Growing vegetables is actually pretty simple. Last year, my 4 year old daughter and I spent some time learning about what plants need to grow. Our conclusion? Soil, water, sun, care, and time.
Whether you’re thinking of putting a few containers on your patio, building a raised 4×4 garden box, or tearing up half of your yard, here are a few tips to get you going:
1. Prepare your Soil
If this is your first year gardening, you have a few options available to you. You can purchase and add top soil, compost, peat moss and other amendments straight into your new containers or garden beds. This can be an easy solution, and will leave you with light and workable soil. The main downside of this approach is the cost.
The other (cheaper) option is to dig straight into the ground. This is how I’ve done my own gardening. To go this route, you will want to:
- Till your soil. Either by hand for a smaller garden, or rent a roto-tiller from your local hardware store for a larger location.
- Analyze your soil. Most garden centers sell affordable kits to help you determine which nutrients your soil has in abundance, and which ones are lacking. This will help you decide how to fertilize.
- Build it up. Each year, I do 1 or 2 things to improve my soil. It might be adding peat moss to lighten the heavy, clay-ish soil that I have to work with. Compost or composted manure are always good bets for increasing soil nutrients as well as creating a more workable soil that will hold moisture well. Some high quality, organic/ecological topsoil is another option.
Photo by bareknuckleyellow
2. Watering Matters
If there is one thing that I have learned in regards to watering my garden, it is this: Less is more.
Over-watering leads to plants with shallow, immature root systems, incapable of reaching down deeply to find water of their own. It also creates more work for you, as your plants will come to depend on regular watering.
When plants are required to extend long roots to obtain their water, rather than getting it the easy way (aka the hose), they will be stronger plants in general, and you will have less work to do keeping up with their H2O needs.
So when should you water and how much?
- When you have newly planted seeds. Germination requires steady moisture, so light but consistent watering is key during this time. Keep the soil moist, but not soaking.
- Once or (maybe) twice a week. This is my regular watering schedule, though sometimes I water even less. When doing a regular watering, take the time to give each plant a really good, long drink. Ideally, you should water long enough for 6 inches of soil to be saturated.
- During dry and hot spells. If your plants are really wilting in the heat of some particularly hot afternoon sun, pamper them a little more than usual. Same with periods of drought.
Be sure to keep your watering only to mornings and evenings. Watering that is done in the afternoon will quickly evaporate before the plants have a chance to get what they need. Try to water before 10am and after 4 or 5pm, or even later.
3. Let the Sunshine In
The ideal garden location will offer your plants a good 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. When selecting a spot for your new garden, this is one of the most important factors to keep in mind.
However, some plants are more shade-tolerant and others are more sun-loving.
Partial Sun (4-6 hours a day): Lettuces, Swiss Chard, Kale, Spinach, Collards, Root Vegetables (carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, etc.), Peas, Parsley, Cauliflower
Full Sun (6+ hours a day): Beans, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cucumbers, Squash (winter and summer), Corn, Eggplant, Melons (all kinds), Tomatoes, Peppers
Consider the sunlight available to your garden as you choose not only which crops you will grow, but how much of them you will be able to grow and where they will be planted. Even gardeners without a full sun location can grow a very respectable and varied amount of food!
Photo by Susan Reimer
4. Care for Your Garden
Yes, this is the part where I tell you that you need to weed your garden. You knew it was coming, right?
The happy thing is that it doesn’t need to be an all-consuming or back-breaking task.
The keys to keeping the weeding work minimal?
- Plant thickly. With crops like beans, radishes, peas, carrots and more, you can scatter your seed very thickly. When the plants come up, they will create a natural canopy to help shade out any weeds that are feeling ambitious.
- Mulch! By adding a layer of organic material like dead grass or leaves, hay, or even newspaper and cardboard, you cut down on the weeds ability to get much traction.
- Weed little, but often. Keeping up with weeds when they’re small and easy to pull is key. Just a few minutes each day, or a 15 min. block several times a week will help to keep the invaders at bay.
We can’t forget fertilizing in a discussion of caring for a garden. Best bets are homemade compost, or composted manure from a trusted source (like a local, ecological farmer).
If those options aren’t available to you, there are some excellent brands of organic and ecological fertilizers out there, completely sans nasty chemicals.
When to fertilize? Some key times are building up the soil before planting, and during important stages of development, like once your plants are a few inches tall before they really take off, or when they first start to set out flowers or fruits.
Photo by katemonkey
5. It All Takes Time
Proper timing makes all the difference when it comes to planting your garden.
Learn how long each plant needs to grow to maturity, what time of year it should be planted (early spring or summer, or even fall), and when to begin your seedlings. Knowing these details will make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful garden.
Make it easier by creating a garden binder or notebook, where you record these kinds of details. Here’s an example of an information page I made for my own garden this year, to help keep myself on schedule.
To learn the needs of each crop you’re thinking of growing, here are a few resources that I find helpful:
- The Old Farmer’s Almanac- You can enter your own location, to find precise dates for your gardening zone
- All New Square Foot Gardening
- An old standard for beginners, this has excellent charts to help you determine when and what to plant
- You Grow Girl- A great, printable chart to plot your seed starting and planting dates into.
Now Go Grow Something!
If you’ve been putting off gardening because you’re unsure of how to go about it, or worried about the time commitment, I would encourage you to just jump in and give it a go.
My final advice for beginners?
- Start small.
- Grow what you love.
- Keep it simple and have fun.
- Don’t let it stress you out.
- Enjoy the fruits of your labors!
Happy Gardening!
What are your plans for the upcoming garden season? Any of your own tips to share with the rest of us?
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I love this series on gardening because I am a beginning garden and have found inspiration and answers in these posts. I would love one on composting please!!
Kari’s last blog: Rainy day kind of love.
great tips! As a novice gardener, I need all the help I can get! And I was so excited to reach the end of the article and find out it was written by Stephanie! Makes it even better
emily hope’s last blog: starry plaid . psalm 139 . personalized name print . 8×10
Yay! Lots of great tips here. I would just like to add a few things I’ve learned over the years…
Any decent gardening book should have a good explanation of double-digging, it has helped my gardens tremendously.
- Double-digging your soil (instead of renting a roto-tiller) is really effective and great exercise!
- Drip-irrigation (basically, a hose with lots of holes in it laid directly on the garden bed) is a great way to get water down to the roots without losing a lot through evaporation.
- If you’re watering with a regular hose or sprinkler, morning watering is preferable to evening watering, because if the water doesn’t evaporate off the plants themselves quickly enough, it can promote rot.
I’m doing a weekly series on my blog (on Sundays), tracking the progress of our kitchen garden from seed to table. We’re planting seeds to start indoors every week, so check it out to find out more about starting seeds in recycled containers and such.
Laura’s last blog: Custom Birdwatching Book
Your blog series sounds great! I love the idea of tracking your garden from seed to table!
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home’s last blog: Gardening Season Has Officially Begun!
Great overview! I’m starting again from scratch since we moved over the winter, and this will be a good guide to refer too.
Definitely starting small is going to be key for me.
Aimee’s last blog: Three Easy Recipes for a Snow Day
Great post! I’m enjoying all of the gardening posts on S.O. this month so much
Love especially the final tips: grow what you love, keep it simple, and don’t let it stress you out. Great advice!
Kara’s last blog: Weekend Showcase: Link Love
i have one question: what advice can you give on ‘reclaiming’ a wildly overgrown, weedy vegetable patch that has raspberries, asparagus and rhubarb (all of which i would love to keep) in it? would i be best to dig up the plants and then replant them? i would love to have some raised 4×4 boxes instead of the mess that was left here so i just wonder about replanting these healthy plants and going from there?
kelly
I bet you could cut them back a lot and they will all re-grow well. I wouldn’t transplant the asparagus, but the rhubarb and raspberries could handle re-planting. Depending on where you live, Square Foot Gardening will help you with spacing and trellising. Good luck!
thanks. i’ll try it.
kelly’s last blog: tuesday trigger
Stephanie, thanks so much for these tips! I can’t wait to start gardening this year.
Great advice! I would like to add that finding pastured ruminant manure will help your garden alot. Avoid the bagged stuff you find at grocery or big box stores, it come from cafo animals. I have found that just turning over sod and adding a good, local garden mix is enough; no double digging or fancy beds needed. And if you live in the NW, don’t crowd your veggies, give them room and keep them dry. Find a book by Steve Solomon and devour it! Happy gardening everyone
Thanks for the less-sun tolerant suggestions! We’re moving to the bottom floor of a house and half the backyard is under a patio so it doesn’t get all the sun…I didn’t want it to go to waste!
Kait Palmer’s last blog: The Last Day of the Challenge – Day 54
Thank you so much for this info. I plan on starting a garden this spring. After reading this post, I realized I have enough knowledge to feel confident my garden will be a success.
Thanks, Stephanie, this post was awesome! Just what I needed. I printed it out to keep it handy as a reference as I start planning my li’l garden.
I’m so grateful for this simple gardening series. I’ve inherited some raised beds and a compost pile. This is my first attempt at gardening and I’ve felt a little intimidated. This article and the one on composting helps so much. I feel encouraged and ready to go. Thanks.
Sandra Lee’s last blog: Research links Gilbert’s Syndrome & Environmental Illness
Thank you, thank you! This is so helpful to a newbie like me!
Misha@ ~beautyandjoy~’s last blog: Four People, Ten Times – 3/31
Thanks! I’ve been writing about building my raised beds and am very thankful you posted some vegetables that are ok with a little more shade!
Jen’s last blog: Triathlon Musings : Arm Sleeves
The county Extension Office has soil collection bags and forms to collect a soil sample, and the address for the soil lab in each region to mail it to. In Texas, the bags and forms are free and the basic test is only $10.
Stephanie Suesan Smith’s last blog: Using gardens to teach children
My wife and I are working on growing our first garden, this post was very helpful to us beginners. Thank You!
fredb\’s last blog: Two Way Radio Reviews updated Tue Jul 13 2010 9-05 pm CDT
I enjoyed ready the tips, and agreed with all of them.
My wife & I are into re-designing our backyard and we get some basic ideas by reading this post..just in time
Jay Chua\’s last blog: Hammocks Hatteras and Your Backyard