Your First Ranchito: How to grow your first garden

Planting your own garden is an excellent way to grow your own fresh fruits and vegetables while also getting a dose of outdoor activity and connecting with calming nature. Over the past few years, gardening has been gaining popularity among Millennials and Gen Alphaa. In fact, gardening has become a trending topic on places like TikTok, where countless videos share tips and tricks for cultivating a lush and thriving garden.

At first, gardening may seem daunting, especially for those who have never tried their hand at growing plants before. However, with a bit of knowledge and patience, anyone can successfully plant and maintain a flourishing garden. And the benefits of doing so are abundant: gardening can improve mental health, provide a sense of accomplishment, save money on groceries, and help reduce your carbon footprint.

Things You Need to Plant Your #ranchitolife Garden

First are your gadgets: A plastic tray, a grow lamp, organic veggie potting mix, and organic veggie fertilizer. You can get these things either on Amazon or Home Depot and are all generally under $20.

Second, how do you decide what to plant? For us, we started figuring out what plants were common that particular month. But a far more practical way is to make a list of the things you and your familia love to eat and just plant that. Does your baby love blueberries? Find out when it’s the right time in your area to plant blueberries and do it!

You can also plant herbs to create things you love. You might start with easy things like chamomile to make tea, or plant lavender to make soap, or calendula, which has antifungal and antimicrobial properties. Or lavender if you want to make things like creams. You can even grow things like Stevia to make sweetener for your tea or coffee!

Third, you’ll need to find out what zone you live in. Hardiness zones are based on the average annual minimum temperature in a given area. Our zone is a 9a, 9b, and 10a and so we know we should generally plant things that will grow well in those zones.

To find out what zone you live in just google
“Hardiness zone [YOUR CITY]”

Organize Your Space

If you have a patio, you’ll want to organize your garden this way:

An indoor area to grow your seedlings before you transfer them outside. We have used closets or guest rooms. The place just has to be warm and you may have to clip on a grow light. If you end up planting many things, you can buy a little grow shelf on Amazon that you can put together and easily clip grow lights or other gadgets you’ll need.

Plant These First

Microgreens

Microgreens are “pre-greens” – basically baby versions of things like kale, broccoli, and more. They also have twice as many vitamins and super easy to grow. Many are flavorful and some even can taste spicy!

Herbs

Any space is the perfect space for chives, chamomile, rosemary, thyme, and so much more. You can even focus on making a skincare garden with ingredients you want to make your own DIY lotions and soaps and more.

Peppers

Peppers are easy to grow. They come in quickly and are very resilient.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes grow no matter where you plant them, and they’re fast. And nothing tastes better than your own huerto tomatos. Baby tomatoes are even easier.