Know How to Start a Vegetable Garden

Many of the basic kitchen staples are luckily easy to grow as well! I have put together a list of some common veggies that are also easy to grow. 

This depends on your goal and the space you have available to you. Is your goal to grow enough food to feed your family or do you just want to grow a few veggies, get your kids in touch with nature or something less huge, then you won’t need as much space. Even a 4-footx4-foot raised bed will grow you a decent amount of produce. Start somewhere and you can always expand. As a novice gardener, you will be better served to start small, learn and then increase the size of your garden once you gain more confidence. 

Now that you know that you want to start a vegetable garden, how much work you have to do will depend on what stands in the way of you putting your garden where you want it. If you are taking over an existing flower bed, then it is just a matter of removing the existing flowers, removing weeds and rocks, turning the soil and adding soil amendments as needed. If you are staring at a patch of grass and imagining copious amounts of veggies in its place you have a bit more work on your hands. You can also cover the grass with some cardboard and start placing the new dirt on top. As the cardboard biodegrades it will kill the grass. 

Along with sun and water, the soil forms the trifecta of gardening needs. The answer to what kind of soil you need when you start a vegetable garden will depend on what you are planning to grow. Some plants will want soil that is high in compost. While others will want a soil with a higher or lower pH. Some plants will want a well-draining soil, others prefer it sandier. So as you can see there is no one answer. However, all plants are going to want nutrients in the soil. If you just start a vegetable grade in 'dead’ soil, devoid of nutrients you shouldn’t expect much.

This is one question that really doesn’t have a right or wrong answer. There are so many different layouts and methods of “gardening”. It is really about finding what will work for your specific scenario. If you are in a condo or apartment you could grow in containers or flower boxes if you are short on space but have a balcony. No balcony?No problem! You can still go the Aero garden or Rise Garden route and grow some food inside. If you have limited outdoor space, or even if you have lots, you can go the raised bed route. For the biggest bang for your buck, you can pair it with square foot gardening and companion planting. This will make the most of whatever space you have available. The one thing to remember is that you don’t want any garden to be more than 2 feet wide. Unless you have crazy long arms, if it is wider than this you won’t be able to get to all the plants. If you have a raised bed that is accessible on both sides then it can be 4 feet wide. 

Starting with plants is definitely easier but also more costly. As a newbie gardener, who has decided to start a vegetable garden for the first time this can be a great way to reduce the learning curve about growing your own food. Once you are more comfortable in the garden then starting your plants from seeds is extremely rewarding. 

This is not a yes or no answer, I’m not trying to be wishy-washy but its the truth. Technically, yes you can start all seeds indoors, but that doesn’t mean you should. Certain plants will need to be started indoors. This is because most growing seasons are not long enough to get them to harvest otherwise. Then there are other plants that do not like to be transplanted. So starting them indoors can reduce your success as you will most likely disturb their roots when you transplant them. One of the plants that do best when started indoors so that they have enough time to produce enough yield for harvest. Plus a second list of plants that do best when they are direct-sown outside. 

You don’t really need much to start seeds indoors. Just some good quality soil (ideally seedling starting mix), some pots and light (preferably a grow light) and if you can afford it a seed germination heating pad really does help. 

This will depend on where you live and what seeds you are starting. The back of just about every seed package will give you this information. It will let you know if the seeds should be started indoors or direct seeded outside. Additionally, it will usually give you a time frame of when this should happen. Such as “start seeds indoors 4-6 weeks before last frost date”. You will just need to know what hardiness zone you live in. If you are not sure what zone you are in you can just google your way to an easy answer. 

The right pairing in the garden can lead to better yields, enhanced flavour and can even deter garden pests! You know how tomatoes and basil go hand in hand when it comes to food? Well, they do the same in the garden too. Basil helps to repel tomato pests and disease as well as helping growth and flavour. 

If you want to get the most bang for your buck, then you will want to pair companion planting with square foot gardening. Square food gardening is like planting your garden one 12inches by 12inches square at a time. It was conceived by Mel Bartholomew, a civil engineer, who took up gardening in his retirement. Square foot gardening is meant to be organic, with no need to use fertilizers, insecticides, or pesticides. It really is the best way to make the most of every square inch of space. It can be very powerful, especially if you do not have a lot of space. Even with a small 4-foot by 4-foot garden, using this method you have 16square feet of planting space! 

A cold frame is pretty much like a mini greenhouse. They are pretty quick and easy to build and they can help to extend your growing season without needing to have a full-sized greenhouse. They tend to be built from wood or better yet bricks with a window on top to let in the sun and help warm up the enclosure. 

Hardening off is the process of letting your plants have a chance to acclimate to the world outside. It does take some time, but it is worth the effort in order to avoid a plant massacre. 

No, you definitely don’t need a greenhouse when you first start a vegetable garden. Greenhouses are a great way to extend your growing season and grow plants that require a warmer environment than you may have. 

If this is available option for you then yes I would strongly recommend that you use raised beds. 

This all depends on what you are growing and also how fancy you want to get! I you are just want to try to start a vegetable garden but not sure you will keep it up, if you really want to gets serious about growing your own food and one if you want to branch out! 

Below are a list of some of what I consider the basics. 

• Seeding square 
• Seed germination heating pad 
• Growlight 
• The Family Garden Plan by Melissa K Norris 
• Composter 
• Rainbarrel 

 Happy gardening!