Starting a vegetable garden can seem like a daunting task, but don’t think your inexperience means you can’t have a great garden this year! Growing vegetables is one of the easiest ways for beginners to get started.
Most vegetables are annuals, meaning they only live for one season and need to be replanted the following year. Once you get the first frost in the fall, the plants die and you don’t have to worry about them anymore.
Vegetable gardening is very rewarding, especially if you plant the right plants. Homegrown food is different from store-bought food, and that’s something that’s much easier to see when you’re used to homegrown vegetables and go back to store-bought.
Getting started with vegetable gardening is not a complicated process, and since I have been growing my own food for several years, I thought it would be nice to collect the best vegetable gardening tips for beginners.
VEGETABLE GARDEN TIPS FOR BEGINNERS:
- CHOOSE THE RIGHT LOCATION
This is top of the list because if you choose the wrong location for your garden, you are sure to get disappointing results. Most summer vegetables love the sun, so choose a location that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight during the day.
Remember that you need to have a water source nearby so that you can water conveniently. A drip irrigation system connected to a spigot is the easiest way to water your vegetable garden.
- CHOOSE VEGETABLES THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR YOUR REGION
If you’re in the U.S., you can use a map like this one to determine what grows well in your area. More importantly, it’s also helpful to know the length of your growing season (you can find it here).
Your seed packet should list the number of days to maturity – make sure your growing season is longer!
Learn a little about the type of vegetables you want to grow before planting your garden. Cold-tolerant plants like broccoli and kale will turn bitter if you grow them during the heat of summer.
For many plants, the heat causes them to taste bad and flower earlier (which also changes the taste). When I try to grow lettuce in my garden in the summer, it gets a milky discharge that tastes really gross!
We choose lettuce for fall and spring planting and for this reason avoid summer harvesting.
- Keep it near places where you spend a lot of time
Place your garden near the area where you already spend a lot of time. Gardens that get a lot of attention thrive better, so placing your garden where you like to spend time anyway will make it easier to remember to complete gardening tasks. - CHOOSE EASY-TO-GROW VEGETABLES
Some vegetables are easier to grow than others. The easiest vegetables to grow include onions, garlic, potatoes and lettuce.
- Choose Vegetables You Want to Eat
A common mistake new gardeners make is planting things you don’t want to eat. It’s such a waste to see a perfectly edible plant wither and die from neglect.
You’re much less likely to harvest your crops if you don’t feel like eating them, so save your energy for your favorite fruits and vegetables.
- Plant enough, but not too many plants
It’s important to have a realistic idea of how many plants you need per person. Think about how often you eat that vegetable in your family and be realistic about how much you can achieve with preserving.
Many first-time gardeners don’t attempt to grow food for an entire year. You may simply want to grow enough food to eat fresh vegetables all summer long. In this case, don’t overdo it!
- Use Mulch to Control Weeds
Mulching is one of the most important tasks in your garden. Applying mulch not only reduces weed control, but also helps the soil retain moisture and reduces the need for watering in the summer - MAKE SURE TO PLANT AT THE RIGHT TIME
Most crops are planted in the spring right after your last frost and again in the fall, a few weeks before your first frost. There are many vegetables that take 90-120 days to produce fruit.
Before planting, make sure your plants have time to mature.
- FOR HEALTHY SOIL, COMPOST CLEANS EVERYTHING
If you’re concerned about the health of your soil, you can always add compost. When it comes to soil improvement, there’s no such thing as too much compost, and it can’t harm anything. - You Should Keep a Journal Keeping
notes about your garden in a journal is one of the best ways to really grow as a gardener. You need to know how certain plants perform in your garden, what you did that worked well, and what you did that didn’t work.
Your journal can be as simple as a spiral notebook, but make sure it has plenty of space for planning, drawing, taking notes, and thinking about new ideas.
- IT’S BETTER TO WATER DEEPLY THAN MORE OFTEN
In a vegetable garden, too much water can be just as damaging as too little. Soaking your plants can leach nutrients from the soil, resulting in less flavorful produce.
It is better to set up your garden with a drip irrigation system or a soaker hose so that you can supply water mainly to the soil and roots of the plant. It is difficult to say how often you need to water as this varies greatly depending on the weather, but with intensive watering, your plants may be happy with more time between waterings.
- Raised beds and containers are often easier
If you’re looking for tips for gardening with less work, containers are the way to go. With a container, you won’t have to deal with weeds nearly as much and it’s easier to prevent pests, too.
- DON’T BE AFRAID TO START FROM SEED
If the thought of starting seeds indoors seems daunting, why not plant them directly in the garden? There are many vegetables that are easy to grow from seed.
Pumpkin, watermelon, cucumbers and beans are all easy to grow from seed. In fact, it’s so easy that even your kids can grow some of these plants all by themselves.
Watch the weather and plant on a day just before it’s going to rain for a few days. In a few days, when the rain lets up, go out into your garden and look for sprouts!
- Add Vertical Gardening
If you’re short on space, choose plants that grow vertically. DIY vertical gardens are an easy way to create more space in the garden, and they’re a fun and easy way to add to your existing garden plan.