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6 Steps to Planting a Successful Vegetable Garden

by on Mar 31, 2008

Although it’s snowing outside my window, spring is in the air, which means planting season is just around the corner! If you’ve always wanted to gather vegetables from your own garden, then you might want to make friends with Catherine Abbott, the vegetable garden helper. Catherine suggests, even before you start planting, you ask yourself these questions:

What vegetables do you and your family like to eat?
Which ones would you like to grow? Do you want to eat fresh or have enough to freeze and can?

Why do you want to grow vegetables?
To save on the grocery bill? Growing your own veggies is one way to save some money. For healthier vegetables? I believe organic food is healthier for you and by growing your own you know exactly how they are grown. For exercise? You can burn up to 200 calories an hour gardening. You stay limber and can enjoy the outdoors.

How much time do you want to spend gardening?
It will take some time o set up and plan your first garden site, but once that is done most home gardeners will probably spend 4 – 8 hours a week depending on the garden size.
                        
How large is your site?
For a beginner gardener it is important to start small. 100 square feet is plenty of garden space to start with. This is a 10 foot by 10 foot garden area or 3 – 8 foot by 4 foot raised beds.’

After you’ve answered these questions, it’s time to get busy, and if you follow these six steps, your thumb will surely turn green—along with your garden!

Step 1: Find garden site
Step 2: Plan garden layout
Step 3: Prepare soil
Step 4: Select and Sow seeds
Step 5: Garden maintenance
Step 6: Harvest your crop
                                
For further green thumb support, peruse Catherine’s very informative site. You can even subscribe to her  monthly newsletter, “Vegetable Gardening Hints.”

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