@PopularMechanics _ April 2019 85H OW TO S TA R T
YOU R OWN GARDE N
GROWING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES can be fun,
and it’s not that hard. In two months, you’ll be able to
pick and eat food that you grew yourself.
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
1 seedling
1 bag compost
1 box Miracle-Gro
fertilizer
1 cultivator
1 trowel
1 watering can
WHEN TO PLANT
The beginning of spring
is the best time to plant
your garden. Once the
weather warms up and
you stop seeing frost on
the grass in the morning,
you can get started.
WHAT TO PLANT
Ask your parents to take
you to a nursery. It’s a
store that sells plants and
gardening equipment.
Seeds can be tough for
beginners, so you’ll want
to buy something called a
seedling. It’s a plant that’s
already started growing.
Think of it as the nursery
giving you a head start!
The easiest things to
grow are strawberries,
tomatoes, lettuce, and
carrots. If you’re not sure
what grows best in your
area, you can search
online. Pick the plant
you’re most interested
in—or the one you’re
most interested in eating!
WHERE TO PLANT
Choose the sunniest
place you can find. The
sun provides energy
plants need to make food,
so anytime there is shade,
that can’t happen. You
can use the corner of your
parents’ garden or flower
bed. You could also make
your own patch of dirt in
the yard. This would mean
tearing up the grass, so
be sure to ask your par-
ents first. Otherwise, you
can use a pot. It needs to
be big! At least 18 inches
across. That’s because
your plants need a lot of
soil. Their roots spread
through the soil in search
of water and nutrients.HOW TO PLANT
Remove any rocks and
weeds from your garden.
Then use a tool called a
cultivator—it looks like a
big fork—to mix up the
top layer of dirt. If you
find any more rocks, get
rid of them. Next comes
compost, the vitamins for
your plants. Spread it over
the dirt, then use the cul-
tivator again to mix it all
together. Use the trowel, a
small shovel, to dig a hole
about five inches deep for
your seedling. Remove
the seedling from its con-
tainer and put it in the
hole. Use the soil from
your garden to fill in any
space around the seed-
ling. Next, add a scoop of
fertilizer to the watering
can and water your plant.
Don’t drown it! Add water
until the dirt looks soggy,
not flooded.HOW TO GROW
YOUR PLANT
Once your garden is
planted, you have two
responsibilities:- Make sure it’s watered.
Usually the rain will do this
for you. But if it’s really
hot or hasn’t rained for
four days, use your water-
ing can to water the soil.
Remember: not too much! - Once a week, look for
weeds and pull them out.
Weeds steal your plant’s
food from the soil. They
also attract bugs that
might want to eat the food
that grows in your garden.
In anywhere from six to
ten weeks, your fruit and
vegetables will be ready to
pick and eat!- The first step is always to clean
the tip of your soldering iron with
the sandpaper. It’s ready when it
looks shiny. - Next, turn the iron on so it can
heat up. It happens quickly, so
be careful! When the iron is hot,
touch the tip of it with solder. This
is called tinning. It keeps the tip
of the iron clean and helps solder
stick where you want it to. - Put a little flux on the surface of
the two parts you want to solder
together. - Hold the tip of a piece of solder
above the pieces you want to con-
nect, then touch the solder lightly
with the iron so that it melts and
flows onto the pieces. - The solder will cool and harden,
creating a strong connection.
- The first step is always to clean
WHEN YOU HAVE two pieces of metal
that you need to stick together, glue
won’t work. You need melted metal.
While there are two main types
of soldering, a soldering iron is used
only for electrical soldering. (The
other type, used to connect pipes
in plumbing, requires a blowtorch!
Better to save that for when you’re
older.) Electrical soldering is used
to make connections on circuit
boards. The solder lets electricity
flow between parts. When you get
really good, you can eventually use a
soldering iron to do internal repairs
on a laptop.
Along with a soldering iron,
which is also called a soldering gun,
you’ll need electrical solder (a soft
metal that comes in a spool, like
fishing line), a cleaner called flux,
and fine-grit sandpaper.HOW TO USE A
SOLDERING IRON