15 Tips on Starting a Vegetable & Herb Garden

 

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” – May Sarton

 

If you are like me, you have been itchin’ to get your hands dirty in the garden, or perhaps you already have! I sowed some seeds a few weeks back, and our beds are currently tucked in and covered up like babies because snow. Anyway, let’s talk about starting a simple garden, something I’ve been adding to here and there for some time and am ready to share with you.

I want to start of by saying that I really do think gardening and plant care is one of those topics that can feel rather intimidating if you are new to it. My sweet mama literally has a fake succulent plant in her home because she claims to have a “black thumb” and therefore has deemed herself “horrible at keeping any plant life alive”. I keep telling her, “Mom. You can grow a succulent. Just neglect the heck out of it.” She doesn’t believe me.

I think some of you may feel like if you don’t know everything about how to keep plants alive (both in and out of your garden) you know close nothing and maybe shouldn’t try. Does this sound like you? I am here to tell you that’s hogwash. Yep, it’s not true. You really can know a few basic things and still produce a wonderful garden (or keep a dang succulent alive) while knowing the bare minimum, which, in case you didn’t know, is what succulents and other cactus varieties require.

You don’t even have to have a lot of land, nor do you need any fancy gadgets to get started. You don’t even have to have a raised bed or beds, although it helps. You can indeed grow a fabulous garden in containers and feed yourself and your family in a beautiful, wholesome way with good soil, a sunny spot, consistent water, and some seeds or starters.

Also know you will probably kill something. I do every year. Or maybe you won’t kill it per se, but it will do less-favorably than you hoped for. This is fine and expected. You are not alone in the ups and downs that seasonal gardening delivers, so look at it as an opportunity to learn, learn, learn! Plant anyway, write down what does well, scribble down what doesn’t, and do your best with what you have to correct your problems the following season. Grace and gardening go hand in hand. Thank God for nature to teach us this important lesson.

And if everything really does go down the pot, chances are you’ve gotten a lot of healthy vitamin D in the process and there’s a probably a wonderful farmer’s market to take advantage of nearby. There’s no shame in supporting local growers if your tomato crop decided to produce more leaves than fruit one particular year. Go meet your local farmers! Make friends with them. Ask them questions. They will talk your ear off and let you sample things and it will be delightful. Here are a few helpful tips and bits of information you should know when start a simple vegetable & herb garden at home:

  1. Vegetables need around six hours of sunlight per day, so where you choose to plant your garden matters a great deal. Herbs and leafy greens are on the low end of that, while vegetables are on the high end. Building your beds and putting your containers in a sunny spot will ensure consistent growth. Take note know of where the sun shines in your yard and where it doesn’t. This changes seasonally, by the way.
  2. Fill your beds, containers, or plot with good-quality soil. I use compost from our yard bin and also buy good soil from a nearby nursery each spring. Buy organic. Buy quality. Soil is important! This will feed your vegetables which in turn will feed YOU. I am going to be showing you how to create successful compost here in a few weeks.
  3. Check your growing dates.  This guide will show you when to sow indoors, if you prefer, when to sow outdoors, and when to plan on harvesting. The Old Farmer’s Almanac is my trustee companion for both planting and harvesting dates and I think you’ll find it quite helpful.I also recommend getting the hard copy to have on hand throughout the year. Hardware stores would carry it. Its full of the most wonderful and ridiculous information. It always gives me a chuckle.
  4. Make sure your containers have good drainage and support systems. If you are using cans, drill holes in the bottom. You can use strings or sticks to hold up plants that you know will grow to be tall, something I do frequently for tomatoes and beans that like a little something to lean on.
  5. Label everything. You will forget otherwise. You can use popsicle sticks, cut up pieces of tin, or anything that will hold up in the rain to mark your plants. You can name them too if you want. Stella name one of our tomato plants George last year. George didn’t do so hot, be we loved him anyway.
  6. Keep an eye on the leaves of your plants. If there are holes in them, changes are high that you have a pest problem. If the leaves are yellow, you’ve been watering too much. They should be deep green and bushy without holes or spotting.
  7. Plant bee attracting flowers in your raised beds to encourage pollination and keep your veggies and herbs happy. I like marigolds, sunflowers, black-eyed Susan, various native wildflowers and and echinacea. Here is a good source to help you out for further reading.
  8. Keep a record of what you have planted including: variety, where you planted, date planted, rain amount and yield. This will greatly impact how and what you choose to plant the following season. I have a little journal where I draw out my garden beds each new season and what is in them, in addition to how each plant did over the course of the season. Small notes do just fine, nothing elaborate here unless that is what you fancy.
  9. Plant tall crops (like corn, tall tomato plants, or sunflower) on the north end of the garden so they do not shade other plants. Plant herbs and leafy greens on the south end of the garden.
  10. Weed and harvest as much as you can to maximize your harvest. Weeds take valuable nutrients from your precious plants and you do not want this. Also know that many plants will stop producing if you do not tend to them and harvest when they are ready. Kids and their tiny hands make for fantastic weeders and pickers.
  11. Plant mint and thyme and other fast-growing cover crops in containers so they don’t overtake your garden.
  12. Learn about companion gardening! Here is a wonderful source if you want to learn more about what grows best with other vegetables and flowers and what doesn’t. My friend Lindsay is a geek about this and she has been a great resource for me, but the post I’ve linked here is wonderful too.
  13. Mulching is a great way to smother weeds. Using organic material such as hay, manure, grass clippings, peat moss, bark, and newspaper add fertility to your soil so they are much more beneficial than blankets or synthetic covers. Plastics however, can conserve moisture and help if you live in a colder part of the country and really want to take advantage of cold-season planting.
  14. Take care of your crops by watering regularly early in the morning or later evening, and avoid watering when the sun is at its warmest in the middle of the afternoon.
  15. Lastly, don’t go crazy with heirloom varieties right off the bat. If you are new to gardening, start simple. Here is a list of fairly easy vegetables and greens to plant, climate permitting:
  • tomatoes
  • leaf lettuce
  • cucumbers
  • summer squash
  • peppers (any kind)
  • bush peas
  • green beans
  • herbs
  • kale
  • swiss chard
  • radishes
  • onions

There’s that, folks. Fellow gardeners and growers, what did I leave out? Do you have any more helpful tips others should know when starting a simple vegetable and herb garden? Happy planting!

 

  • Samantha - This is perfect! Starting a garden is my number one goal for this spring! Thank you for sharing!!ReplyCancel

  • Jessie - This is so good!! I’m going to try my hand at a garden for the first time this year!!! I have to ask, what is that beautiful plant growing on the top of your gate in the photo above?ReplyCancel

  • Heather Legge - So I live in an apartment and my deck gets no sunlight. It’s nice in the summer because I can sit out there without frying, but I have yet to successfully grow anything. I kill airplants and succulents just so you know. *wink* Any tips for me? What I really would love is to just grow some herbs. I have one corner indoors that gets fantastic sunlight but unfortunately my cats eat anything that I put inside. Help??ReplyCancel

  • Mom - Ummm…Can I have a little credit for the bumper crop of patio tomatoes we grew last year? Granted, it was your dad’s idea but I helped keep them going til September!ReplyCancel

    • admin - Love you mama. Those tomatoes were delicious!ReplyCancel

  • PerlaGiselle - Dang. I live in a an apartment and I am thinking, someday. lol Thank you for sharing!
    -PerlaGiselle
    iamperlita.comReplyCancel

  • Planning a Garden - Bird is the Word - […] the gorgeous weather, a well-timed gardening post by Amanda, and an unexpected late afternoon nap by Emmett, I found myself inspired Thursday […]ReplyCancel

  • Jamie - What to do for pests-my kale had little tiny worms eating holes in it a few years ago and I didn’t know what to put on it that would be safe for eating. So I didn’t plant kale and last year, which was sad because it grew so well.
    Also, the very day my kids expect a strawberry to be big, red, and ripe, they run out to the garden so often only to find it bitten into or squashed!ReplyCancel

  • Maria - Thanks so much for sharing! I have promised my daughter we would make a small container garden this year. Any tips specifically for that? All she cares about are the tomatoes, which I hate, but I am not sure what else that will do well in containers.ReplyCancel

  • Audrinajulia - Thanks for the tips Amanda me and my daughter is looking forward for our seeds to grow. We started a couple weeks ago and added some last week. Hoping for our good harvest but if not, the experience alone of gardening is a good memories for us to look back years from now, right?

    Just one question though and i’m a bit worry about this since it’s been done before. I have two four legged family members, do you have any words on how your friend🐶 help and refrain from eating or making “chaos” to your garden?

    Have a great mini vacation with your dear husband and enjoy your me time.

    Love,
    AngieReplyCancel

  • Rose J. - I am planning to add some tomatoes and bitter gourd once Winter is over. The bitter gourd needs a bit of a bare housing structure, and then I can put in tomatoes underneath. Our place is fairly “sunlighted”, but learned a lot in your post.

    Anyway, for seedlings, is it okay to use paper egg trays?ReplyCancel

  • Garden Dad - Hello! Thank you so much for sharing these set of tips to everyone. My wife and I had been planning to build a vegetable and herb garden for so long now. I’ll definitely show this post to her.ReplyCancel

  • Sheila K. - Amazing piece of content, Thanks for putting everything under one roof!ReplyCancel

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