How to get started, “Its easier said than done”

Oh my God, I was thinking my gardening project is going to be a bed of roses but I think I missed the part that roses comes with thorns.

When I actually wanted to execute my plan, I am totally lost that how to get started now. There is just so much online that one strays away quite easily. After struggling and drowning in the vast ocean of information and resources, I figured out there are so many factors to consider and so many things to know before getting your hands dirty with the dirt. Specially when it comes to winter-sowing, gardening options are limited and constraints are more. Lori Duke talks about some of the important factors  to keep in mind to help better plan the winter garden:

• Plant hardiness and growth habit of individual vegetables for deciding what to plant and where to plant it.
• Average frost dates and local weather patterns for timing when to plant it.
• Techniques such as crop rotation, interplanting and companion planting for deciding how to plant it.

Photo Credit: dottieg2007 Flickr via Compfight cc

There are quite a few methods of gardening like soilless growing, hydroponic, aeroponics, and soil-based growing etc. I am planning to seed using soil-based and water-based methods.

In soil-based method, crops are often grown in soil, either in containers or out in the field. Containers are used for growing crops that are mainly for export, while field cultivation involves the preparation of agricultural lands and undertaking modifications, such as the cultivation of beds to ease crop management. In soil-based agriculture, different types of soils are used to grow different crops. For instance, root crops grow better in fine soils because such soils allow for better root growth. In ancient times, fertilizers were not applied to soil crops. Today, limited agricultural space has made it difficult for people to rotate crops, so growing spaces get fully rehabilitated. To increase yields, farmers must now use agrochemicals on agricultural fields to enhance soil fertility so crops get the nutrients they need to grow.

In water-based method, I will not use soil but water, containers and seeds.

Finally, I think now I have lined up some of the stuff and to move in a specific direction. Let’s see how it goes…