How to Start a Vegetable Garden: Step-by-Step Guide

Home gardening has soared in popularity recently, and for good reason! A garden can provide fresh organic food, outdoor therapy, enjoyment of beautiful backyard spaces, and help save money on grocery bills.

If you are thinking about starting a garden, there is no better time than now to start! Regardless of which type of garden you choose: raised garden bed, potager garden, container garden, hydroponics, cottage garden, or in-ground garden, the very first step is making a garden plan.

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to start a vegetable garden, like how to prep a garden site, amend the soil, and read seed packets for proper planting.

Let’s get started!

Back to the Basics

If you’re new to MIgardener, you may not have heard that I believe professional gardening know-how should be free and accessible to anyone of any skill level. It is exciting to see the individuals who use our resources and garden tips grow in confidence as they establish food security!

That’s why we created the video series, Back to Basics - Gardening from the Beginning, which this post is based on. It breaks down the vital information about starting a garden into bite-sized pieces that won’t overwhelm you.

Benefits of Starting a Vegetable Garden

Having a vegetable garden right in your own backyard provides a wealth of benefits, including fresh organic food, promoting a healthy lifestyle, increasing the aesthetic appeal of your property, and saving money on grocery bills.

If you are like me, about 60-70% of your grocery budget is spent on fruits and vegetables that you absolutely could grow yourself. So, one of the main purposes of my home garden is to save as much money as possible.

It seems like no matter which news station I watch or which article I read, the term “recession” keeps coming up. A recession may or may not happen this year, but I would rather be prepared for one (by learning the skills to grow food and save money now) than find myself in one and be unprepared.

If you haven’t already created a garden plan, I recommend you do that first! A good plan helps you avoid costly mistakes and buying things you don't need.

Choosing Crops to Grow In a New Vegetable Garden

It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the choices of varieties you could grow. For that reason, I’ve created this chart of crops and varieties that are great choices for a beginner gardener or a new vegetable garden.

Planting Seeds vs. Starting with Seedlings

You’ll need to choose whether to start your garden from seeds or buy seedlings (or some of both). Many home gardeners start their plants from seed for the cost savings and greater selection of varieties.

If this is your first year starting from seed, you’ll need to purchase seed starting materials like reusable starting containers, seed starting mix, and grow lights. You’ll also want to order quality seeds in the late winter or early spring.

Whether you’re a novice gardener or a seasoned pro, there is no shame in purchasing seedlings from a garden center. Seedlings give you a jumpstart (especially if you got a late start) on plant in your garden.

How to Read Seed Packets

Not all varieties of seeds can be planted at the same time! The information on the seed packet is very useful in determining when to start your seeds and whether the seeds should be started indoors or directly sown in the garden.

While different companies design their seed packets differently, each packet usually contains the same general information: the product description of the seed it contains, when to plant the seeds, how to plant the seeds, and days to maturity. Additionally, each seed packet should have a date stamp that tells you what year the seeds were packed for.

As you can see in the image above, MIgardener seed packets also contain information about germination times and temperatures, harvesting information, and other important details. When you first get your seeds, it is a good idea to use this information to write out a planting schedule for the crops you will be growing.

Preparing the Garden Site

Before it's time to plant, prepare your garden site by installing the elements from your garden plan. You may need to do some or all of the following:

• Clean the Site - Clear the area of branches, stones, and other unwanted elements.

• Follow Your Garden Plan - Use your garden plan to measure and mark your new garden plots.

• Remove Sod - It is possible remove established grass and plants by scraping off the top 1 ½” of top soil and roots using nothing more than a sharp shovel and some good hard work. But if time allows, use plastic sheet mulch, also called a silage tarp, to cover the land (for approximately 12 weeks). It will suppress plant growth, create a sterile seed bed, and promote natural microbial activity. Pro-Tip: I recommend a no-till gardening approach for optimal soil health. 

• Install or Build Raised Garden Beds - Whether you purchase raised bed kits or build creative DIY garden beds, get your above-ground growing beds installed and fill the garden beds with soil.

• Purchase Containers - If growing in containers, purchase your grow bags, hanging baskets, tiered vertical planters, or pots. Pro-Tip: Filling them with homemade potting mix can save you money.

• Create Pathways —Dedicated pathways are important for accessing and maintaining all parts of the garden. Paths can be kept weed-free using wood mulch or by lining them with some kind of ground cover.

• Install Other Elements —Install any other elements of your garden design, like a watering system, a hot composting frame, or garden trellises for vertical growing. If you live in an area with a lot of wildlife, you may need a deer fence to protect your garden from pesky animals.

If the entire project doesn’t fit in your budget and schedule for this year, start with a small garden and expand later on!

Amending the Soil for a Successful Garden

The soil in your new garden location needs to be prepped. Amending your soil couldn't be more important! But if you do it wrong, you cannot only waste a bunch of money but also time.

Use these soil amending tips to prepare your soil right!

• Start 1 to 2 Weeks Before Planting - Amend the garden soil one to two weeks before you are ready to plant in it. If you amend the soil too early before planting, the beautiful nutrients you have added will be flushed down out of reach of small seedlings with shallow roots.

• Add Compost - The organic matter in compost is essential to producing the nutrient-rich soil needed for a strong and healthy harvest. I recommend amending your garden with 2 to 3” of finished compost every year. But don’t overwork the soil! Pro-Tip: I use a process called double digging to incorporate compost into the original soil. Simply spread your compost evenly across the top of the original soil, push your shovel or broad fork into the soil about 4” deep, wiggle it around to loosen the soil, and then pull it out. Don’t flip the soil or work the soil aggressively.

• Test Soil pH - Before you amend, you should know the baseline pH of your soil. Test the pH of your soil so you can alter it based on what your plants actually need!

• Apply the Right Fertilizer - A common mistake that I see gardeners making is amending with the wrong type of fertilizer at the wrong time of year. Plants need different nutrients during different times of year and different stages in their growth cycle. I like to apply a good, all-purpose fertilizer, like Trifecta+, to a new garden or when amending beds for spring planting.

How to Start a Vegetable Garden

Now that your garden site is prepped and your soil is amended, let’s plant a vegetable garden!

1. Direct Sow - Many garden plants, from peas to kale to watermelon, thrive when directly sown in the garden. Follow the directions on the vegetable seed packets to know how deep to plant the seeds. (If you’re unsure what you can direct sow, use this guide to learn how and what to direct sow.) Pro-Tip: Many plants can be planted much closer together than the information on seed packets will tell you. Use this high intensity spacing guide to produce high yields in a small area. Or watch this Spacing Guide for High Density Planting video to learn how far apart to plant seeds.

2. Pick the Right Time - If you have started seeds indoors or purchased plants, you should wait to transplant them outside into the garden until after the last local frost date and within the plant’s germination temperature range. For more details, read this post about when to transplant seedlings.

3. Harden Off Seedlings - Hardening off is crucial for any plants started indoors or purchased from garden centers. Without it, your plants could fail to thrive or even die. Pro-Tip: Learn my simple 5-step process for hardening off plants, which takes only 5 days!

4. Transplant Seedlings - Transplant any seedlings you have to their new location in the garden. Use this guide to transplant seedlings the right way. Pro-Tip: Follow the information on the back of the seed packet for conventional plant spacing, or watch this Spacing Guide for High Density Planting video for a higher yield garden.

5. Label - It is very easy to forget where you planted! Mark your rows and varieties to keep your garden organized. Use a waterproof, UV-resistant garden marker to write on your chosen plant labels or row labels. Pro-Tip: Make sure to alter your map/garden plan to show any changes you make. Knowing what plant is where can help you decide what is a weed and what isn’t.

6. Water - Water your newly planted plants and set up a schedule to water your garden regularly. Here are some watering techniques for your vegetable garden to help you achieve the best results possible.

Are you eager to start gardening, but the weather isn’t cooperating yet? Download our free 12 Weeks of Garden Planning. This countdown to spring has one fun, easy, gardening task for every week leading up to spring planting to help you prepare for your best growing season yet!