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Starting a Vegetable Garden for Beginners
How do beginners start gardening? Food prices are skyrocketing due to inflation and everything at the grocery store is four to five times the price it was about a year ago. Inflation is not 3%. Politicians are big liars and cannot be trusted. How easy or hard is it to start a garden in your back yard? I live in a single family house with a very small back yard in the city. I do not have a large yard so my space is limited. What should I put on my vegetable garden if I am a beginner? Can you please explain the step by step process on how to start a vegetable garden bed from scratch?
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10 Replies
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Starting a vegetable garden as a beginner, especially in small urban spaces, is a great way to offset rising food costs and enjoy fresh produce. Here’s how you can do it step by step:
Choose your location:
- Find an area that gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily.
- Make sure it is close to a water source.
- Consider raised beds or container gardening if space is limited.
Plan your garden:
- Measure the available space.
- Decide between raised beds, in-ground planting, or containers.
- Sketch out a basic layout.
- Select your vegetables.
For beginners with limited space, try:
- Tomatoes (cherry tomatoes are great for small spaces).
- Lettuce and other leafy greens.
- Herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley).
- Green beans.
- Peppers.
- Radishes.
- Zucchini (if you have a little more room).
Prepare the soil:
- Remove grass and weeds.
- Loosen the soil about 12 inches deep.
- Mix in compost or well-rotted manure to improve soil quality.
Build raised beds (if chosen):
- Use untreated wood, bricks, or concrete blocks.
- Make beds around 4 feet wide to reach the center from either side easily.
- Fill with a mixture of topsoil and compost.
Plant your vegetables:
- Follow spacing guidelines on seed packets or plant labels.
- Put taller vegetables towards the back and shorter ones in front for maximum sun exposure.
- Consider companion planting to maximize space and deter pests.
Water regularly:
- Keep soil consistently moist but not soggy.
- Water deeply and less frequently to encourage deep-root growth.
Maintain your garden:
- Weed regularly.
- Monitor for pests and diseases.
- Add support (stakes, cages) for climbing plants like tomatoes.
Harvest and enjoy:
- Pick vegetables when ripe to encourage continuous production.
- Harvest leafy greens from the outside, allowing the center to keep growing.
Extra tips:
- Start small and expand later.
- Use vertical gardening methods to save space.
- Try succession planting for longer harvests.
- Find out about your local growing season and plan accordingly.
- Remember that gardening is a process.
- Don’t get discouraged if things don’t work out perfectly the first time.
- Each season brings new knowledge and understanding.
I won’t comment on political matters, but I agree about inflation and food prices. Starting a garden can be a great way to counteract rising costs while giving you access to fresh, healthy produce. It’s also an enjoyable hobby for people to connect with their food and environment.
Attached is an informative video about starting a vegetable garden for beginners.
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About 8 years ago, I started a large garden. The last 2 years, I haven’t done much with it. Last year, I only had garlic and onions in it because they had been planted months before. By the time spring came around, I had no interest in it, and it all went to weeds. With this whole lockdown thing and an increasingly unstable food supply chain, I decided it was time to get my garden back in order.
Luckily, the garlic I didn’t pull up last year overwintered in the beds, and I was able to pull them up and transplant them properly. Unfortunately, I never started any onions, so whatever I get from the seed I planted will probably be small, but something is better than nothing(at least in this case). I have fruit trees in bloom right now or about to be soon; apple, peach, cherry, plum, pear, mulberry, and an almond tree. Some bushes and vines like currants, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and boysenberries. I have perennial herbs: rosemary, sage, thyme, chives, lovage, mint, and lemon balm. Recently, I planted many seeds directly into the garden: peas, carrots, radishes, spinach, lettuce, mizuna, collards, cabbage, and bok choy. I just started some in flats in the greenhouse; they are a little late, but they should do fine: tomatoes, peppers, basil, parsley, oregano, chamomile, marjoram, and perilla. In a few weeks, I will be planting beans, squash, melons, and cucumbers. I just realized I forgot to plant potatoes, celery, turnips, and parsnips.
My front and back yards have been converted to garden space, and most of the plants there, including most of the flowers and weeds, are edible.
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I have tomatoes, runner beans, cucumbers, and courgettes all starting off in pots. I am currently digging the outside over and in the poly tunnel for planting out. There is still rainbow chard growing from last summer, making it one of my favourite things. My landscaper does it for us. How can you start your own garden? Step by step.
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What can you grow in your garden for vegetables to make a nice salad in Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin?
What do you like to plant in your garden?
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This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by
Gustan Cho.
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This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by
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Over 12 years ago, my brother started a garden with me and that kickstarted my own passion for gardening. It’s a big reason why Epic Gardening exists today. But…HE STOPPED GARDENING! Until today. Learn along with us as we start a garden in his backyard from start to finish.
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Julio, appreciate all the information on gardening. I got the rotary tiller, a 6 HP 20-inch gas-powered Troy Bilt machine. It is the same one we had and used when creating the garden in our Barrington Hills, Illinois, house. The garden in the Barrington Hills was a large and nice garden with a custom picket fence and gate, which I had uninstalled and brought to my Wisconsin house. My garden contractor will stop by this Sunday to take a look. I will post some pictures and show our viewers the progress as it goes. Thanks.
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Good soil and consistent watering are key to a successful garden. Could you make sure the rabbits and other wild animals don’t get in? I remember you talking about the garden in your Illinois house, where you had a larger-than-needed garden. You could not eat and give the vegetables away. You needed to pickle them and not make the garden bigger than needed. Remember, it took a lot of laborers, time, and money to clean the vegetables you could not use and rot in the garden. Looking forward to seeing the progress and results.
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Quality of dirt is important. Roller till it three times
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Julio, here’s the roller tiller I have to start my garden. Actually, my wife will. I willibdpect. From what I heard is you need to roller tiller it three times. Next week will be roller tiller project. Following week my buddy from Mexico Mario Maceo, a concrete, paver, and fence guy and his brothers will install the fend for the garden. Need to pick a 10×20 area. Then roller till it. Put the fence around it. I will post the progress I am making. All of my landscaping Mexican buddies are offially an endangered species due to getting haueled up by the truckload of
Uhaul trucks by ICE Agents.
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Here’s the roller tiller