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If you're a beginner vegetable gardener, remember this: It's better to be proud of a small garden than to be frustrated by a big one!
One of the common errors for beginners is planting too much too soon and way more than anybody could eat or want. Unless you want to have zucchini taking up residence in your attic, plan carefully. Start small.
The Very Basics
Here are some very basic concepts on topics you'll want to explore further as you become a vegetable gardener extraordinaire:
- Vegetables love the sun. They require six hours (continuous, if possible) of sunlight each day, at least.
- Vegetables must have good, loamy, well-drained soil. Most backyard soil is not perfect and needs a helping hand. Check with your local nursery or county extension office about soil testing, soil types, and soil enrichment.
- Placement is everything. Like humans, vegetables need proper nutrition. A vegetable garden too near a tree will lose its nutrients to the tree's greedy root system. On the other hand, a garden close to the house will help to discourage wild animals from nibbling away your potential harvest.
- Vegetables need lots of water, at least one inch of water a week. In the early spring, walk around your property to see where the snow melts first, when the sun catches in warm pockets. This will make a difference in how well your vegetables grow.
- Study those seed catalogs and order early.
Deciding How Big
A good-size beginner vegetable garden is 10x16 feet and features crops that are easy to grow. A plot this size, planted as suggested below, can feed a family of four for one summer, with a little extra for canning and freezing (or giving away).
Vegetables that may yield more than one crop per season are beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, rutabagas, spinach and turnips. For the plan below, your rows should run north and south to take full advantage of the sun.
Make your garden 11 rows of 10 feet each of the following veggies:
- Tomatoes — 5 plants staked
- Zucchini squash — 4 plants
- Peppers — 6 plants
- Cabbage
- Bush beans
- Lettuce, leaf and/or Bibb
- Beets
- Carrots
- Chard
- Radish
- Marigolds to discourage rabbits!
Leave 2 feet between bush beans, 1/2 foot between bush beans and lettuce, and 1 foot between all of the rest.
(Note: If this garden is too large for your needs, you do not have to plant all 11 rows, and you can also make the rows shorter. You can choose the veggies that you'd like to grow!)
If you're interested in planting potatoes, just remember that tomatoes and potatoes are not ideal companions and need "distance." See our Planting Companions chart.
i would like to know if you
i would like to know if you can plant veggies in pots,and if so why didnt my garden grow?
I have planted my first
I have planted my first garden ever this spring, it is 12x20, i planted 8 rows of corn 8feet long, a row of half white runners 8 feet long, a row of burpless cucumbers 8 feet long, a row of okra 8feet long, 2 tomato plants and 2 bananna pepper plants, my corn is the only thing that is not doing wonderful, it is growing well, but within the last week, some of the stalks are falling over and when i goto straighten them up they are completely out of the ground, they seem to have no roots at all, just rounded ends where the roots should be, any ideas?
I have a garden that is 12x20
I have a garden that is 12x20 with tomatoes and hot peppers. I have 24 tomato plants and about 72 hot peppers. But I was just wondering about the watering of the tomatoes. I hear that you need 2 inches of water a week for tomatoes. How do you know how much to water in the morning? e-mail me at dcmartorano@comcast.net thank you.
Yes, you should give your
Yes, you should give your tomato plants 2 inches of water per week. Water your plants 2 to 3 times a week, giving them about 3 to 4 liters (roughly a gallon) of water each time. If it's really warm out, you can give your plants extra water.
You can also look at our tomato plant page for more growing tips.
Hope this helps!
I want to plant a vegetable
I want to plant a vegetable garden, my very first. I need to make a raise bed garden as I need to sit while gardening, what is the best frame for a garden? Cinder blocks, wood?
Wood is mostly used, but DO
Wood is mostly used, but DO NOT get pressure treated wood.
Why shouldn't I use pressure
Why shouldn't I use pressure treated wood?
Pressure treated wood has
Pressure treated wood has toxic chemicals, such as arsenic and copper, in it that will leach into the soil and into your plants.
UH, OH ! Just finished
UH, OH ! Just finished planting in my new raised beds made from pressure treated wood ! Any suggestions?
I do not know much about
I do not know much about raised gardens. However, I have used the following to create my own self watering container garden. It took a little over an hour to build one. The tomatoes in the self watering containers resisted the first frost and kept producing until mid December.
link to PDF file
http://www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf
Hope this helps