Hill Side Vegetable Gardening
Hill Side Vegetable Gardening Presents Unique Challenges
Hill side vegetable gardening presents a unique set of obstacles that you will not face if you garden on flat land. While hill side vegetable gardening can be challenging, it is also very rewarding because it allows you to turn unusable land into something productive. If you pay careful attention to drainage, feeding your plants, and pest control, hill side vegetable gardening will provide you with high yields of beautiful vegetables.
In Hill Side Vegetable Gardening, Drainage is the Key
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When it comes to hill side vegetable gardening, the toughest challenge you will face is keeping your plants watered. The way that your slope drains will determine what plants will thrive and what plants will not do so well in your hillside garden. If your slope angles at a very steep grade, water will run right down the hill and never reach the delicate roots of your vegetable garden. You have to get around this by creating small terraces and placing your plants in these terraces. Vegetable hill side gardening that integrates terraces into its design allow your plants to sit in a spot where water can collect and soak in to the soil.
Drainage can also play a key role in your planting scheme. Gravity works against you in hill side vegetable gardening so starting your garden by seeds is not a great idea. If you direct sow seeds into your slope, one rain could send them all rolling to sprout at the bottom of your yard. If you want to start your plants from seed, start them indoors under grow lights and transplant them in on your hillside once they have a set of true leaves. You can also buy established plants at a reputable nursery and plant them in your sloping garden.
Feeding Challenges
When it comes to feeding your plants, hill side vegetable gardening presents challenges much like those faced when it comes to watering on a slope. A good rain can wash away the plant food that you meticulously placed around your new seedlings. If you have terraced your garden, it is a better option to feed your plants with food that is mixed in a gallon of water. This kind of fertilizer can soak right into the roots of the plants giving them plenty of nourishment. Another option is to spray plant food onto the leaves of your vegetable plants.
Pest Control
Because pesticides can wash away, hill side vegetable gardening has a few challenges when it comes to pest control. Add to that the fact that vegetation on a hillside is particularly attractive to the birds that fly overhead, and the potential for pest problems in hill side vegetable gardening is huge. The best way to combat pests in the hillside garden is to lay netting over your vulnerable plants and invest in a few predator bugs such as praying mantis and ladybugs.
| About The Author Percy Troughton runs his own Garden Center in California. Click on the following links for more info on Hill Side Vegetable Gardening or more general Garden Resources articles and resources. This article may be reproduced as long as the author is kept intact including the hyperlinks. |