If you want to eat like royalty, save money and ensure your food is safe and clean, start by growing your own vegetables.
"Whatever comes out of the garden, hybrid or heirloom, is going to taste 200 times better than anything that comes out of the supermarket," says Lance Frazon, a seed specialist at John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds in Bantam, Conn. He was speaking of tomatoes, but his words describe all homegrown produce.
Novices and other gardeners discouraged from earlier attempts will find success with a pared-down approach that includes using the easiest vegetables to grow. By making your first garden simple and manageable, you'll gain experience and confidence to branch out next year.
Pick your spot
How much garden should you bite off? A 20-by-20-foot plot is ideal, if you've got time to keep it up. Follow Fern Marshall Bradley's rule of thumb: Plan to spend an hour a week on each 100 square feet you plant. A 10-by-20-foot garden can be rewarding, too, particularly if you use compact plant varieties. (Bradley is the author of "Rodale's Vegetable Garden Problem Solver.")
Find a sunny spot for your garden because plants need regular sunlight. The construction of the garden bed will be dictated by your climate, the drainage at your lot and your personal preferences. In the Pacific Northwest, gardeners often plant in raised furrows to drain off overabundant moisture. In areas without reliable rainfall, many gardeners place plants in sunken rows to collect runoff.
"Learn about the traditions in your area," advises Rob Proctor, the author of "Gardening on a Shoestring," "Passionate Gardening: Good Advice for Challenging Climates" and other books for novice gardeners. "In the Southwest, we often use the waffle-type plantings that Hopi Indians used to use. Your beds look like waffles and the plants are inside the holes of the waffles."
Containers, kits and raised beds
Many gardeners swear by raised beds, in which the entire plot is built above ground, like a big sandbox filled with soil and plants. Proctor suggests a 10-by-10-foot box with wooden sides.
Advantages:
- Raised beds reduce stooping, bending and backaches.
- Drainage problems are eliminated, so you can start gardening earlier in the year.
- You get great soil because you're starting from scratch.
Establishing great soil is job No. 1, something gardeners work at constantly because plants withdraw nutrients. "No matter where you start the garden, the soil is never good enough," seed specialist Frazon quips. "A little time and extra effort spent in the preparation of your site will move you leaps ahead in having success in your garden, now and in the future."
"Vegetables do require the best soil," agrees Proctor. Make topsoil yourself by working compost and other organic matter into your existing soil, or buy perfect soil, a costlier option, from a garden supplier.
(For more guidance on preparing your soil and finding garden experts in your area, read "Beginner's guide to flower gardens" or pick up a copy of the handbook "Soil" by garden experts at Rodale Press).
An alternative to raised beds is container gardening, to which many vegetables adapt beautifully. Containers give you better control over weeds, soil and growing conditions. They're ideal for condos or apartments and for novices who want to start small. (Read more here about the special issues facing gardeners who rent.)
Easiest of all is a kit. The Earthbox system includes a plastic-covered container to trap moisture and speed growing, a reservoir that automatically waters plants, time-released nutrients and a planting guide. Users report great results.
To learn more about container gardening, read "Tips for container gardens" or consult one of the following resources:
- "McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers."
- "How to Grow Organic Vegetables in Containers (. . . Anywhere!): What You Can Grow, Where You Can Grow, How You Set Up, Everything You'll Need."
- The Texas A&M University agriculture department's tidy and complete site on growing vegetables in containers, which notes best plant varieties, common problems and growing times.
- The National Gardening Association's Web site, which is deep with information, including a plant finder, a pest-control library, gardening articles and a Q&A library.
When to plant?
Your timing depends on where you live because climate varies so much across North America. In general, late winter is the perfect time for planning, even if you can't yet start digging. To avoid damaging the structure of your soil, refrain from digging -- don't even walk in the garden -- until the soil is dry and crumbly.
Gardeners categorize vegetables according to their affinity for warm or cool weather. Heat-loving plants such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and corn are planted after soil has warmed up. Hardy crops like carrots and radishes tolerate cool weather and are planted first. Other cool -- thus early -- crops are spinach, lettuce, beans, peas and all cabbage-family plants. Concentrate first on these crops because they'll need time to grow before the weather turns hot, forcing them to "bolt," or go to seed.
