Grow More by Setting Vegetable Gardening Goals

Have you ever stopped to think about your vegetable gardening goals? If you are like many gardeners, you may find your main motivation is simply to get outside and reconnect with nature by digging in the dirt. You may also enjoy gardening as a way to squeeze more physical activity into an otherwise hectic schedule. Without question, growing a vegetable garden is a very relaxing way to accomplish these goals.

A sense of personal satisfaction and better overall health are admirable and worthwhile objectives on their own. However, if you dig a little deeper you may find you have a number of other goals for your vegetable garden. If you find you are short on gardening space, clearly defining these goals before you begin growing will make it a lot easier to achieve them.

For example, if you want to reduce your monthly grocery bill throughout the year by preserving part of your harvest, you’ll need to figure out how much you can actually grow in the space you have available. Even if you just want to grow enough so your family can enjoy fresh produce during the warmer months, you’ll still need to figure out what you want to grow and how to make it work within your personal space and time constraints.

Take Stock of Your Personal Resources 

Time and space may prevent you having a garden this big. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In most cases, the amount your garden can produce will be defined by the amount of resources you can devote to it. Therefore, you’ll want to ask yourself the following questions:

1. How much time do you have to work in your garden?
2. How much space do you have available to plant?
3. If you plan to preserve part of your harvest, where will you store it?
4. What is your budget?

This last question is often overlooked, but it is very important because financial considerations will determine how much you can invest in seeds, transplants or other supplies. Honest answers to all of these questions will ensure you don’t get in over your head or become discouraged before you’ve had a chance to see results. Defining the amount of resources you have available upfront will allow you to set more achievable vegetable gardening goals.

Plus, it’s always easier to overcome a challenge once you clearly define it. Taking stock of your current situation can help you find creative solutions to potential challenges. For example, perhaps you can overcome a small budget by swapping seeds with neighboring gardeners or online communities. If you are short on growing space, maybe you can take advantage of unused vertical space along a sunny wall.

Define the End Results You’d Like to Achieve

Once you’ve developed a clear picture of what you have to work with, you can set realistic gardening goals. Make a list of the fruits, vegetables and herbs you use most in your cooking and highlight your most important “must-have” items. This will help you focus your resources on what matters most to you and will make it much easier if you decide to scale back your plans later.

As you can see, there are many benefits to setting vegetable gardening goals. Once you have a clear picture of what you’d like to get out of your vegetable garden, you’ll have a better idea of what you need, and what you can reasonably accomplish.

Why Gardening Is Important for Humanity

Most people think of gardening as a hobby, and indeed, for most people it is. But gardening is far more than that, and although the reasons why we garden may be as many as there are gardeners, at a basic level the real reason is that it fulfills some important needs for us as humans.

Obviously one of the main reasons is that it helps us feel some sense of control over at least a part of our food supply - however small that part may be. In today's day and age, the importance of this aspect cannot be overstated. Most people haven't the faintest idea where their food comes from in any real sense. Where was it raised? How was it raised/what kind of a life did it have? Where has it been since then? There is no connection between us and where our food comes from anymore.

"Spirit of '18. The World Cry FOOD. Keep the home gardening going". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being able to say you know exactly what is on your plate and what went into growing it, harvesting it, and getting it onto your plate is something most people aren't able to do with any sort of certainty these days. Growing some of it in your own backyard is a great way to have a real connection with what you eat - and also to experience what goes into growing food, and therefore at least feel a greater connection to those who grow the rest of yours.

But at perhaps an even deeper level, humans yearn to feel that they are contributing something of value, and feeling that you have a hand in directly contributing to the survival and well being of yourself and your family is a powerful thing - so much so that it's hard to put into words. Contributing food that you planted, cared for, and harvested with your own two hands to your family's dinner table offers an important sense of control and connection in an often uncertain and disconnected world. Those who garden may not put their reasoning into these words, but it goes a long way towards explaining why gardening is just about the most popular and widespread "hobby" in the developed world.

If you haven't started a garden before, or even if you have but you're not sure if you want to do it again this year, think about the deeper meaning behind what it is to garden - not just to enjoy a pretty scene of flowers and vegetables, but to truly help to support yourself and your family with your own efforts. It may not always be easy, but when it comes down to it, it's always worth it.

Want to Try Gardening? Consider a Potager

You may have heard the saying, "have your cake and eat it too." With a potager you have your garden and eat it too!

Potagers are a great option for people who live on smaller lots of land or only have room for a small garden. They are also great for people who just don't have the time to tend a larger garden but like to have some color in their yard and fresh vegetables at the same time.

Kitchen garden at Bolen residence (Photo credit: Gardening in a Minute)

So just what is a potager?

Depending on who you ask, there are a few different definitions of what a potager is supposed to be - ranging from an organized display vegetable garden to a combination of edible plants and display plants.

If you've never heard the term before, essentially a potager is making use of the colors and textures of vegetables to create a colorful display garden with the added benefit of being able to eat the plants in it, and that is why it is considered the ultimate garden by some - it is pleasing to both the eye and the stomach!

With many flowers finding their way into salads and other forms of foods as people become aware of the fact that they are edible, the potager has become more popular in recent years.

By adding sculptures, pots, specimen trees and anything else that you would add to a normal flower garden, the potager can become a focal point in any garden and your vegetables no longer need to be hidden away out of sight in some other part of your property.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most potagers are grown in raised beds that allow better control over the drainage and reduce the chance of the vegetables becoming waterlogged. Raised beds also allow the soil to warm faster in the spring, create ease of access, and offer a neat look.

By planning your sustainable vegetable garden in a structured manner, and making use of contrasting colors and textures of leaves, foliage, and vegetables, you can create a display that will rival any flower garden.

It can be quite a fun and exciting challenge to create an eye-catching potager. If you only have a small area for gardening, and want to try something a bit different with your available space, why not try a potager this garden season?


Check Out These Resources for More On Creating A Potager: