Five Simple Tips for Starting Your First Vegetable Garden

I thought about putting in a garden many seasons before I actually planted one. What stopped me for so long is the reason I wrote this article. I complicated the process in my mind to the point where I was frustrated with gardening before I ever started. When I finally took action and planted my first garden, the results were worth the effort and the actual process was not difficult at all. Vegetable gardening is one of those hobbies that can become elaborate and complicated, but it does not have to be, nor should it be. I hope these tips help you.

Select a Location and Design

Vegetables enjoy sunbathing most of the day, so take a look around your yard and find an area where the sun shines directly for at least 5 hours. Then, consider the dimensions size you want your garden to be. Because I didn’t want an overwhelming amount of space to work and I had no idea what to expect from my first harvest, I decided on a modest 10 x 12 foot area, and marked it off with stakes and string.

Soil Preparation

You need to give some thought to the soil. Here is another place where things can get complicated, but with your first garden, don’t let them. First, remove any large rocks. Then turn the soil, either by hand, with a hoe, or by using a tiller. Next, add several wheelbarrow-loads of compost, which serves as a nutritious additive for soil. I was lucky to have purchased a house where the previous owners had been composting for years. This gave me a ready supply. The topic of compost in gardening is another that can become very involved. If you have compost, great; if not, you can read up on it and start composting this season for use next season. After the soil is turned, it is a good idea to check with your neighborhood garden store to find out if a dose of lime will improve your soil for planting. For my garden, it was suggested that I use one bag. The process was simple and inexpensive – sprinkle the lime on the garden and work it in with the compost and native soil.

Perimeter Protection

I live in an area where deer, groundhogs, skunks, rabbits, foxes, and other creatures will happily help themselves to the buffet provided each spring by industrious humans. I accepted the fact that our animal neighbors would share a certain amount of our harvest, but I didn’t want the deer to eat it all overnight! To prevent this, my husband enclosed the garden with a 6 ft. small-mesh wire fence and I can report we never saw any deer in our garden. To prevent little creatures getting into the garden under the fence, we pushed the wire into the ground about 4 inches deep, and we never noticed animals tunneling into the garden.

If you are like me and you despise crawly things, you’ll have to face the fact there will be some in your garden. But, don’t let that stop you, as it almost stopped me. There are ticks out there as well, and I almost became too panicked about how to prevent tick bites to follow through with planting my garden. I was overwhelmed with the amount of information, both pro and con, about how and what to apply or not apply to kill bugs. I couldn’t decide what to do, so I didn’t use any pesticides. I was relieved that the bugs only ate a small portion of my harvest.

What To Plant?

Here again, the temptation to over-complicate almost stopped me. There are so many choices! I decided to narrow my first planting season to just four items: tomatoes, salad greens, sugar snaps, and bell peppers. We started the tomatoes from seedlings, using six different varieties. This was a lot of fun because I had no idea tomatoes come in so many colors, shapes and sizes — and they taste so much better than store-bought! For the salad greens, I bought seed packets for mesclun blend, spinach, romaine, and arugula. They were all delicious. The sugar snaps were tasty and the red, yellow, and orange bell peppers were sweet and also beautiful to watch as they ripened and colored.

Weeding and Watering

Weeding is important and best done on a daily basis, when it can be a simple and satisfying process. I learned the hard way — once neglected for a few days, weeding becomes an irritating chore, more on the order of an excavation than a simple removal.

For best results, gardens should also be watered on a daily basis. It’s a satisfying routine and once the little shoots push through the soil, it is exciting to watch the tiny black dots, once sprinkled from a seed packet, become seedlings, then plants, then salad and side dishes! That first year, I didn’t think through my watering plan very well and I inadvertently located the garden beyond reach of the hose. This gave me the opportunity to develop my arm and shoulder muscles, by forcing me to make several trips each morning with a large watering can!

It seems to me that gardening brings out the best in people. Every person I spoke to about my gardening effort was generous in sharing their experience and offered me suggestions. Don’t be shy. Go to your local garden store and ask questions of the customers, as well advice from the employees.

Remember that your first garden will be a learning experience. The most important thing to do is start — and keep reminding yourself you are seeking progress, not perfection. There will always be ways to improve.

Good luck and happy gardening!