How to start a vegetable garden from scratch

Pick the sunniest spot you have

Most vegetables want at least six hours of direct summer sun; fruiting crops like tomatoes, peppers and squash want eight or more. Leafy greens and many herbs tolerate four to six and even appreciate afternoon shade in hot regions.

Watch the site across a day before you commit. Note where buildings and trees throw shade in the afternoon, when the sun is strongest, and avoid low spots where cold air and water pool.

Choose a bed style

In-ground rows are cheapest and fine if your soil drains and is not full of rock or tree roots. Raised beds warm earlier in spring, drain well, and let you bring in good soil over bad ground, at the cost of building them and filling them.

Whatever the style, keep beds no wider than about four feet so you can reach the middle from either side without stepping on the soil. Paths need only be wide enough to kneel and carry a basket.

Build the soil before you plant

Vegetables are grown in living soil, not just dirt. Spread two to three inches of compost over a new bed and fork or dig it into the top few inches. If you are filling a raised bed, use a blend of compost and a bulk growing mix rather than bagged potting soil alone.

A simple soil test from your county extension office tells you pH and nutrient levels for a few dollars and saves you guessing. Most vegetables are happy between pH 6.0 and 7.0.

Grow what you will eat

For a first year, six to ten crops is plenty. Reliable, high-value choices for most of the country: bush beans, lettuce and other salad greens, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, kale or chard, radishes, and a couple of herbs such as basil and parsley.

Skip crops that need a long season you do not have, a lot of space for a small return (field corn, main-crop potatoes), or constant pest management until you have some experience.

Follow a simple sequence

Use your average last spring frost date as the hinge. Four to six weeks before it, start warm-season transplants indoors and direct sow the toughest cool-season crops (peas, spinach, radish) as soon as the soil can be worked.

Around the last frost date, transplant hardy seedlings and sow more greens. One to two weeks after it, once the soil is warm, plant out tomatoes, peppers and squash and direct sow beans and cucumbers. In late summer, sow a second round of cool crops for fall.

The planting calendar generator turns your frost dates into exact windows for every crop.