Garden location:

• At the most sunny side of your lot
• As far from any roads as possible
• Away from tall trees and hedges
• Sheltered from strong winds
• As far from the forest as possible
• With water installed near

General:

• First observe the conditions on your lot – shadows, winds, snow-cover duration, water drainage
• The most appropriate position for a garden is the area with at least 6 hours continuous sunlight.
• The rows should run east to west to get optimum sunlight.
• The size of the garden should be appropriate according to your abilities and needs. A 30 m2 (100 ft2) garden supplies a family of four with fresh vegetables. A 60 m2 (200 ft2) provides food for a whole year. A 100 m2 (300 ft2) is enough to plant potatoes, asparagus and similar.
• If you want to turn a meadow into a garden, do it during fall or spring, remove the roots of grass and other plants and any stones.
• Prepare a space for compost in a shady area not to near to the garden.
• The width of the garden beds should enable cultivating from the side/path – approx. 1.2 to 1.5 m (3 to 4 ft).
• The paths between beds should be at least 40 cm (1 ft) wide.
• Don’t use wooden boards for paths, as slugs will hide underneath.
• Birds, hedgehogs, ladybugs and other natural predators are very welcome in the garden.
• It is not good to keep chicken in the garden as they eat earthworms.
• Marigolds, calendula and Indian cress is good for the garden as well – they help with fungal diseases and repel pests.
• To repel slugs, plant onion, garlic, white mustard, Indian cress, calendula, sage or thyme and make an elder or forest fern mulch.
• Organic matter has to be replaced in the soil; therefore it is best to compost garden waste and use it again.
• If you don’t know the characteristics of your soil, take it for analysis to your local agriculture and forestry organizations.
• The soil has to contain the proper acidity, the proper amount of organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and other micro- and macro elements.

Combining fruit and vegetable gardens:

• The fruit area that you will spray should be far away from the vegetable garden.
• Make sure that fruit trees don’t make a shadow for vegetables.
• Garlic and onion repel mice and voles from the tree root.
• Lamb’s lettuce and spinach repel ants which bring lice to the fruit trees.
• Raspberries grow well with beans and peas, but beans must not be planted in the same area every year.
• It is recommended to plant herbs near fruit trees.

Special gardening techniques

All of you curios gardeners can look up and try any of the following gardening techniques:

• Balcony gardens,
• Greenhouse gardening,
• Permaculture,
• Biodynamic gardening,
• Raised garden beds,
• Terrace gardening
• Ornamental gardening.