Planning Your First Vegetable Garden
Here's all you need to know about starting your first home vegetable garden.
Getting Started
Few experiences can match the pleasure of savoring a homegrown vegetable, especially if you raised it yourself from a seed or seedling. In almost every case, the flavor and texture of varieties you can grow far exceed the best grocery store produce. Growing vegetables is also a pleasurable activity in its own right, giving you an excuse to spend time outdoors in the warm sun.
Growing vegetables doesn't have to be difficult or time-consuming, especially if you follow the advice in this guide. You'll soon discover, however, that experience really is the best teacher. As your knowledge grows, so will the rewards of this productive pastime.
You don't need a large space to begin a vegetable garden. If you choose to grow in containers, you don't even need a yard. But you do need three critical elements to grow good vegetables:
- Sunshine. Choose a spot that gets at least 6 hours per day.
- Water. The closer your garden to a source of water, the better.
- Good soil, something between rock-hard clay and loose sand. Luckily, fixing bad soil isn't hard.
Wherever you decide to put your garden, start small. A well-tended 10-x-10-foot garden will produce much more than a weed-infested 25-x-50-foot bed. The best size for your garden will become clear as you work though the planning process described here.
It's tempting to try growing a large variety of vegetables. A better approach for a first-time vegetable gardener is to consider what you most like to eat, then narrow the list down to the easiest and most productive varieties. Some of the vegetables that meet this test include tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, peppers, snap peas, green onions, summer squash, and green beans. Vegetables that didn't make the list include corn (too much room, too few ears), asparagus (requires waiting a couple of years for the first harvest), and green peas (too limited a growing season).
Garden catalogs are your best source of ideas for vegetables to grow. Once you narrow your choices to types of vegetables, pick two or three varieties that seem promising; by growing more than one variety, you'll have some insurance if one doesn't perform well. Next year, grow the best performer again, and choose another to try.
When selecting varieties, pay close attention to the description. Some varieties produce smaller plants that are ideal for small gardens or containers. Also look for varieties that are described as disease resistant.
