ColumnEcoSalon’s best gardening articles to get you going.

We’ve sprung forward. Now it’s time to coax life from your own backyard soil. Get out there and start those starts, sow those seeds, and grow your own food. Here’s a handy roundup of our best gardening articles to help you get started.

It all begins with the soil. Without healthy soil, your plants won’t thrive and create great tasting produce so here’s a step-by-step guide to building what I like to call, sexy soil.

1. If you’re worried about what dangerous heavy metals and contaminants might be lurking in your urban loam, get the dirt here.

2. Not sure what to plant? Start with the 10 easiest plants to grow at home.

3. Lack the luxury of a traditional backyard? Don’t despair, you can grow in milk crates, on walls, and even in your front yard.

4. Need a little more direction on exactly how to plant and tend your garden? This article breaks it all down for you.

5. Kids can learn so much about food and the cycles of nature from gardening, so don’t get all hung up on creating the perfect garden, get the kids involved, and let them loose. Here’s how.

6. Maybe you don’t want to go it alone? Need some moral support? Try yard sharing.

7. Got the vegetables down? Try raising backyard chickens, or maybe even fish.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

The post The Green Plate: Get Your Soil On appeared first on EcoSalon.