How to Start a Garden (5 things you need to know)

Learn how to start a garden with these easy tips. Find out the 5 things you need to know to have a successful garden. How to start a vegetable garden in a few easy steps.

How to start a garden

Who is going to plant a garden this year? If you are new to gardening, we put together this simple post to help you know where to get started.

There are a few basic things you need to know about how to start a garden. The way to be the most successful in your gardening attempts this year is to make a plan.

When we were planning our vegetable garden this year, there were five things we considered: time commitment, the zone, the space, type of garden and what to plant.

You might also like these money saving landscaping ideas.

Let’s learn how to start a vegetable garden with these easy steps!

Learn how to start a garden with these easy tips. Find out the 5 things you need to know to have a successful garden. How to start a vegetable garden.

How to start a vegetable garden for beginners:

Try these simple tips and before long you will be well on your way to your first garden!

How do you start a garden in the ground?

Keep reading to find out how to grow the best garden in the ground. Even better, you will find tips for container gardening and raised beds as well.

There is something for everyone.

1. Your Time Commitment

Have you ever heard of the “fuss-free” garden? Yah, me neither. There is no such thing so start small!

To have a bountiful garden, regardless of its size, requires a time commitment. At least a little bit of time should be carved out of every day to tend to your garden.

If you are new to gardening, it is always best to start with a small garden. You may be surprised how much time it takes to tend to your garden.

When considering how much time you’ll set aside for your garden think about these things: planting, weeding, watering/feeding, pest control, harvesting and re-planting (for select vegetables).

2.When should you start a garden? Know Your Zone.

Before you get too far into how to start a garden, you really need to be aware of your climate zone. With this information you’ll be able to know which vegetables will do well in your area as the best time to plant and harvest them for the right growing season.

You can head over to the USDA site here and input your zip code to find which climate zone you are in.

3. Space

Do you have an idea where you will be gardening? Typically, vegetable gardens need full sun – like 8-10 hours of full sun.

Make sure when you are carving out your garden space that you keep that in mind. If you are worried you don’t have a dedicated space in your yard that will get that much full sun, you may want to consider container gardening.

That leads to our next thing to consider.

4. Type of Gardening

Depending on how much space you have, you need to consider which type of gardening you’d like to do. If you have only a small amount of space or a space that does not provide consistent full sun, you may want to consider container gardening.

You can easily move around small containers to make sure they are receiving enough sunshine, plus this will help keep your beginning garden small. You can find a variety of pots at your local home and garden store or on Amazon.

If you have a good amount of space in your yard, you can decide between in ground gardening or raised beds. Raised beds do take more time to construct, but with raised beds, you will typically have less weeding, better drainage and a healthier garden.

If you would like to try and build your own raised beds, you can check out the tutorial here. I also saw these “pop-up” raised beds on Amazon. I have never tried anything like this before, but they look pretty easy to use.

If you choose in-ground gardening, be prepared for more weeding and be careful not to walk all over the soil (you don’t want to compact the ground, thus inhibiting drainage).

5. What to Plant

It may seem backwards to you, but once you have figured out your time, zone, space and type of gardening, you can finally decide which types of vegetables you would like to try and grow. Keep in mind that some vegetables will produce throughout the season – tomatoes, peppers and squash are a few examples.

Other vegetables only produce one time – carrots, onions and lettuce are other examples. If you are curious where to start, check out this vegetable guide. Mostly, plant vegetables that you and your family (and possibly friends and neighbors) will enjoy.

You can pick up seed packets or seedlings at your local home and garden store. You can also find excellent varieties of seed packets from Amazon. These Organic Heirloom seeds are very high quality.

Starting a garden is easy once you know these tips!

Now Get Gardening and let us know how it goes. Before long you will be harvesting lots of veggies.

Now that you have some basic information about how to start a garden, get planning! It can be overwhelming, but it can also be very rewarding!

There is just something to be said about growing and enjoying your own food. Start planning your vegetable garden now.

Come back and share your plans with us and then let us know how it is going throughout the season. We can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Now that you are armed with these 5 easy tips to make your plants grow in your vegetable garden, it is time to get started. Year after year, you will love producing your own small garden.

Once you know the best time to plant the seeds, hardiness zone, frost dates, soil test and more it will be a huge help. Don’t hesitate to stop by your local garden center as they are a wealth of knowledge for beginning gardeners.

Get your garden plans and garden tools together such as garden hose and more and sit back and watch your plants grow in the garden bed. Your hard work will pay off and it will be so nice seeing the harvest of a plentiful garden.

Don’t forget to make sure you have a basket or container to collect your harvest! Once the veggies start coming in, you will be busy picking vegetables.

I have a basket similar to these. The kids also have a smaller one. They love to help and the smaller ones are perfect for them to carry.

Get the entire family involved. The kids might just be more likely to eat their veggies if they helped to grow them. 🙂

Get started today now that you know how to start a garden!

A good rule of thumb is to not grow more than you can handle when you are first learning to grow a garden. It’s easy to become overwhelmed so best to start out slow.

You can even make your own Fruit and Vegetable Cleaner! I just love being able to control what is going on my food!

Find 5 more Easy to Make Fruit and Vegetable Wash ideas here.

Enjoy, and be sure to come back and let us know which was your favorite vegetable to grow! I know I can’t wait to make these Grilled Zucchini Foil Packs Recipe! Oh and Easy Cucumber Tomato Salad Recipe is SO amazing with garden fresh veggies.

I can’t wait! What do you plan to cook with all of your yummy garden vegetables?