I want to plant a vegetable garden. I have never done it before. I’m not even sure what I want to plant. The usual stuff, I guess… green beans, carrots, peppers, lettuces, peas, zucchini, sweet corn, etc.
I have the spot of land picked out – it’s in the backyard. I’ll probably start small, something like 20 feet X 20 feet. The ground has never been tilled. Yesterday I bought a front tine tiller. Should I spread manure/compost on the ground before I till? What about fertilizer? How far apart should the rows be? Do I just stick the seeds in the ground, or should I start them indoors using those small planter things? Do I need to keep the garden watered all the time?
Yes, as you can see, I do not have any idea what I’m doing. Any advice is appreciated.
You’re smart by starting small - 20 x 20 feet is plenty of space to get your feet wet. Hopefully you have full sun and the drainage is good (no standing water for hours after a heavy rain, for instance).
Since lots of soil in these parts tends to be clayey and hard to work, it’s a good idea to add amendments like compost and aged manure, tilling or digging them in before planting. Make sure the soil has dried out enough to work (the usual guide is if you squeeze a ball of soil in your hand and drop it from a height of a couple feet, it should crumble when it hits the ground). By the time you get the tilling done it’ll almost be too late for a spring crop for cool-loving vegetables like peas and lettuce. Corn will take up an awful lot of your space.
I think it was last week’s Columbus Dispatch that had an article on starting to grow vegetables, including recommendations on what to grow (they preferred things that cost a lot at the supermarket). The article probably is still available online. Zucchini (pick a compact variety if possible), tomatoes and sweet peppers are hard to miss with if you’re a beginner. I’d forget about sowing seed indoors at first and either plant directly in the ground (i.e. for beans) or buy young plants in plastic packs. They usually have tags specifying how far apart the rows should be.
As far as frequency of watering, you’ll need to get used to putting your hands in the soil to see if it’s moist several inches down or needs watering. How often to water depends heavily on your type of soil, location and weather.
Also think about cheap chicken wire or similar kind of fence if varmints roam your area.
If the ground has never been tilled, I’d till it first until the sod (assuming the plot is currently lawn) is thoroughly chopped up, then till in compost or well-rotted (not fresh) manure.
At this point in the season, I’d just plan on buying pepper plants. It’s easier.
Lettuce and peas you can plant right now. Plant the peas in rows and give them something to climb. My favorite way to plant lettuce is to broadcast seed over a patch, then harvest by cutting when the leaves are just a couple of inches long. This is called “cut and come again,” because the plants will sprout new leaves and you’ll get a couple of harvests before the weather turns hot, which makes the plants “bolt,” or go to seed. You can buy a couple of different types of lettuce and mix the seeds up. Instant mesclun!
The good news is that no one will be grading you on your efforts (except, possibly, yourself).
I suggest starting with just 3-4 things that you like to eat. Plant generously, as you will suffer losses and you need to accept that as part of the game.
Lettuce, peas, beans, and zucchini are easy to plant and reasonably hardy. Carrots can take a long time to come up, and you have to till really deep. I’m not saying don’t try them, just that for a new gardener they might be frustrating. I’d also suggest the mini variety that don’t grow very long. If you want foot-long carrots you’ll probably have to till down about 14-18 inches, which is a pain in the butt. Peppers like lots of sun and heat, but then you’ll have to make sure they get enough water. Sweet corn I’m sort of on the fence about for a new gardener. In a good year it will do fine but it has a distressing tendency to fall over in high winds. It also requires a lot of nutrients, if you don’t have manure/compost I’d suggest some fertilizer and plant it in a different corner of your garden the next time you plant it to keep the soil from being depleted.
(I rotate the legumes - beans and peas - around the garden space as they will help keep the soil fertile. So where I planted corn last year I’ll put the beans this year. I also use lots of compost, but I’ve been doing it awhile. My first two years I used some artificial fertilizer until I got the compost going. It’s not necessary, but it might give you better results)
Starting small the first year is a good idea (I did that, and just added a bit every year so slowly grow the garden). My suggestion to get it ready is this:
Remove any sod over the garden space. Cut the grass into small squares, lift, shake as much dirt from the roots as you can, then put the grass in a pile to start your compost.
Till soil.
Sprinkle compost/manure over soil.
Till again to mix the yummy nutrients into the soil
Whether or not to use fertilize is not a critical choice, but it can be helpful. If you’re lucky, the soil you expose will be dark, a rich dark brown or black. Such soil probably doesn’t need fertilizer. If it is very sandy adding some might be a good idea. If you have clay, well, then what you need is actual soil and that’s a different problem. If the soil is dusty grey or tan then yes, I’d recommend some fertilizer. A local nursery can help you select one appropriate for your local area. Some are formulated to encourage green leafy growth, and some to encourage “fruiting”. If you’re growing vegetables you probably want the latter.
The rows should be far enough apart that you can walk between them, but no wider than necessary to do so. I spread lawn clippings on these paths to help keep down weeds and reduce water loss (my area is a bit drier than yours midsummer). Then again, I have a small lawn-mowing service, so I get free mulch. Only use grass clippings that have NOT been sprayed with weed-killer or other chemicals! If you have an “organic” lawn you can use your clippings. If you have a lawn service or use chemicals to control weeds, etc. do not do this.
There are several ways to get the plants into your garden.
You can use seeds. This is my preferred method, as it is cheap, and I’m familar with it. However, if you’re not familiar with how seedlings look it can be easy to mistake the young plants for weeds and accidentally kill them.
You can start indoors. If you’re good with houseplants this might be a good thing for you. However, not everything does well with being started indoors and then transplanted. Corn, for example, does not do well with that method. Seed packets will usually tell you if this is a good idea or not for a given type of plant, so read the packages.
You can buy plants already started. This is a little more expensive, but they’re past their most delicate stage, and easily distinguished from weeds. As a beginner, this may be your best option if it doesn’t strain your budget.
As for watering - that’s variable. Some years you need to, some you don’t. If it’s summer, it’s hot, it hasn’t rained in days, and the plants are starting to droop then water them. A garden hose works fine, as does a lawn sprinkler moved around the garden a bit. Or you can haul buckets like I do.
(In my area I have to worry about both flood and drought - the rows between my plants are actually sunk about 4-6 inches below the plants to collect excess spring rain and prevent drowning of plants. During the latter half of summer I’m often having to water at least once a day)
I hope that helps. If you have more questions just ask.
First thing to bear in mind: there is no one ‘right’ way- if you ask 20 different vegetable gardeners a question, be prepared to get 20 different answers…
That in mind, generally the info on seed packets and with bought in plants is a good way to start- they normally will say what spacing they need. Generally. I don’t know if it’s a problem where you live, but here, in the UK, it’s common for DIY shops and supermarkets to sell truly stupid ‘grow your own’ plants- for example, I’ve seen pots containing 6 carrot seedlings for sale for a few pounds. Carrot plants hate being moved, and if they survive the transplant, they’ll normally grow a twisted, split root, which is useless as food. If you do buy from non-specialist places, try and get the plants when they’re fresh in, they often don’t look after them at all well, and leggy (long, weak stemmed) plants rarely recover.
Just to go with the ‘no two people say the same’ thing, most UK home growers germinate corn inside and move it out later- it’s the only way to avoid the late frosts and still have a long enough growing season, and I’ve not had problems doing this, though corn’s a pretty minor crop for me.
Things like beans and zucchini grow incredibly fast, and the pots you can buy are, IMHO, a waste of money- you could grow a plant the same size yourself at home for a fraction of the price in a matter of weeks; there’s also more variety choice with seed than bought in plants. Tomatoes and peppers might be worth buying in, as they’re slow to get going, and I think it’s a little late to start them off if you want a good crop- depending on local weather.
Incidently, I can only find a PDF cite, but I believe the usefulness of growing legume crops to add useful nitrogen has been pretty much disproven- yes, they fix nitrogen while growing, but virtually all of it is used by the plant in forming its fruit, so unless you dig in the whole plant, beans and all, there’s no net gain in the soil.
Anyway; remember to grow what you like eating (it’s amazing how many people forget this bit ), and enjoy!
If you plant zucchini, you should be aware that zucchini is very prolific. Usually people plant too much and then have to resort to leaving zucchini on their neighbor’s porches to get rid of it. I didn’t even bother planting it last year; my neighbors are always good for as much zucchini as I can eat, and then some. Just a heads up!
Corn is a difficult crop. It tends to get worm damage, and also needs a lot of nutrients. You can use fertilizer and/or till the field with well-rotted compost. I recommend asking people who grow it in your area how they keep the worms at bay. There might be pest-resistant varieties, but most people dust it with pesticide at some point. If you decide to grow corn, don’t plant it all in a single row–it’s wind-pollinated, so arrange it in multiple rows. Some varieties need to be 300 ft away from incompatible varieties to avoid cross-pollination, so if your next-door neighbors are growing corn, you might want to grow the same variety as they are. Alternatively, you could stagger the planting times. I personally would not recommend corn as a first-time crop, but that’s your call.
On the other hand, tomatoes, bell peppers, and greens/lettuce are all pretty easy. The former two tend to be easier to buy already sprouted. Peppers in particular have low germination rates; getting them to sprout from seed can be annoying. Plus you probably should have started them weeks ago at this point. Just wait until the weather warms up (early May, I’d say), buy them from a nursery, and stick them directly in the ground. Put tomato cages over the tomatoes and peppers to keep the branches off the ground.
Lettuce, greens, and peas are probably best sown directly in the ground. In fact, spinach and peas can be sown right now; with lettuce you might want to wait until frost is less likely. I live in Zone 5 and I have started lettuce in pony packs so I can bring them indoors at night, but I’ve got spinach and tatsoi (an asian green) and peas out in the ground and they are doing fine.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention keeping weeds down. I like Broomstick’s method, except I put layers of brown paper (I save grocery sacks) down between the rows before putting grass clippings over them. This really helps with the weeds.
Oh and another thing–start a compost pile. This will give you compost for next year’s crop!
I can’t add much to what everyone’s already told you. I like potatoes, too - they grow very nicely, and they make beautiful plants, too.
Everyone says zucchinis are very prolific, but I’ve tried growing them, and got one or two tiny little four inch gourds (and I love zucchini). Wah.
Jackmannii is right about the method for deciding when to water, too - you pretty much just go stick a finger in the ground and see if it’s still moist or not.
I found the article from the Dispatch about vegetable gardening. Not a lot of practical advice there, but they were right about “plant what you like to eat”. And here’s their list of relatively expensive vegetables (in the supermarket) that you’re most likely to save money on by growing yourself:
“The most expensive fresh vegetables are mushrooms, spinach, peppers, green beans, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, winter squashes and salad greens.”
My favorites from that list are salad greens, peppers, tomatoes, beans and Brussels sprouts, all of which I grow for taste and enjoyment. Brussels sprouts don’t take up a lot of room and the harvest season is very long (I ate the last of our crop in late February).
I tilled half of it. And then one of the bolts that holds the tines to the shaft fell off. Can’t find the bolt & nut. Will replace it with a new bolt and locking nut (nut w/ nylon insert) tomorrow.
Lettuce and tomatoes will also produce more than you can eat. We had three cherry tomato plants last year and were giving away bags of it to all our Meals on Wheels folks. Same for the lettuce. It grows back. Before winter, get some ground cover seed from your local nursery and spread it over your garden area (after you pull up the plants). Cover the garden with opaque plastic (by the roll from Lowes). The ground cover plants will grow during the winter, or in the spring if it’s too cold, and put nutrients back in the soil that have been removed by your previous crops. In the spring, just roll them under to provide mulch. Also, don’t plant the same veggie in the same place each year.
You might get some tufts here and there. In a garden, grass is weeds. You’ll have lumps which may or may not bother you. Pulling the sod means you won’t have to pull grass tufts later, it’s a matter of a little labor now saves you labor later, but no, not critical.
Not as critical in Ohio as out here - out here is tallgrass prairie territory. The sod on my property is about six inches thick when you account for the roots.
If you start tomatoes from good sized seedlings, you should get a bumper crop. And they taste better than those over-priced ones down at the store.
Look at it this way- which veggies do you eat most often? Of those, which are the most expensive?
You may eat a lot of taters, but taters are very cheap. Unless you like those small gourmet fingerling style.
I’ll also say that fresh sweet corn is very nice.
Other than corn, most of your crops, should be grown from larger seedlings. This is because you are new to gardening. Later, try more seeds. But starting with seedlings takes one very big level of “FAIL” out of the equation.
In my rather limited experience, cucumbers will overachieve, as long as you keep picking them. Cucumbers are very nice, but even the most dedicated cucumber lover will tire of having cukes EVERY day during the summer. So you swap your excess cukes for someone else’s excess veggies, and everyone’s happy.
Once you’ve eaten a home grown tomato, you’ll never want a store bought tomato again. There’s nothing quite like a fresh tomato sandwich, or tomatoes dressed simply with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a few carefully chosen spices.
I’ve done this! I planted crimson clover last October or so after harvesting some of my crops. It overwintered nicely and I’ve been harvesting the tops to put in the compost pile. It will soon be tilled under. I’m thinking of planting some corn on the section that had clover and some on the bare-ground section and seeing which does better.
By the way, clover seeds are cheap; you can order them by the pound. I think I got mine from Amazon.
So if a person has enough room, should they have two veggie patches? One with cover to prepare for next season and one with veggies this season and just use each patch every other year? Or is that unnecessary? I’ve also long wanted to get into veggie gardening (I adore tomatoes and the ones in the grocery store are disgusting. I could eat a cucumber and tomato sandwich for lunch every day and be happy.
Any advice is appreciated.
Only use grass clippings that have NOT been sprayed with weed-killer or other chemicals! If you have an “organic” lawn you can use your clippings. If you have a lawn service or use chemicals to control weeds, etc. do not do this.
), and enjoy!