9 Vegetable Gardening Tips for Beginners

Putting the right plant in the right spot, where it gets the sunlight it needs to flourish, is critical to a successful garden. Most vegetable plants and fruit plants need six to eight hours of direct sunlight a day to be healthy and productive. Plant sun-loving veggies in a shady space, and they’ll be more susceptible to diseases and won’t produce many vegetables.

Even if you have a giant backyard, keep your garden small the first year or two so you can learn the basics of weeding, watering, soil care and all the other tasks that come with growing plants. A good size for a beginner’s vegetable garden is 10 feet by 10 feet. You can buy or build a raised bed that size or plant directly into the ground. If you plant directly into the ground, mix several bags of compost and potting or garden soil into the plot. Fill a raised bed with bags of garden soil or potting soil and compost. 

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) divides the nation into a series of plant hardiness zones, ranging from 1 to 13. Zone 1 is the coldest, and zone 13 is the warmest. These zones are geographical areas divided by climate — specifically, the average annual minimum winter temperature — and can be used to determine where plants grow best. Check the USDA hardiness zone for your area before putting a single plant in the ground. You can find the recommended climate zone for the plant on its tag, so check it before plunking down money on a lime tree if you live in Iowa. You may want to grow fruit plants, like oranges, but unless you live in zone 8 or warmer, a backyard citrus orchard is not in your future.

If your yard is teeny, shady or nonexistent, container gardening is a great option because you can grow vegetables on a sunny balcony or deck. It’s easier to weed, feed and water veggies in containers. You need at least a 16-inch-diameter pot for most vegetables or herbs, but larger pots are easier to maintain than smaller ones because the soil won’t dry out as quickly. Larger pots give your plants more room to grow, too, so you get a bigger crop. Strawberries, tomatoes, herbs and peppers are good picks for containers. Look for compact varieties like ‘Candyland’ tomatoes, ‘Better Bush’ tomatoes or jalapeño peppers that produce a big crop on a small plant.

Skip fussy plants and go with sturdy hybrids that have been bred to resist disease, drought and pests. Also, buy starter plants instead of growing from seed. Growing vegetables from seed is tougher than growing them from starter plants. Some easy-to-grow vegetables include:

• Tomatoes: ‘Cherry’ (great for containers), ‘Bush Early Girl,’ ‘Better Boy,’ ‘Big Beef,’ ‘Big Boy’
• Peppers: red, yellow and green bell peppers; banana sweet peppers; ‘Big Bertha’ bell peppers; ‘Giant Marconi’ peppers; ‘New Mexico Big Jim’ peppers
• Herbs (Great for Containers): basil, oregano, chives, parsley, sage, mint

• Gardening Gloves: Pulling weeds and digging holes can be hard on your hands. Get a sturdy set of gardening gloves made of leather, cotton, rubber or a stretchy material, like Lycra or spandex, to protect you from blisters and thorns. 
• Hoe: If your garden is too big to weed by hand, use a garden hoe to coax weeds out by the root. Choose a handle length that fits your height so you aren’t bending over at an uncomfortable angle. 
• Hand Fork: If you garden in a raised bed or container, a hand fork is a better choice than a hoe for removing weeds. You can also use it to work soil amendments and fertilizer into the dirt. 
• Garden Rake: Not to be confused with leaf rakes, garden rakes are made of steel and have short, sturdy tines. Use them to smooth the surface of your garden bed before planting. 
• Shovel: Use it to dig holes for plants or move compost from cart to garden. Handles can be waist-high with a D-grip or long and straight. 
• Trowel: Use this short digging tool for transplanting seedlings and putting starter plants in the ground. 
• Pruners: Use pruners to harvest crops, trim dead or diseased stems and leaves, and deadhead flowers. You can get anvil pruners or bypass pruners. Whichever style you choose, keep the blades sharp.

Your garden is only as good as your soil since it’s the primary source of your plants’ nutrients. So it’s a good idea to mix organic materials like compost, composted manure and prepared garden soil into your beds before planting. If you’re growing your garden in a raised bed or container, you can buy special soil mixes that are the right weight and texture for raised-bed gardens.

Even if you start with rich soil, you’ll still need to give your plants additional nutrition throughout the growing season. Fertilize your vegetables at the time of planting and then once a month during the growing season. Use a commercially prepared plant food, like fertilizer or commercially composted manure, available in bags.

Put a layer of chopped-up leaves or bagged, prepared mulch in your garden to keep weeds down, cool the soil and roots, and slow the evaporation of water from soil. Mulch makes your job a lot easier because you won’t have to weed or water nearly as much. You’ll have more time to watch your garden grow.