You can’t get much greener than growing your own vegetable garden.  You’re saving transportation fuel and best of all, you know exactly what your food has gone through to get to your table.  Here are a few ways to be sure that you’re making your garden the greenest it can be.

Pest Control
It’s a terrible feeling to go into your garden and see your precious veggies with little bug-sized bite marks in them. Before you plot revenge with a bottle full of poisonous pesticides, here are some alternatives:

• Spray your plants with soap. You can mix a bit of dish soap and water in a spray bottle and coat the leaves.  This will discourage most insects.
• Send in reinforcements. Beneficial bugs like ladybugs and praying mantises are available for purchase.  Release and let them do your dirty work.
• Surround your vegetables with plants that will repel insects, like garlic and onions.  This is called companion planting.

Fertilizer
Organic fertilizers are growing in popularity; therefore, they are more readily available to the home gardener. Organic fertilizers provide more nutrients to the soil, are long-lasting, make for stronger plants, and don’t require the frequency of chemical fertilizer.

The content of fertilizer is shown through the NPK numbers: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, which each have a hand in plant production.  For best results, you should test your soil quality (you can use an electric soil tester) and see what nutrients are lacking.

If you don’t want to go to the trouble, there are several general organic fertilizers out there, such as bat guano, kelp meal, fish meal, etc.

Water and Plant Choice
First of all, consider where you live before choosing your plants. If you live in the desert, it’s probably not a good idea to buy a plant that requires a lot of water.

Ask around your local garden store about what plants make sense in the area you live.  Non-native plants can also take over your garden and choke out other plants.

Invest in a rain barrel, also known as a rain catcher.  These are exactly what they sound like, they are barrels to collect rain water in, but most come with a spigot or hose attachment to water your plants with.  They cost between $100-400.  Too much? You can get creative by saving your bath or shower water to give your plants a drink.

If you live in an apartment or rent a house, you can still enjoy gardening!  Plant container or window box gardens for herbs or vegetables that don’t need a lot of space.

You can also reserve a community garden space, there will be plenty of people to help and a great way to get involved in your community.