Planning and Starting a Vegetable Garden

Starting a vegetable garden is a way to save on food costs while providing your family with food that not only tastes better, but is much more nutritious than food that is shipped long distances.

The Site

If you are ready to grow a vegetable garden, you need a place that gets at least six hours of full sun each day. The site should be close to water and to the house. A vegetable garden close to the house receives better care, is harvested more frequently and is less likely to suffer animal damage.

Don't choose a low spot or one that doesn't drain well for a vegetable garden. Low spots collect cold air which gives a shorter season, and most vegetables will not grow in wet areas.

When starting a vegetable garden for the first time, think small. A vegetable garden that is 20' by 30' is a good start for a family of 4. Big gardens may overwhelm beginners, and you can always expand next year.

The Soil

Choose your area and then get a soil test. A soil test gives you an idea of what your vegetable garden will need for optimum plant growth. Submit the soil sample at least six weeks before you want to begin planting. This gives you time to get the results back and amend the soil if needed.

Contact your County Extension Office. They will explain how to collect the soil sample and help you interpret the results. This service is generally inexpensive. Don't add anything to the soil, such as lime, until you have had a soil test.

Don't worry too much about the type of soil you have. Both clay and sandy soil can be turned into good vegetable gardens. The key to improving both types of soil is to add lots of organic material. Your soil test will tell you if you need to add lime or fertilizer.

Tools and Supplies

You will need a good spade, a garden rake and a hoe. You will need a hose and nozzles or watering cans for a small garden. Get a good pair of gloves and some seeds and plants, and you are ready to start. Tillers are not necessary.

Some other things to have are stakes and string, mulch and row covers.

Your soil test may reveal that you need to amend the soil or fertilize. For small gardens, these supplies are not very expensive.

All those colorful pictures of yummy vegetables can make you spend much more on seeds than you need to. Read the back to see what size row the package will plant. Don't order six types of bean seeds if you only have room for one row of beans. It seems obvious, but only buy vegetables that your family likes to eat.

Should You Go Organic?

Part of the value of starting vegetable gardens at home instead of purchasing produce is that you can control what is put on the vegetables you eat. Home gardeners should strive to use the least amount of pesticides possible. There are many ways to deal with problems other than using pesticides.

Some people also choose to buy organic seeds and use only organic fertilizers. Both are slightly more expensive than conventional seed and fertilizer. You can have safe, healthy vegetables while using nonorganic seeds and fertilizers as long as you don't use pesticides.

Choosing a Method

When starting a vegetable garden, you can choose to lay out traditional rows in the soil, you can form mounded rows or you can build raised beds. If your soil drains poorly, mounded or raised beds will work best. Mounded rows simply take soil from the paths and pile it on the rows. Raised beds can be built from many materials to hold soil. If you have very little soil over a rock layer in your yard, this may be the best way to garden. Raised beds allow you to concentrate your soil amendments and water in the actual planting area.

In the Beginning

Starting vegetable gardens where there is grass can be hard. If you can start the year before you plan to start the garden and smother the grass it's easier. Just lay an old piece of carpet or some heavy black plastic down on the proposed garden site and let the grass die. You can also till or dig the area in the fall. Most people, however, will start their first vegetable garden in the spring.

The soil must be ready for you to work it before you start. Pick up a handful of soil and make a fist. If the soil stays clumped in your hand when you open it, it is too wet to work. It may take longer for your soil to be ready for planting. If you work the ground when it is too wet, you compact the soil and destroy its structure. Your garden will suffer.

When the soil is ready, remove as much grass as you can, then dig up or till the soil. Form your beds by raking the clumps out and shaping the beds. You may want to measure and lay out the rows with stakes and string.

Planting

Ask your County Extension Office or an experienced gardener when the last frost in your area normally occurs. Cool-weather crops can go out a few weeks before the last frost, if the soil is ready to work. Warm-weather crops must be planted after the last frost.

Cool-weather crops include peas, lettuce, cabbage, kale, radishes, beets, and potatoes. Carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and onions can be planted around the last frost. Tomatoes, beans, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and corn should be planted after the last frost and when the soil is warm.

Follow the directions on the seed packet or consult a good vegetable garden reference for how deep to plant and how to space plants in the rows.