If our biggest focus is on the five elements that create the healthiest, most-productive garden plants—immense amounts of direct sunlight, amazing soil, just the right amount of water, the proper temperature, and ideal spacing— we end up with plants that practically take care of themselves! The final two big secrets—companion planting and garden design and layout—provide the final complement that bring out the absolute best of our plants.
The Biggest, Best Green-Thumbed Gardening Secrets to Giving Your Plants the Right Amount of Water You may be wondering: Do I really even need to water? Aren’t there gardeners who rarely, if ever, water? We’ve discussed how garden plants need about an inch of water per week. However, not many Read more…
Just as Easy but Twice as Useful This is my favorite method for siting a garden. It’s more precise but not any more difficult than any of the other methods and has many handy uses. The small amount of preparation is very user-friendly and can be accomplished in just a few Read more…
Three More Easy Ways Observe and Record Start observing the place you think would be good for a garden for how much sun it gets. Note when the sun first hits every piece of your spot, as opposed to just starting to hit a part of it. Clearly being able Read more…
Two Easy Ways The Simplest, Easiest Way: A Large Open Space Knowing the cardinal directions on your property, you can expedite this entire process by finding a very large, completely open spot on your land—a place with no trees, buildings, or any other obstructions to the northeast, east, southeast, south, Read more…
Why Northeast and Northwest Instead of Just East and West? On the equinoxes—March 19, 20, or 21 and September 21, 22, or 23, depending on the year—the sun rises due east and sets due west. However, because of the tilt of the earth on its axis, from the spring equinox Read more…
What if You Find You Don’t Have Enough Sun? So what if, after trying all of your best spots, you find that there just isn’t a spot on your property that gets enough sun? Do what you can, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Lack of sunlight is by Read more…
Using a Compass to Find Your Cardinal and Ordinal Directions This is the most basic way to use a compass. If you’re orienteering, there is a whole other set of ways to use one, but, if you just want to know your basic directions, this will work. Set your compass Read more…
Orienting Yourself Family Touchstones Like many “older-timers,” as a child, I saw the sun rise so many times over the same tree-covered hills on the east side of our family farm that I took knowing my cardinal directions there for granted. Knowing east, I could point to any of the Read more…
The First Steps for All Methods Outline Your Spot Pick a spot you think is most promising for getting the most direct sunlight, and mark out its boundaries. To outline your prospective spot, start by marking the corners with stakes, sticks, rocks, or the like—or just rough up each corner Read more…
How Much Sunlight Do Garden Plants Really Need? As much as you possibly can possibly give them! There is no real upper limit. Have you ever seen the pictures of the record crops grown in Alaska? There’s a reason that happens in a place where plants get ridiculous amounts of Read more…