden At Home With Our Planters!

Growing your own garden can be an enriching experience. Having contact with soil, live plants, and natural light puts you in touch with nature no matter where you are. If you grow vegetables, you can save some money, as it’s more efficient to grow most of them than buy them wholesale. No yard? No problem! From rooftop gardens to terrace gardens, there are plenty of ways to get a green thumb in New York City. Let Planter Resource guide you in making your own garden with our planters.

Know What You’re Growing

You might already have some choice plants to grow in your garden. Make sure that your picks make sense for your area! It’s helpful to know the dates of the first and last frost for your zone and consult other gardeners in your area to know what grows well and what doesn’t. If you plan on having a small garden, you should probably avoid growing plants like pumpkins, which quickly take over small areas.

It’s also helpful to grow plants that you want to eat. Growing flowers is pretty, but you can grow various herbs and vegetables in your garden. What you grow depends on your tastes, but some herbs, fruits, and vegetables are easier to grow than others. Some easy and quick-growing vegetables include:

• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Beans
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Squash
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Leafy greens

Likewise, some fruits and herbs are easier to grow than others. Good choices include:

• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Chives
• Strawberries
• Blueberries

Another thing to keep in mind once you’ve chosen your plants is the exact variety. When buying seeds, pay close attention to the description on the packet. Some produce varieties that are ideal for small gardens or planters. Others have superior resistance to cold or heat. Consider your location and preferences when making your choices.

Choose A Location That Gets Direct Sunlight

Now you have to figure out where your garden will be. Ideally, you will have a location that gets plenty of direct sunlight. Having your plants under direct sunlight all day isn’t strictly necessary -most vegetables and flowers need a minimum of 6 hours per day- but it will help them grow faster. Greens, herbs, and root vegetables grow fine if they are partially in the shade. Remember when the sun hits your plants and from what direction, since many plants will turn to face the sun. Avoid placing your garden in areas with high winds or heavy frost.

Gather Supplies

Ensure that you have the essential tools and supplies to start and maintain your garden. Precisely what you will need depends on what garden you have, but at a minimum, you always need a way to water your plants, a spade for planting, and fertilizer or compost you can add to enrich the soil you buy. Pay special attention to the pH of your soil; most plants like a pH of between 6.2 and 6.8, but some are even pickier about the range they will tolerate. Also, mind the texture of your soil and whether it is sandy, heavy clay, rocky, or ideal sandy loam. If your soil’s pH is too low, try adding limestone, while soil with high pH could benefit from an addition of sulfur. Don’t buy cheap plastic tools if you can avoid them, as well-made metal tools will last longer and serve you better. Potential tools and supplies you might need include:

• Shovel
• Rake
• Hose
• Watering can
• Spade
• String and stakes for marking out beds
• Sprinkler
• Fertilizer or compost
• Fencing materials
• A soil test kit

Plan Your Beds And Layout

For a beginner gardener, the most important thing is to start small. Seeds and planters are tiny initially, but fully-grown plants can get more extensive than you might have expected. Remember, a small, well-tended garden is healthier than a large, overgrown garden. Starting small also helps keep you from getting overwhelmed with multiple types of plants with different growing requirements.

The arrangement of your garden is essential. First, what plants you put close to each other matters. Plants like lettuce, like some shade, grow well next to tall corn stalks, while plants like spinach and herbs mature early in the season, and you can replace them with tomato plants. You should place plants in rows or grids to maximize their growing space. Ideally, beds should be no wider than 3-4 feet across and no longer than 10 feet so that you can reach the center from either side.

Start Planting

Once your planters are ready, it’s time to start planting your garden. Ideally, you should plant after the last frost. You should generally plant seeds about three times as deep as the diameter of the seed, though always read the instructions on the seed packet. Some need light for germination. If you are planting transplants, plant the transplant at the same depth it was already at. Finally, if you are planting young plants outside, they may need protection, so consider hardening them.

Get Planters From Planter Resource

If you live in New York City, you probably don’t have a yard to plant in. Don’t worry; Planter Resource is here to help! We offer a wide selection of planters for gardeners, whether they plant indoors, on rooftop terraces, or in community gardens. We have served New York City for over 25 years with fast deliveries of high-quality planters from fiberglass to terracotta. So don’t wait another minute to start planning your new garden. Call Planter Resource today!