🌱 The basics for starting a successful vegetable garden

1. A sunny location:
   Most vegetables and herbs require between 6 and 8 hours of sunlight per day to grow well.

2. A quality soil:
   Enrich your soil with compost or suitable potting soil to provide essential nutrients to your plants.

3. Regular maintenance:
   Watering, weeding and monitoring pests are essential tasks for a healthy vegetable garden.

4. Lack of space?

   • Use containers: Pots, planters, or even planting bags.
   • Choose compact or climbing varieties to maximize available space.

🌿 Avoid Common Beginner Mistakes

One of the common pitfalls for beginning gardeners is overplanting. The variety available at the garden center can be tempting, but it's important to stay realistic:

• Plant only what your family will consume.
• Do not sow the entire contents of your seed packets. Store them in a cool, dry place for later sowing.

🌟 Example of a vegetable garden for 4 people

A well-planned vegetable garden can feed a family of four without waste. Here's a balanced suggestion:

In seeds:

• Lettuce: Successive sowing for regular harvests.
• Carrots: Easy to grow and loved by everyone.
• Beans: Ideal for continuous summer harvests.
• Radishes: Perfect for beginners, grow quickly.
• Beets: Edible leaves and roots, a double pleasure!
• Peas (snap or sugar snap): Delicious raw or cooked.

In plants:

• 3 tomatoes : Vary the varieties (Italian, cherry, yellow).
• 2 cucumbers : Make them climb to save space.
• 1 zucchini : Very productive, ideal for summer dishes.
• 3 peppers or hot peppers : Add color and flavor.
• 3 cabbages : Kale or headed cabbage for their nutritional benefits and their resistance.
• 25 onions, leeks or shallots : An essential basic.
• 4 herbs : Parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary. Grow them in pots to keep them close to the kitchen.

🌼 Optimize your space

1. Choose compact varieties:
   Some varieties, such as determinate tomatoes or climbing cucumbers, are ideal for small spaces.

2. Use trellises:

   • Train cucumbers, zucchini or peas to free up ground space.
   • Trellises also add a decorative touch to the vegetable garden.

3. Planting herbs in pots:
   This allows you to move them as needed and save space in the main vegetable garden.

💧 Maintenance makes all the difference

A thriving vegetable garden requires a minimum of rigor:

• Watering: Maintain constant humidity, especially during hot periods.
• Weeding: Remove weeds regularly to prevent them from competing with your vegetables.
• Harvest: Be mindful and harvest your vegetables at the right time to stimulate continued production.

🌟 Growing a vegetable garden is easy and rewarding

Creating a vegetable garden is much more than a utilitarian activity. It is an enriching experience that reconnects you with nature and offers fresh, tasty, pesticide-free vegetables. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced gardener, plan your vegetable garden well, pay attention to your crops, and enjoy your harvest with pride.

So what are you waiting for? On your seeds, get set… plant! 🌿🌞