Easy Simple Backyard Garden Or Vegetable Gardening Made Easier

My husband has always been a backyard gardener. Now that Michelle Obama has put a victory garden in at the White House, everyone wants to get in on the easy backyard vegetable gardening act.

All along the fence and the house in our backyard, my husband has made raised garden beds and has planted vegetables. We live in San Antonio, Texas so we can plant things a lot earlier than a good deal of the country. Sometimes, he plants too early and loses things to frost, but not usually. This year, 2009, he started planting in February.

He prepared the garden beds in January by tilling the soil, adding garden worms that he ordered to help the soil. Then he put compost, fertilizer,and mulch in the beds. He started plants and seeds in the house and when they were big enough, he transplanted them to the vegetable garden beds. Some plants he put in big pots on the deck.

My husband, David, has a green thumb so he has a lot of luck with vegetables. He planted two kinds of lettuce, five kinds of tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, sun flowers, strawberries (I know, they are not veggies, but he loves them) cucumbers, carrots, onions, green beans, and several varieties of peppers.

We have already been harvesting two kinds of lettuce, strawberries, and grape tomatoes. It is really great to eat fresh lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. They taste much better than the store-bought produce and are much healthier and cheaper.

Anyway, once David planted everything, he covered it all over with mulch. He waters several times a week and makes sure that no weeds are growing in the garden beds. Fresh vegetables straight from the garden taste so much better than store-bought vegetables do and in these days of economic downturn, they are a big help with the family budget.

Give easy vegetable gardening a try right now while it is still spring. If you want to start out small, go down to Wal-Mart and pick up a few tomato plants such as cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and regular sized tomatoes. They come in many varieties. Buy a few big pots or dig some beds in your yard. Fill with potting soil and use some Miracle-Gro. Plant the tomato plants. Water them and add some mulch. Water every few days, make sure the plants get plenty of bright sun, and watch them grow. Keep them well-watered, especially if you are in Texas.

Once little yellow flowers appear, you can expect to see tiny green tomatoes. Then watch them get bigger each day and finally, redder each day. Delicious! This is easy backyard vegetable gardening at its best.

San Antonio, Texas is also a great place to grow delicious strawberries. Nearby is Poteet, Texas, the strawberry capital of Texas. Each year, we grow strawberries in our backyard. We just planted over 100 strawberry plants started by seed in our house and they are growing very nicely in raised beds.

We also grow watermelons and cantaloupes. This year, we planted mini orange trees, peach trees and pecan trees so we are hoping for good crops in a few years. I am still trying to talk my husband into some apple trees but he just doesn't want to dig anymore holes! It is too hot! Maybe next year....