Have you always wanted to garden, but never knew where to start? Today we’re going to teach you how to start a garden so you can grow your own food.
There is nothing like homegrown veggies straight from the garden and the experience of growing your own food. Here at Rosevine Cottage, we’ve had a garden for over 20 years and we’ve learned a thing or to about starting a successful garden. We wanted to share what we’ve learned through experience, tons of reading and research and good ol’ trial and error.
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How To Start A Garden: The Basic’s
Space – you need someplace to plant, which has lots of sunshine and access to water. Decide if you are going to be doing a container garden, a raised bed garden or planting in the ground.
Soil – a successful garden needs good soil. You can make your own using our tutorial or buy some at your local garden center.
Seed – We just did a post on where to buy seeds for your garden and what things like “GMO”, “Open-pollinated” and “Heirloom” mean.
When To Start A Garden
When to start a garden is largely going to depend on your geographic location, we’re blessed to live in the southern part of the United States which gives us a very long growing season (usually Late April-mid October). The best way to decided when to start a garden is by figuring out the last frost date for your growing zone. Look at the packages of seeds that you are wanting to grow, they should have a guide on the back to tell you when to plant for your area.
How To Start A Garden: Vegetable Garden Planning
Like any project when you’re starting a garden you need a plan!
- Use a garden journal or notebook, and calendar to plan what you’re planting, when it needs to go in the ground, and where it is going to go in your new garden.
- Some other great tools to keep on hand when planning a garden are a companion planting book, pencil,
Make sure you mark your last frost date on the calendar and keep a running list of what you are planting. Make a note of any special requirements for each plant.
Roughly sketch your garden, and begin to mark where you’ll be planting everything.
How To Start A Vegetable Garden From Scratch
Select a site for your new garden, using a soil testing kit test the soil to see what nutrients it’s lacking. Go ahead and add whatever it says to your garden site. This will prepare the soil for planting which is really important for a successful garden.
Read more about preparing the soil for planting:
- How To Prepare Your Garden For Spring
- What To Do Now For A Spring Garden
- Preparing Your Garden For Winter
How To Start A Garden: Tips For Planting A Garden
The next step in how to start a garden is planting, we’ve put together our top tips for planting a garden
- Start seeds inside before your last frost for a head start on the growing season.
- Transplant seedlings to the garden in the early morning or just before sunset.
- Water well after planting.
- Get cool weather-loving plants in the ground early.
- Try succession planting things like lettuce and root vegetables.
Read more about planting a garden:
How To Start A Garden: Spoiler It Isn’t As Hard As You Think
Gardening is a wonderful hobby to take up, there is nothing like the joy of working the soil and harvesting the reward for your hard work. Starting a garden really isn’t that hard, we hope we’ve answered all your ‘how to start a garden’ questions! If you have more drop them in the comments and we’ll answer them!
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Thank you for posting this. We will be planting our first garden together this year. Tjese are some very good tips, although hubby will say he doesn’t need them. Lol
Ha ha! You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed it. Let us know how your garden comes out. Would love to see pictures!