Starting your own vegetable garden is a great way to grow fruits and vegetables that are more nutritious and flavorful than store bought products. It also helps reduce how much you spend at the store. Most often gardening gets you outside and active. If you have children, it can be a fun, rewarding way to spend time with the family.

Getting your garden started is easy; it only takes a few materials and a sunny spot, so let’s get right to it.

Step 1 – Pick a Spot for Your Garden

When picking the area for your garden, keep in mind that most vegetables need a full six hours of sunlight a day. This means you’ll want to start your garden clear of anything that might prevent it from getting the required sunlight. If you live somewhere the summers are hot, you’ll want to plant your vegetable garden where it gets some afternoon shade. Also, keep in mind where your nearest water source is.

Having a garden hose nearby is a lot easier than carrying jugs or buckets of water to your garden. If you want a more sophisticated watering system, you can add a drip irrigation system or sprinklers to water your plants. Don’t forget, you’ll also want to think about drainage. Mixing heavy clay or sandy soil with compost will help create a texture that allows water to drain more easily in heavy soils and not as easily from sandy ones. In areas with heavy soil, you’ll want to add less compost than in areas with more sandy soil. If you’re still looking for more help with the layout of your garden, you can find a free online garden layout planner here.

Step 2 — Choose the vegetables you want to grow

Now ask yourself what vegetables do I want to grow? Do I want to start with seeds or seedlings? How long will it take for my vegetables to be ready to harvest? We do have some suggestions.

When deciding what vegetables to grow, keep in mind the amount of space you have in your garden and how much space you would need to keep in between each vegetable. Some vegetables require more space than others to plant around. Below we have provided a list of easy to grow crops for beginners as a suggestion.

Beans

Beans are fast growers. They thrive in warm, moist soil and are easy to maintain. Some beans grow in bushes and need no support while others grow as bean poles and require a bean support or trellis to climb up as they grow. Pay attention to these small details when picking which beans, you’ll grow.

Beets

There are various types of beets: red beets, yellow beets, white beets, striped beets. Having a variety definitely BEETS having no variety at all! Before planting your beets, make sure to remove clumps of soil or stones to ensure the loose soil is loose. This will help the roots develop uniformly and quickly. If you like smaller beets, double up the seeds per row; crowding develops smaller roots. Beets can survive in frost and near-freezing temperatures, making a great choice for colder climates with lots of sun. You can harvest your beets when they’re around the size of a golf ball to about the size of a tennis ball; any larger, and they’ll more than likely be tough.

Carrots

When growing carrots for the first time, it’s important that the carrot seedlings are well spaced and that the soil drains well. Most of the time when people begin growing carrots, they packed them too tightly together causing them to be short and deformed. It’s essential to keep carrots spaced out and to make sure that you leave between 18 – 24” of depth for the carrots to properly grow.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are another easy plant to grow. When planting cucumbers remember they do best in warm weather, so they shouldn’t be planted during winter months. Grow them indoors for three weeks before transplanting to outside. When you transplant your cucumber seedlings be sure to plant them in plenty of sunlight and in well-drained soil. You’ll also want to plan to give it some additional support with a trellis so its vines can continue to grow and yield more cucumbers.

Kale

Kale is extremely nutritious and easy to grow. When planning to grow Kale for the first time you’ll want to make sure that you don’t plant them when it’s too hot out, or they won’t grow. The best time is usually late in the summer about 6 to 8 weeks before the fall to winter. If you like sweeter kale, grow it closer to colder months.

Lettuce

There are many types of lettuce all of which can be grown easily. Most of the time you can pick up lettuce seeds or seedlings from your local home improvement store or nursery. Lettuce prefers cool weather so planting it during early spring or fall is best, however you want to make sure temperatures don’t drop below 45 degrees Fahrenheit while growing your lettuce. If temperatures drop, make sure to cover your garden with a tarp or plastic sheet to help protect them.

Peas

Peas are another easy crop to grow. Plant them early in the spring or if you want snow peas, plant them late in the summer as they take longer to be ready for harvest, usually between 60 – 70 days. Make sure not to plant them if your soil is too wet. They require a delicate balance between timing and weather. If you plan to plant peas in the late summer, make sure to do it about 8 weeks before your first fall frost.

Seeds vs Seedlings

Once, you’ve decided on what you’re going to grow; next, decide if you are going to purchase seeds or seedlings? Each has its pros and cons. We created a simple list of pros and cons below.

Step 3 – Get What You’ll Need

• Bucket
• Fruit & Vegetable Disease Control Products
• Garden Fencing
• Garden Fork
• Garden Hose
• Insect Control Products
• Plant Food & Fertilizer
• Raised Garden Bed – (Optional)
• Raised Garden Bed Soil – (Optional)
• Seeds or seedlings
• Soil
• Tape Measure

If you don’t have what you’ll need from the list above, you can go to your nearest nursery or home improvement store to pick up the items. If you have any questions about specifics such as what tools or soil to use, ask a store representative, they should be able help tell you the best tools and materials for whatever fruits or vegetables you choose to grow.

Step 4 – Preparing Soil

Having healthy soil is the base of growing healthy vegetables. When you have soil that is in good condition, growing healthy vegetables requires fewer fertilizers and pesticides. Attributes of good organic soil is that the texture is fluffy and aerated, allowing it to be filled with the air roots need. The soil should have plenty of minerals and hold moisture, but also should drain well.

What Should My Soil Contain?

Out of elements thought to be essential for growing plants, the most important are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Plants absorb these elements in large amounts from soil and are known as the primary nutrients for plants. If your soil is low on any of your primary nutrients you can purchase “Complete Fertilizer” that contains all three of the primary nutrients, however it’s far from complete. Secondary nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and sulfur are also important for many plants. Another highly important detail is the pH balance of your soil, we’ll talk more about that in a minute.

Air

Plants need air above ground and below it. Air above ground is used for photosynthesis and the air in the soil holds nitrogen that can be converted into a usable form for plants. Oxygen in the soil also allows for survival of organisms that benefit the plant.

Soil that has small, close together particles is too dense and lets in too little air. Some examples of dense soils would be heavy clay or silt. Soil that has an excessive amount of air, such as sandy soils, is too loose and too spaced out for plant growth which leads to decomposition of organic matter instead. Getting soil that leaves just the amount of the right space between particles is what’s required. Like I said before, “fluffy and aerated” and contains roughly 25% air. Adding compost can help achieve a balance in your air supply. Also remember to take care when using tools or walking around your garden, you may compact the soil.

Water

Just as humans require water, so do plants and soil. Unlike humans, soil should only be about 25% water. In denser soils, water fills the space in between the pores, making the soil waterlogged and causing it to suffocate plants. In looser soils, the water drains too quickly and doesn’t get an opportunity to be used by plants. Soil that contains both small and large porous spaces allows water, minerals, and nutrients to be held in the soil while not losing moisture too quickly.

Testing Soil

One way to figure out if your soil has too much or too little of some minerals in it, is get a soil test kit. You can easily purchase one on from your local home improvement store or nursery. Soil test kits usually measure pH and mineral levels, sometimes they measure nitrogen levels too. Ensuring proper pH levels of your soil can help improve your plant’s ability to absorb nutrients. Plants best absorb nutrients with soil that has a pH level between 6.5 – 6.8 If your soil is at a low pH level, 6.0 or below, or a high pH level, 7.0 or higher, you plant’s won’t be able to absorb the nutrients they require. The best time of year to test or add any organic fertilizers or soil amendments to your soil is during the spring and fall when the soil is most stable.

Prepping Soil

Step 5 – Planting Your Garden

You’ve done the prep work, now let’s plant! It’s simple.

1. Use a spade or trowel to dig a hole
2. Your hole should be at least twice as wide and deep as the container if the plant is a transplant or if it’s a seed the hole should be twice as deep as the seed is wide.
3. Leave 2 – 3’ between plants, so they have plenty of room for sunlight and growth
4. Lightly water them after they’ve been transplanted

Here’s a few extra tips to keep in mind.

1. Don’t bury transplants any deeper than the container they were in
2. Place plants in holes then cover them with soil
3. Gently press the soil down around the base of the plant. Don’t over compact!
4. Support plants that grow tall like beanstalks and tomatoes with trellises or stakes
5. When the top ½” of soil is dry, it’s time to water again
6. Avoid walking around your garden while the soil is wet, you may over compact the soil
7. Always follow directions on any fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals

Overall, starting your first vegetable garden isn’t difficult and can yield great results for little effort. So, go out there and start your garden today!