SAN ANTONIO – It’s planting season! We are starting a new segment called Gardening with KSAT. I, Sarah Acosta, am attempting to bring our garden beds in KSAT’s courtyard back to life.
I’m starting by explaining how you can start your own beginner organic garden. The importance is prepping the soil.
But first, a disclaimer: I am not a professional gardener by any means. I’m just like you at home, I have killed my fair share of plants, but I am passionate about gardening and hope these segments for first-time gardeners can help you fall in love with gardening as well.
Here are some steps for starting a garden:
First, pick your area. Ask yourself: will the vegetables or plants need shade? Do they need full sun?
Our boxes at KSAT give us a little bit of both.
Next, it’s time to till. You don’t need to use a tiller for this. You can always till with hand tools or shovels.
I like to use a small electric tiller because it’s easy to use and makes the process fast.
Tilling the soil allows for it to aerate and helps bring in moisture and air, which encourages root growth.
Tilling is also an organic way to get rid of weeds.
After tilling the soil, use a rake to even it out and make sure you didn’t miss any weeds.
When planting your vegetable or pollinator garden you want your soil to be as natural as possible. It’s very important to stay away from any pesticides or chemicals because then it defeats the purpose of attracting those pollinators. Those chemicals and pesticides are very harmful to our butterflies and very important pollinators.
Especially when you are planting a vegetable garden, you are eating those vegetables so you want to stay as healthy as possible. Happy Frog is an organic soil conditioner that’s an option to buy. You can look at the ingredients and everything is natural and healthy but honestly, the most organic thing to do is make your own compost.
Spread the compost or conditioner out evenly, a good two-inch layer works nicely.
Remember just like we need nutrients to help keep our bodies healthy, plants need soil rich in nutrients to promote growth.