How to Start a Garden
This week on Threads someone posted the following question which is, frankly, one of the most common gardening questions:
"I'm a complete gardening newbie – if I want to grow some veggies in a raised garden bed in my backyard, where do I begin? What supplies do I need? Who do I follow for tips on growing victory gardens? What's the best kind of veggies to start with? I've been meaning to do this for years, but keep getting overwhelmed and stuck in paralysis analysis."
Maybe you have had these questions, too! I know I did when I started growing vegetables! So let's break it down and answer all of those questions! I have links to lots of resources today. Some are from my own website. Others are from other gardeners. But all of the answers are available to you – and they will be in one place.
Ok. Let's get started!
Raised Bed Gardening
This person asked particularly about gardening in raised beds – a very good place to start, actually. Raised beds have lots of advantages over growing directly in the soil, particularly for beginners. You have better control over your soil conditions, for one thing, and they can help to set some boundaries when it comes to the size of your garden, too. That can help conquer the overwhelm that sometimes comes with starting a new garden!
I just finished writing a full guide to Raised Bed Gardening, and it's full of tips and ideas as well as a look into my own raised beds – and I have LOTS of raised beds! So here's the Complete Guide to Raised Bed Gardening – hot off the presses, so to speak!
Do You Need A Soil Test?
If you are going to grow vegetables in the ground – or if you are curious about your own soil – having a soil test done can be an easy and inexpensive way to learn more about the soil beneath your feet. I've written about this process – why I did it and what I learned here. And I have information for you about how to get your own soil tested (it's not very expensive) and what you might learn, too!
I don't think this is something a beginner needs to do unless you are NOT using raised beds, by the way. It's something farther down the road. But it is a great tool for learning about your own soil and how you can improve it over time.
Peat-Free Gardening Guide
Last week's Resistance Gardening Tip was all about Peat-Free Gardening. But for beginners and new readers, I'm going to include this important bit of reading here as well. Just start your garden as a peat-free garden, and then you'll never need to change a thing!
What Gardening Supplies do I Need?
Assuming your raised beds are already built and filled, you only need a few key things to get started:
Seriously. That's about it! But, of course there are lots of other tools and pieces of equipment that are helpful as you get farther into your gardening passions. And I have a few lists of my favorites:
And let's talk about gardening books for a second. I have two which I highly recommend to beginner gardeners. They are both written by the British gardening writer and presenter, Monty Don, and they are the best gardening books I know.
This is a place to start if you are starting a new garden – or revising an existing one. Monty includes both the fundamentals of setting up a garden as well as the basics on some of the plants he loves to grow. As different as my climate is here in Colorado from his in the UK, it is still one of the best primers on the basics of gardens, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Think of The Gardening Book as a cookbook for a garden. This reference is tremendous for a plant-by-plant look at the most common garden plants including both veggies and flowers and so much more. Even if you have gardened before, this is a great reference to have on hand.
Who do I follow for tips on victory gardening?
This is a really important question because there are so many people out there giving bad gardening advice. They are probably well-meaning, but as a Master Gardener – and on my social channels, too – I can't tell you how many times each season I get questions like this, "So-and-so on Instagram said to do this to my tomatoes, but it didn't work. What did I do wrong?" And the answer is almost always: "YOU didn't do it wrong – you got bad/inaccurate/incomplete advice."
So here are some of the gardeners I follow who give good, reliable, science-backed advice:
ColoradoMasterGardeners – find the Master Gardeners for your county or state!
Substack
YouTube
You want to find gardeners in your state and zone, too. Gardening in Texas is very different from gardening in California which is different from Minnesota and Maine and Montana. Trust me, I have gardened in almost all of those places!
What are the best veggies for a beginning gardener?
Such a good question! The short answer is: grow what you and your family like to eat! But of course there is more to it than that. Some vegetables are much harder to get to maturity than others – broccoli and cauliflower, I'm looking at you. And if you have hot, dry summers growing lettuce in August will take some shading and protection. Whereas if you have cool, damp summers you may struggle with tomatoes.
Having said that, this is my list of the simplest veggies for beginners. And I have a guide for growing tomatoes, too!
This is a place, too, where I would call up your local Master Gardener office to see if they have a list of suggestions for your area. They may have specific varieties which do well in your particular climate.
And another note: you don't have to start ANYTHING from seed to be a good gardener! It's not cheating to purchase starts from a garden center or a local farmer. Save yourself time and frustration and do it! There are some things that don't transplant well – lettuce and carrots, for example – start them from seed. But tomatoes and cucumbers can easily be purchased. My garden is always a mix of the two! And your local farm stands may sell starts which is a great way to support local farmers while still growing your own food!
Other Helpful Resources
As far as feeling overwhelmed goes: I get it! Just start somewhere. We all have successes. We all kill plants. And we all learn as we go!
Subscribe to my Substack for weekly tips and ideas to help keep you on track – and the lovely community developing into a fabulous cheering section, too!
Happy Gardening!