How to grow your own victory garden at home

There's no better time than right now to get started on building your gorgeous, flourishing, backyard victory garden. Gardening expert Antonio Valente broke down how to keep calm and garden on, including some do's and don't's for planting your own. Check out his tips below, and watch the video above for more from Antonio!

WHAT IS A VICTORY GARDEN?

Victory gardens were vegetable, fruit or herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I and World War II. Governments encouraged people to plant victory gardens not only to supplement their rations but also to boost morale.

TIPS FOR STARTING YOUR OWN GARDEN

Here is some handy advice for planting your own victory garden.

Locate your veggie garden in full sun

Generally speaking, most vegetables require a minimum of six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. There are light meter apps on your phone that can help you figure out exactly where to locate your garden.

Get a soil test

This is very important if you're starting in a brand new location. The Ministry of Agriculture has labs you can send soil samples to, or you can pick up a test kit at a hardware store. The test will tell you what nutrients to add to your particular soil.

Start your root veggies and salad greens from seed

Root veggies and salad greens are super easy to direct sow straight into the garden. These will give you the most bang for your buck - for everything else (tomato, eggplant, etc) buy transplants, or starter plants.

Add pollinator friendly flowers

Pollinator-friendly flowers will attract beneficial insects and boost crop pollination among the veggies, resulting in higher fruiting yields. Sunflowers are magnets for pollinators!

THINGS TO AVOID WHEN STARTING A GARDEN

Don't go too big

If you're new to gardening, start small. Anticipate weekly (and sometimes daily) maintenance, and you don’t want to be discouraged. A four-by-eight foot bed is ideal for a first year veggie garden and will give you enough space to try a few different things.

Don't try to grow everything

Start with four or five different things, and select plants based on ease of growth, not necessarily what you love or want to grow. Once you have a season of experience under your belt, then you can add more of a variety of vegetables.[video_embed id='1958572']BEFORE YOU GO: Mike Holmes’ top tips for sprucing up the outside of your home[/video_embed]