At a glance
- Sun
- At least 6 hours of direct sun a day, 8-10 ideal
- Starter size
- 50-75 square feet (UMD)
- Water
- About 1 inch a week, rain included
- Mulch
- 2-4 inches once the soil has warmed
- Soil pH
- 6.0-6.5 for most vegetables
University of Maryland (UMD) Extension calls 50 to 75 square feet a good starter size, and NC State Extension says one 4-foot by 8-foot raised bed can supply most of the produce for one or two people when it is planted properly.
If no spot in the yard gets that much sun, containers and a community garden are the fallbacks.
Where in the yard should the garden go?
Sunlight is the most important thing to check. Vegetables need at least 6 hours of direct sun each day, and 8 to 10 hours is ideal, so keep the garden away from the shade of buildings and away from trees and shrubs, which also compete for water and nutrients. Watch where the shade falls through the day before you stake out a bed.
How well a crop copes with shade depends on the part you harvest.
- Crops grown for leaves and stems, such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, lettuce, parsley and spinach, and crops grown for roots, such as beets, carrots, radishes and turnips, are more tolerant of shade.
- Crops that flower and set fruit, such as eggplant, melons, peppers and tomatoes, need more light.
Water and drainage come next. Put the garden near the house, where you pass it often enough to inspect it, and within reach of a hose bib or irrigation, which saves hauling water in dry months. Walk the yard after a rain and rule out any spot where water pools, because it has poor drainage and would not be a good site without serious remediation.
A low spot at the base of a hill is also a poor choice. It warms slowly in spring, and frost forms there more readily because cold air cannot drain away.
If no spot in the yard gets enough sun, containers can go anywhere that meets the light, water and soil volume the plants need, such as a patio, porch or balcony. A community garden is the other option.
Should you plant in the ground or build a raised bed?
A sunny yard with good soil suits an in-ground garden, and raised beds are worth considering where the soil is poor, the site drains badly or the slope is steep.
| Compare | In-ground | Raised bed |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Less expensive | More than in-ground, since you may need a frame and extra soil |
| Water | Drains away more slowly and keeps roots cooler in summer | Likely to drain well, but needs more frequent irrigation |
| Space and weeds | Needs more space, and weeds from adjacent pathways are challenging to manage | Uses space more fully, so there is less room for weeds |
| Foot traffic | Paths are needed so planting areas do not compact | Defined beds limit foot traffic in the bed |
A raised bed is generally 8 to 12 inches high and 3 to 4 feet wide, and as long as you like. At that width you can reach the middle without stepping into the bed, and the raised soil will likely warm up earlier in spring.
Whichever you choose, start small. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the weeds and work of creating a new garden, and a small weed-free garden will produce more than a large, weedy one.
How do you prepare the soil?
Have the soil tested before you add lime or fertilizer. The report tells you whether the soil needs lime, nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium, and how much. Most vegetables do best at a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Lime reacts slowly, so if the report calls for it, apply it several months before planting, and a fall application can correct acidity before spring. Repeat the test every two to three years.
Soil near an older house may carry lead, and a soil test is how you find out. The two extension sources read the result differently.
| Source | Lead in the soil | What it advises |
|---|---|---|
| UMD | Under 400 ppm | Counts as safe to plant in |
| Oregon State | Under 50 ppm | Little or no lead contamination, no special precautions |
| Oregon State | 50 to 200 ppm | Grow any vegetable crops, and limit dust exposure |
| Oregon State | 200 to 1,200 ppm | Do not grow leafy vegetables or root crops |
| Oregon State | Above 1,200 ppm | Not recommended for vegetable gardening |
On a lawn, the grass comes off first. Turn the sod under or remove it and keep it, because sod holds valuable topsoil and organic matter. You can also kill the grass by covering it with cardboard or newspaper and putting a 2 to 4 inch layer of compost on top. On bare ground, dig in at least 2 inches of compost, then add a thin layer each time you plant.
Work the soil only when it is neither too wet nor too dry. Squeeze a handful. If it crumbles into small clumps it is ready, and if it stays molded in a ball, or sticks to your shoes or shovel, it is too wet. After tilling or spading, rake a firm, fine seedbed, which is best especially for small-seeded crops. Packing the soil too much could promote crusting of the surface and damage emerging seedlings.
Filling a raised bed
A raised bed can be filled with good loam screened into the bed with 50 percent compost, or with a bagged raised-bed blend or soil ordered by the cubic yard.
A quality blend consists of topsoil, compost and a soilless mix such as vermiculite, so ask what is in it, whether it is high in animal manures and, if so, whether they were fully composted, and whether it is guaranteed to be topsoil free of pollutants, weeds, insect pests and diseases. Add a 1 to 4 inch layer of organic material after each growing season to keep nutrient levels up.
For a framed bed, avoid creosote-treated railroad ties, because freshly treated creosote lumber can leach into the soil for several years.
Manure and fertilizer
Manure supplies nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, but it needs precautions before it goes into a vegetable garden.
- Take it from vegetarian animals such as cows, horses, chickens, goats or sheep.
- Find out whether herbicides or other chemicals were used where the animals grazed, because some herbicides survive the animal's digestive tract and composting and then harm lettuce and tomatoes in the garden the way they harmed the broadleaf weeds they were meant to kill.
- Avoid manure from animals kept in a confined area, which may contain high amounts of salts from urine.
- Use it only after it has aged at least six months in an open pile or been composted.
Apply fertilizer only as the soil test recommends, shortly before or at planting. The vegetable garden fertilizer guide covers the products. For tomatoes, use the tomato feeding guide.
Which vegetables should a first garden grow?
Grow what your household eats and what is expensive to buy, since a vegetable nobody eats takes up garden space for nothing. List the family's favorites in order of preference, and plant more of the top ones. UMD names bush beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, summer squash and leafy greens such as Swiss chard, kale and mustard as some of the easiest.
Check the days to maturity on each seed packet to be sure the crop ripens before frost. Then lay the crops out so they work together.
- Put tall and trellised crops on the north side so they do not shade the shorter plants.
- Group plants by the season they grow in and the time they take to mature, so early, short-season crops like lettuce can give way to late-season crops after harvest.
- Stake or trellis tomato, pepper and cucumber plants to save space.
Draw the plan on paper first, as a map of where each crop goes and how far apart the plants sit.
When can you plant each crop?
Soil temperature is the best indicator of when to plant, and each crop has its own tolerance of cold. Cool-season crops go in first. In Minnesota, peas, spinach, lettuce and radishes can be direct-seeded when the soil is between 40 and 50°F, and cabbage, broccoli and onions can be sown right after the plot is prepared.
Cool-season crops grow poorly in summer heat and must mature before it arrives, so start them early, indoors if you need to, or buy plants.
Warm-season crops mostly come from subtropical and tropical regions, and freezing temperatures injure or kill them. They wait until the danger of freezing has passed, which in Minnesota means after the last frost in mid-to-late May for tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, summer squash and basil, in soil that has reached 50 to 60°F.
The frost date calculator gives your own last spring frost at 10, 30 and 50 percent risk. The 50 percent date means about half of past years had a later freeze, so check the forecast before you put early varieties out.
- Look up your average last spring and first fall frost dates.
- Read each seed packet for its days to maturity and for whether it is started indoors, sown in the garden or set out as a transplant.
- Count the days to maturity forward from planting to check that the crop ripens before the first fall frost.
- Start fall crops early enough that they mature before hard freezes.
- Sow lettuce, radishes and beans in repeated plantings, because successive plantings extend the cropping season.
The succession planting schedule sets the dates for those batches.
How much water do vegetables need, and what does mulch do?
On average a vegetable garden needs 1 inch of water per week, and you add only what rain does not supply, so a rain gauge in the garden tells you how much to give. An inch can moisten the soil about 6 inches deep, depending on the soil type.
Dig into the soil with a long trowel to see how far the water went. Sandy soil needs watering more often than soil with a high percentage of clay, and raised beds need it more often than in-ground gardens.
- Water deeply. Mature plants need deep, less-frequent watering, while frequent shallow watering suits newly planted seeds.
- Water the soil. Many diseases spread when water splashes from the soil onto leaves or from a diseased leaf to a healthy one, and the longer water stays on the leaves, the more likely disease becomes. A soaker hose or drip line delivers water to the soil slowly.
- Water in the morning when possible. Where it is cool and wet enough for dew to form, mid-morning after the dew has dried is best. NC State notes that night is the most water-efficient time in a hot, dry summer.
Mulch conserves soil moisture, reduces weed growth and keeps soil from splashing onto the leaves. Organic mulches such as straw, leaves, grass clippings or compost lower the soil temperature by 8 to 10°F in summer, so wait until the soil has warmed in spring or it will warm slowly and plants will mature late. Then spread 2 to 4 inches around established plants, over soil that is already moist, because dry mulch can pull moisture out of the soil.
How do you keep up with weeds and pests?
Weeds compete with vegetables for nutrients, water, air and sunlight, and they give insects and diseases a home. Start as soon as weeds appear, because pulling a large, well-established weed can damage the root system of vegetable plants. A steel hoe used regularly is effective and inexpensive, and weeds at the base of a plant are better pulled by hand so the roots are not harmed. Mulch can significantly decrease the hoeing you need.
Check the plants often for insect and disease damage. Pests are usually crop-specific and prefer vegetables from one plant family, and crowded plants lose air movement and gain humidity, which suits many diseases. In Maryland gardens vegetables can be grown successfully without chemical pesticides, and the guide to natural pest control covers the options.
When do you harvest, and what goes in next?
Flavor and freshness depend on the stage of maturity, and overly mature vegetables are stringy and coarse, so harvest on time and in the cool part of the morning when possible. These are the cues for some first-garden crops.
- Snap beans. Pick before the seeds develop in the pod, when the pods are about the diameter of a pencil. They are ready if they snap easily when bent in half.
- Cucumbers. Pick when deep green, before any yellow appears, at 6 to 8 inches for slicing. Pick four to five times a week, because mature cucumbers left on the vine stop production of new fruits.
- Summer squash. Harvest when the fruit is soft, tender and 6 to 8 inches long, and pick every two to three days to encourage production.
- Leaf lettuce. Take the older outer leaves as soon as they are 4 to 6 inches long.
- Radishes. Pull at ½ to 1½ inches in diameter, because radishes left in the ground too long become tough and woody.
When a section of the bed opens up, put the next crop in it. In Minnesota, leaf lettuce, radishes and kohlrabi planted in mid-April can go in again in August for an additional fall harvest.
Insects and diseases that prefer one plant family build up when that family returns to the same spot, and tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and potatoes all belong to one family, so avoid planting related vegetables in one location more often than once every three years. A garden diagram with planting and harvest dates on it shows you what grew where.
Pro Tips
- Keep the first garden within UMD's starter size of 50 to 75 square feet, or smaller, because a small weed-free garden produces more than a large weedy one.
- Make beds 3 to 4 feet wide so you can reach the middle without stepping into the bed.
- Put a rain gauge in the garden and add only the water rain does not supply, about 1 inch a week on average.
- Spread 2 to 4 inches of organic mulch once the soil has warmed, over soil that is already moist.
- Put tall and trellised crops on the north side of the garden so they do not shade shorter plants.
- Draw a garden diagram and write planting and harvest dates on it, so you know next year where each plant family grew.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big should my first vegetable garden be?
Small. UMD calls 50 to 75 square feet a good starter size, and NC State says one 4-foot by 8-foot raised bed (32 square feet) can supply most of the produce for one or two people when it is planted properly. Clemson adds that a small weed-free garden will produce more than a large, weedy mess.
Can I start a vegetable garden in partial shade?
Partly. NC State puts the minimum at 6 hours of direct sun a day, but says that with partial, filtered or high shade you may still grow large-leafed crops harvested for roots, stems or leaves, such as collards, spinach, cabbage, carrots, kale, turnips, parsley, radishes and lettuce. It advises against tomatoes, beans, eggplant and other plants harvested for flowers, fruit or seeds in shade.
Should I start vegetables from seed or buy transplants?
It depends on the crop. University of Minnesota Extension says warm-season crops such as tomatoes, eggplants and peppers need a long season and will not mature if seeded directly in Minnesota, so they go in as transplants. It also says radishes, carrots and beets do not tolerate transplanting and need to be direct seeded. The guide to direct sowing versus transplanting covers more crops.
How soon will I harvest from a new vegetable garden?
Clemson's table for South Carolina lists approximate days to harvest of 25 to 30 for radishes, 50 to 60 for snap beans, cucumbers and summer squash, 60 to 70 for peppers and 70 to 80 for tomatoes, the last two from transplants. The seed packet gives the days to maturity for the variety you buy.
Do I need raised beds, or can I plant in the ground?
Either works. NC State says in-ground gardens are less expensive, drain away water more slowly and keep roots cooler in summer, while raised beds will likely drain well and warm earlier in spring, and they need more frequent irrigation. The comparison of raised versus in-ground beds covers the tradeoffs.
Sources & References
- University of Maryland Extension, How to Start a Vegetable Garden
- NC State Extension Gardener Handbook, Chapter 16: Vegetable Gardening
- University of Minnesota Extension, Planting the Vegetable Garden
- University of Minnesota Extension, Starting Seeds Indoors
- Clemson Cooperative Extension, Planning a Garden (HGIC 1256)
- Oregon State University Extension, Reducing lead hazard in gardens and play areas (EC 1616)
