Have you been wondering, ‘how to make my vegetable garden grow faster?’ Well, in this article, you’ll learn how to potentially cut the time needed to grow veggies dramatically.

You have just learned the basics of prepper vegetable gardening from our 55 Crops For the Best Prepper Survival Garden and Gardening For Preppers (The Mega Guide) but realize that your garden isn’t producing much food, and it is taking too long to produce food and crops.

Don’t worry, we have all been in this situation before. Here are the absolute best tips to make your garden grow much more in less time.

Let’s dig in.

Compost, Compost, Compost

Composting is an essential practice for any vegetable garden, as it helps to provide essential nutrients and improve soil structure. 

When organic matter breaks down into compost, it releases vital nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium into the soil, which promotes healthy plant growth and yields.

In addition to providing essential nutrients, compost also helps to improve soil structure. By adding organic matter to the soil, compost helps to improve soil texture and structure, allowing for better water retention and root growth. 

This leads to healthier, more vigorous plants that grow faster and produce higher yields.

To get started with composting, you’ll need to find a suitable location for your compost pile or bin. 

Composting can be done in a simple pile on the ground or in a more contained compost bin. You’ll also need to gather materials to compost, including yard waste such as leaves, grass clippings, and twigs, as well as kitchen scraps such as vegetable and fruit peelings and eggshells.

It’s important to mix different types of organic matter in your compost pile to ensure proper decomposition. Alternate layers of “brown” materials, such as leaves and twigs, with “green” materials, such as food scraps and grass clippings. 

You should also periodically turn the pile to aerate it and speed up decomposition. Within several months, you should have a rich, dark compost that is ready to be added to your garden beds.

Bees Are your Friends

Bees are an important ally in the garden, as they play a crucial role in pollinating flowers, which helps plants grow faster and produce more fruits and vegetables. 

However, many people have misconceptions about bees and may fear them, which can keep them from encouraging bees to visit their gardens.

One common misconception is that bees are aggressive and will sting if they feel threatened. While some bees, such as yellow jackets and hornets, can be aggressive, most bees are not. Honeybees, in particular, are typically docile and will only sting if they feel their colony is being threatened.

To encourage bees to visit your garden, it’s important to provide them with a source of food. Planting a variety of flowers, especially those that bloom at different times, will provide a steady source of nectar and pollen for bees throughout the growing season. 

Herbs such as lavender, basil, and mint also attract bees and can be interspersed among your vegetable plants.

Another way to get more bees around your plants is to provide a safe place for them to live. You can purchase or build a bee box or a “bee hotel” and place it near your garden. 

These structures provide a place for solitary bees, such as mason bees, to lay their eggs and build nests. By providing a home for bees, you can help to ensure their survival and increase the number of bees visiting your garden.

Transition to a No-Dig Garden

If you’re like many gardeners, you may be feeling frustrated with the traditional approach to gardening that involves digging and tilling the soil. 

This technique can be labor- and time-intensive, and it can result in soil compaction, which can impede root development and reduce the growth of your vegetables. An alternative exists, though: switching to a no-dig garden.

A no-dig garden is exactly what it sounds like – a garden that is established without digging or tilling the soil. Instead of disturbing the soil, you simply layer compost and mulch on top of the existing soil. 

Over time, the compost and mulch break down and improve the soil structure, which allows for better water retention and root growth, leading to healthier and faster growing vegetables.

Transitioning to a no-dig garden is simple and can be done in a few easy steps. First, clear any weeds or unwanted plants from the area you want to use for your garden. Then, layer a thick layer of compost on top of the soil, followed by a layer of mulch. 

Repeat this process until you have a minimum of 10-12 inches of compost and mulch on top of the soil. Finally, plant your seeds or transplants directly into the compost and mulch, and water regularly.

Use Lots of Mulch

Mulching is a crucial component of gardening because it has many advantages for the soil and the plants. You can hasten and improve the growth of your vegetable garden by using mulch.

Mulch facilitates in controlling soil moisture and temperature, which is crucial for plant food growth. Mulch helps keep the soil cool during hot weather, which can reduce stress and wilting. 

Mulch keeps the soil warm in chilly weather, extending the growing season. Mulch also aids in soil moisture retention, which can lessen the requirement for frequent watering and stop water loss through evaporation.

The idea that mulch should be kept away from crop bases is one that is frequently held in misconception. This is not the case, though. In fact, spreading mulch directly around a plant’s foundation can assist in controlling soil temperature, moisture retention, and weed growth.

Mulch can be made in your own yard using organic materials like leaves, grass clippings, or wood chips, or it can be bought at a garden center. It’s crucial to use a thick layer of mulch, measuring about 2-3 inches deep. 

Apply the mulch all around the plant’s base, being careful not to pack it too tightly against the stem as this can cause stem rot.

Urine

Although it may seem strange to use urine in your vegetable garden, it can actually offer important nutrients that support plant growth. 

Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, which are vital nutrients for plant growth, are found in urine. When you want to give your plants a boost or in areas with low soil fertility, these nutrients can be especially helpful.

It’s easy to collect urine for use in your garden. You can either collect your own urine or request the contributions of friends and family. Before using urine in your garden, it’s crucial to dilute it with water because undiluted urine can burn plants. As a general rule, dilute urine with 10 parts water for every one part of the urine.

Pour the diluted urine solution around the base of the plants, being careful not to get it on the leaves, to apply urine to your garden. Additionally, because seedlings are more sensitive to nutrients, it is a good idea to avoid applying urine to them.

Save Your Seeds

Vegetable gardeners can increase the speed and effectiveness of their gardens’ growth by simply and cost effectively saving their garden’s seeds. By saving seeds, you can avoid wasting money on new seed stock every year and guarantee that you will always have a supply of the best varieties.

Beyond just financial savings, saving seeds has many other advantages. You can enhance the general quality of your garden by choosing seeds from the strongest and most fruitful plants there. This can eventually result in plants that are stronger, healthier, and better able to fend off pests and diseases.

Keeping seeds in your garden is another way to protect the genetic diversity of the plants there. You can maintain a diverse gene pool that will help ensure the health and viability of your plants for upcoming generations by choosing seeds from the best plants each year.

Simply remove the seeds from the plants at the end of the growing season to save them. Prior to planting them the following year, keep the seeds in a cool, dry place. To make sure you can quickly identify the seeds later, it’s crucial to properly label and separate the seeds.

Better Your Garden Soil Quality

One of the best things you can do to help your vegetable garden grow more quickly and effectively is to improve the quality of your soil. Strong, healthy plants that are better able to fend off pests and diseases and yield more abundant harvests depend on healthy soil.

There are several actions you can take to enhance the quality of your soil. Make sure your soil has good drainage first, as plants cannot grow in soil that is waterlogged. Additionally, adding organic matter to your soil, like compost as discussed above, will help to increase its fertility and structure.

Regular soil testing to measure nutrient levels is a crucial step in enhancing soil quality. To find out the pH values and nutrient content of your soil, buy a soil test kit from a garden center or online. You can then amend your soil with the required nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, based on the test results.

You can also use cover crops in your garden to enhance the quality of the soil. Clover and winter rye are examples of cover crops that aid in the addition of organic matter to the soil, enhance its structure, and control weed growth.

Harvest Rainwater

Harvesting rainwater is a simple and affordable way to boost the growth of your vegetable garden. You can save money on your water bill and lessen your environmental effects by collecting rainwater and using it to water your plants.

The fact that rainwater contains fewer pollutants than tap water is one of the main advantages of using it. This is so because rainwater naturally filters through the atmosphere and doesn’t contain any chemicals that could harm plants, like chlorine. Utilizing rainwater also lessens the need for treated tap water and conserves valuable resources like groundwater.

Using rainwater has the added advantage of hastening the growth of plants. Because rainwater has a pH that is naturally neutral, plants thrive in it. Additionally, rainwater is a rich source of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, which are crucial for the healthy growth of plants.

You can install a rain barrel or rainwater tank at your house to harvest rainwater, which will collect and store rainwater for future use. 

Rainwater can also be directed into the tank or barrel using a system of gutters and downspouts. To transfer rainwater from the tank or barrel to your garden when you need to water your plants, just use a hose or watering can.

Watch Out For Pests

Pests can be a major problem for vegetable gardens, causing damage to plants and reducing the quality and yield of your harvests. Common garden pests include aphids, mealybugs, and caterpillars, which feed on leaves, stems, and roots, and can quickly weaken or kill plants if not controlled.

To avoid pest problems in your vegetable garden, it’s important to be vigilant and inspect your plants regularly for signs of damage or infestation. Look for holes in leaves, sticky substances on leaves or stems, or clusters of insects on the plants.

If you do spot pests, there are several steps you can take to control them. One of the most effective ways to control pests is to use companion planting, which involves planting beneficial plants, such as marigolds, near your vegetables. These plants release natural chemicals that repel pests, while also attracting beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, which feed on the pests.

Another effective way to control pests is to use natural remedies, such as neem oil or horticultural soap, which are safe and non-toxic alternatives to chemical pesticides. Simply mix the solution with water, and spray it directly on the pests or the plants they are infesting.

Finally, you can use physical controls, such as hand-picking pests or using row covers, to keep pests away from your plants.

To Conclude

Now that you have learned tips to make your garden grow 3x more food, you have just improved yourself.

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Also be sure to check out some of our other articles, if you liked this one:

• 15 Edible Flowers List for Survival
• Gardening For Preppers (The Mega Guide)
• How to Harvest Tree Sap and Use It