It is the time of year to start planning a vegetable garden. Although it is too early to plant many vegetables in my area, we are preparing the soil and coming up with a plan. I want to encourage all of you to plant something this year- even if it is just a windowsill herb garden. Not only are homegrown vegetables better tasting, most can be grown organically. It is also a wonderful lesson for your kids! Capt. M (age 4) said last year “Mom, isn’t it so wonderful that we can grow the food we eat?”. That statement made all the hard work so worth it!
Prepare the Garden Plot
- If this is your first garden, you want to pick an area that receives around 8 hours of sunlight a day. We struggle with this since we have so many trees on our land.
- Pick an area that is easily accessible to water. We always hope that nature will take care of a lot of the watering but the last two years we have had particularly dry summers. Proper amounts of water will help ensure a good harvest.
- Assess your soil. We have red clay and need to have raised beds- otherwise nothing but weeds grows! If you are making raised beds you can start preparing those now. You want the soil to be nutrient rich with compost and fertilizer for a good harvest.
Determine What to Plant
- Make a list of vegetables, herbs and fruits you would like to plant. Do some research on what grows well in your area.
- Decide if you want to start your plants from seeds or if you want to buy seedlings. Planting from seed is less expensive but it is more time consuming. We do both depending on the vegetable we are planting.
- Research what plants grow well next to each other. Some plants do not do well growing next to each other. Plot out your garden for best growth and to eliminate cross pollination.
Plan on When to Plant
- When to plant all depends on what region you live in. Here in Virginia, most vegetables are planted in early May. We did take a chance last year and planted at the end of April. It worked out well since we did not have any frost in May. It is a guessing game trying to determine when the last frost will occur.
- Some vegetables such as potatoes, spinach, lettuce and peas can be planted early. These plants are more hardy and can withstand some frost. We will be planting these vegetables this month.
Are you planning a vegetable garden this year? What do you look forward to planting?
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Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.
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We also have the red clay problem. What do you fill your raised beds with exactly?
Hi Jenny,
We use a mixture of top soil and compost. It is expensive to get it going the first year if you have a large garden. We bought several truckloads last year. But once you have the beds built, you can just supplement with compost each year as needed to add nutrients to the soil. You can always call your local garden center and ask what they recommend! Hope that helps!
Thank you! My husband started building the raised beds this past weekend. . . this will be our first year using them. Can’t wait to get our little man out there this year with us. :)