Vegetable gardening not only saves you money but also comes with great rewards. Caring for your crops and tracking their growth allows you to get up close and personal with the wonders of nature.

If you are not yet convinced to try it, you might also like to know that the flavour of garden-grown produce is much better than what you are used to buying at the grocery store. Tending to your vegetable garden allows you to spend more time outside, maybe even encouraging your family or friends to get involved. Plus, it counts as great exercise!

Before you run off with your itchy green fingers, we want to share seven tips to keep in mind while shopping at your nearest nursery so that you know what to do, where to go, and what to buy.

1. Choosing a spot

Before running off and buying a bunch of plants, it is vital to consider the space available for your vegetable garden. The amount of shade/sun will determine the types of vegetables you would be able to plant and harvest successfully. If you only have a balcony or limited space at your disposal, growing vegetables in containers might be a valuable option for you. To avoid neglect, choose an area that offers convenient water access.

2. Start small

There are a few advantages to starting small, especially if you are a beginner gardener. Allow yourself the opportunity to learn a few gardening basics and see how much time and commitment it requires before investing a lot of money. You will also find it more rewarding to produce small amounts successfully than to get frustrated with a too big commitment.

3. Choose your veggie plants

The obvious starting point would be to plant vegetables you like eating, but this decision entails three essential things to consider. Firstly, you already know what size and type of space you have available, so consider the size the plant requires. Secondly, note that some vegetables would provide throughout the season, while others can only produce one harvest. And last, it is essential to choose according to the hours a day the plant requires sunlight or if it thrives better in shady areas, which will be determined by what your allocated space offers. You won’t have a lot of success if you plant sun-loving plants in shaded areas and vice versa.

4. Healthy soil is important

Biosoil is a concentrate solution of Humic and Fulvic acids that can be applied as a source of carbon and natural supplement for improved soil quality. Biosoil is a food source for soil microbes, and fulvic acid contributes to the soil’s water-holding capacity. A regular addition to irrigation water in sandy soils proves beneficial for crop growth and improves the uptake of nutrients in the soil.

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5. Watering cycles

Your plants are still fragile for the first few weeks and require frequent watering, while established plants require less watering. Your plants need to have a solid rooting system to be able to access all the nutrients. We recommend two unique water-saving products to assist you with your watering cycles. Waterwise®3D, a highly effective wetting agent, allows the water to penetrate deeper into the soil, improves the efficiency of fertilizers, and saves you a lot of water and cost by cutting watering up to 50%.

AquaFix®, perfectly described by its nickname, The Water Reservoir, AquaFix® absorbs water and nutrients up to 300 times its weight acting as a reservoir, slowly releasing the water in the plant root zone as required. This addition to your garden will significantly reduce your watering cycles.

Read more about these two products: https://makhro.co.za/2021/11/17/saving-water-this-summer/

6. Look out for insects and diseases

The diseases and insect activity would depend on the various crops and seasons, but it is good practice to inspect your plants constantly. Some insects and diseases can quickly destroy the precious plants and vegetables you so carefully nurtured. We highly recommend our RTU (Ready-To-Use) products if you are starting small and only planting a few plants. Orius RTU is a ready-to-use fungicide, and Servus RTU is a ready-to-use insecticide. The numerous amount of advantages our RTU products offers is what makes them so desirable. It’s so easy; you don’t have to mix at all. Just grab and spray! Using our Ready-To-Use products, you can only use what you need and store the rest. To control sucking insects and aphids, you would need a systemic insecticide as a contact insecticide won’t be able to handle those. But don’t stress, Koinor, a fantastic systemic insecticide, is super easy to apply; no need to spray; pour the mixed dilution at the base of the stem.

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7. Feed your plants

We offer a wide variety of great fertilizers, each with its advantages. Feeding your plants is extremely important; whether you prefer natural or chemical fertilizer is totally up to you.  

Grobest FH100 is a fish hydrolysate and is a natural way to supply abundant minerals and vitamins to your plants, whether you are growing roses, vegetables, fruits, ferns, or even houseplants. Whereas Multi-Booster is a water-soluble fertilizer containing three macro elements, nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, in an ideal ratio for most garden plants.

Read more about these products on our website: https://makhro.co.za/product/multi-booster/; https://makhro.co.za/product/grobest-fh100/