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Have you ever tried to grow your own vegetables in a backyard garden? With the growing trend to become self-sustaining and lead a "greener" lifestyle, many people have found ways to provide their own vegetables, fruit and eggs, right from their own backyard efforts. Living off the land is not as difficult as you think, it just takes a little bit of knowledge, some space and a couple of seed packets to get started.

You will need to properly lay sod. Make sure you prepare your soil before you lay any sod down. Do some weeding if necessary, then break the soil until it is no longer packed. The next step is compacting your soil and carefully leveling it. Thoroughly moisten the soil. Stagger your sod so that each joint offsets from joints in adjacent rows. Firm the sod down to form a flat, even surface, and fill in any gaps between the sod with a little soil. Water the sod each day for two weeks so it will become well-rooted and ready for foot traffic.

When designing your garden, choose high-yield crops, such as tomatoes and herbs. These items will allow you to maximize the space you have available in your garden. The more produce you can grow at home, the more money you can save in your grocery bill each month, so it pays to know what will produce the most for your efforts.

Insects and various garden pests can be avoided by making your soil healthy. Healthy soil leads to healthy plants with more strength to deflect those insects and various diseases. Use a high-quality organic soil and as few chemicals as possible.

Attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden. Certain plants are highly attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds due to their nectar. Hummingbirds tend to favor any flower that is shaped like a trumpet, especially if it is pink, red or purple. Examples of these are honeysuckle, fuchsia and monarda. Butterflies like flat, daisy-like flowers, such as chrysanthemums, asters and coneflowers. Choose a sunny position, as both butterflies and hummingbirds appreciate the warmth.

Divide large clumps of perennials. Some perennial plants lose vigor and flower less well if the clump becomes too large. Plants like Shasta daisies, bearded irises, phlox, chrysanthemum and coneflower benefit from being divided every three years. Without division they become congested, and the center of the clump will begin to die out. Simply dig the entire plant out, keeping the root ball intact, and divide it into pieces using a shovel. By doing this, you will have at least two or three new plants!

One of the best ways to maximize the benefits of a garden is to learn how to can. Water bath canning is an effective way to store fresh vegetables for a very long time and is not that difficult to learn how to do. It involves submersing jars of the gardens home grown goodies into a bath of barely boiling water. This will preserve the vegetables for up to a year or more.

Just think of the beautiful harvest you can add to your dining table from your garden. Not to mention the environmentally friendly impact of growing your own food. Maintaining a personal vegetable garden can provide food at low cost to your family -- and wait until you savor the amazing taste of vegetables, picked straight from the plant. Store-bought produce never tasted this good!