If you’ve never done a vegetable garden before you’re going to find this to be a very fun project. Growing vegetables is essentially much easier than other crops. Growing delicious taking vegetables is a great way to save money and stay healthy but it will require a bit of planning and effort on your behalf. Below are a few steps to getting started with the planning process.
Measure the Space
Whether you’re going to use a small area in your yard or a large acre of land you’re going to need to know exactly where you will be starting your garden. While it might seem best to go with a larger space, you want to start with a manageable sized garden so that you don’t waste time, money, or resources. Remember you can always expand once you’re comfortable with handling more.
Select a Gardening Method
Many are unaware that there are different methods of growing vegetable gardens. There is square foot gardening, raised beds, French intensive, and row gardening. You don’t have to stick with the latest trends if you don’t want to. Conduct a bit a research on each method to determine what the pros and cons are and then select which works best for you.
Create Your Design
So the next order of business is to write down what you want your vegetable garden to look like. How many paths are you considering? What hardscapes are you going to add? Create a sketch of the gardening area and begin planning out exactly how you want the space to look so that you can easily begin looking for supplies.
Create a Calendar
In most cases it is best to have a calendar for the months of February through June. This is the timeframe in which you can begin your seeds and start planting for the spring and summer garden to begin blooming. For those interested in a Fall garden it should take you through to October before the first frost takes place. Once you know what your last frost date is mark the calendar every two weeks prior to that date to make it easier once you begin planting.
Make a List of Supplies Needed
The last order of business is to make a list of supplies and equipment that you’re going to need in order to plant your vegetable garden. Typical equipment might include heating mats, composts, mulches, shovels, lights, pots, seed starting mix, and more. You will need to research the necessary supplies based on the type of gardening style you chose.
Once you’ve gotten all of the supplies that you will need for your garden, all that is left to do is determine which types of vegetables you want to see grow. You can go to your local grocery store or department store and find seed there, you can order them from a reputable online vendor, or you can also order them from a gardening catalog and have them shipped right to your door. Once you have your seeds, the planning process is complete and the dirty work starts.
