Learn Vegetable Gardening
Twelve chapters that take a first garden from a patch of yard or a few containers to a planted, watered and recorded season, with a planting calendar built from your own frost dates.
Describe your garden. Tell us the space, the sun, your frost dates and the crops you are thinking about. Every green box, the planting calendar and the calculators then speak to your garden. It stays in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Find what you need
Open the manual at the chapter that fits what is in front of you.
- Starting from nothing
- Describe your gardenSize your first gardenMap the sun on your spotTake a soil sample
- When to plant what
- Planting calendarTime the seasonRead your frost dates as probabilitiesHarden off and plant out
- Only a balcony or a few containers
- Container sizes and potting mixMeasure the sun you haveCheck moisture before you waterCrop guide (21 crops)
- How much water, mulch or fertilizer
- Water calculatorMulch materials and depthsTurn a soil-test recommendation into poundsFertilizer calculator
- Something is eating the plants or they look sick
- Diagnose before you treatThe weekly scouting walkDeer, rabbits and groundhogsProblem log
- Picking, storing and ending the season
- Harvest and storeCure onions, garlic and potatoesDraw next year's rotation mapGarden notebook: export, import, print
How to use this manual
Open this manual at the chapter you need; nothing here has to be read in order. Every chapter opens with Start here, the few steps that are the minimum for a first season, and a Go deeper switch hides the optional depth until you want it. Fill in setup once with your space, sun and frost dates, and the green boxes, the planting calendar and the calculators speak to your garden. Where one chapter assumes another, it says so at the foot of the page.
What each chapter has:
- Start here: the three to five steps that are the minimum for a first pass, fitted to your setup. Sections marked Go deeper are optional, and a switch on each chapter hides them.
- Understand: the concept and the judgment behind it, explained from fundamentals outward.
- See it: a worked example, and free demonstrations chosen so you see it done well before you try it.
- Practice: an exercise you can run with what you have, usually producing something you keep.
- Your garden: a green box that translates the chapter to the garden you described in setup.
- Check your work: criteria, a worked example, common mistakes, and what is still unresolved.
- A short knowledge check and a scenario with feedback on each path.
Mark it up as you read. Beside every heading there is a flag to bookmark the section and a Note button; select any passage to highlight it or attach a note. Everything you mark collects on My notes & bookmarks, grouped by chapter and printable, saved only in this browser and carried in your garden notebook export.
Contents
Planning the garden
- Size your first garden to the time you haveHow big a first vegetable garden should be: what it asks of a week, how goals and household size change the plan, and how to pick five to eight first crops.
- Plan what goes wherePlan a vegetable bed: read variety codes, set equidistant spacing, count plants per bed, size plantings to a household and group crops by family to rotate them.
- Time the season from your frost datesWhen to plant each vegetable: frost tolerance classes, soil temperature, counting back to seed-starting dates, succession sowing and the fall planting formula.
Site and soil
- Read your site: sun, frost dates and climateMeasure the direct sun on a garden spot, look up your last and first frost dates, read them as probabilities, and learn what a hardiness zone does not tell you.
- Know your soil before you plant in itHow to take a garden soil sample, read the lab report, estimate texture with a jar test, and act on a lead result before you plant vegetables in it.
- Choose and prepare the growing spaceCompare in-ground beds, raised beds and containers for vegetables: bed width and depth, safe lumber, fill ratios, container sizes and how much soil to buy.
Planting and care
- Start seeds, buy transplants and plant them outRead a seed packet, run a germination test on old seed, start seedlings under lights, pick healthy transplants, harden them off and plant them out well.
- Water deeply and mulchHow much water a vegetable garden needs in gallons, how to check soil moisture, time a hose, set drip run times, use rain barrels and mulch at the right depth.
- Feed the soil and the plantsRead a fertilizer label, turn a soil-test recommendation into pounds of product for your beds, time side-dressing, add compost at sensible rates, avoid excess.
- Diagnose problems before you treat themIdentify vegetable garden pests, diseases and wildlife damage before treating: a weekly scouting walk, IPM thresholds, row covers, fences and diagnostic labs.
Harvest and the end of the season
- Harvest, store and handle produce safelyKnow when common vegetables are ready to pick, store each at the right temperature and humidity, cure onions and potatoes, and handle garden produce safely.
- Close the season and plan the next oneEnd a vegetable garden season well: row covers and cold frames, fall cleanup, cover crops, garlic, a review of your records and next year's rotation plan.
Common questions
How do I start a vegetable garden as a beginner?
Start small enough to keep up with in July: measure the sun on your spot, look up your frost dates, test the soil, and pick five to eight crops your household eats. Size your first garden sizes the garden to your weekly hours; the other chapters take sun, soil, planting, water, problems and harvest one at a time.
When should I plant tomatoes outside?
Colorado State University Extension classes tomatoes as very tender: plant out about two weeks or more after your average last spring frost, once days stay above 55 °F and the soil is at least 50 °F at planting depth. The planting calendar counts the dates from your own frost date; this year's weather still decides.
How many hours of sun does a vegetable garden need?
Extension guides give 6 to 8 or more hours of direct sun for fruiting crops such as tomatoes, peppers and squash, and 4 to 6 hours for many leafy greens and root crops. Read your site: sun and frost shows how to measure the sun on your spot across a day and a season.
How do I find my last frost date?
Ask your county extension office or use NOAA's freeze-date data for a station near you. The commonly published date is the 50 percent date: half of past years had a later frost. Read your site: sun and frost explains the 10 percent date and how to choose your level of risk.
Do I need to test my garden soil for lead?
Test before growing food if a building near the garden was built before 1978, if the garden is near a busy road, or if the soil is fill of unknown origin. EPA ties specific gardening practices to specific lead levels. Know your soil covers sampling and the levels; your health department answers health questions.
How deep should a raised bed be for vegetables?
University of Maryland Extension suggests about 8 inches for greens and beans and 12 to 24 inches for tomatoes and squash when a bed sits on a hard surface. Over loosened soil, roots can go below the bed. In-ground, raised beds or containers covers width, height and fill.
Is pressure-treated wood safe for a vegetable garden?
CCA-treated lumber was withdrawn from residential use. An Oregon State University study of beds built with current copper-based treated wood found soil copper rose only within about an inch of the boards and found no increase in the vegetables. Avoid railroad ties and old lumber. In-ground, raised beds or containers has the detail.
How much soil do I need to fill a raised bed?
Multiply length by width by depth in feet to get cubic feet; divide by 27 for cubic yards. A 4 by 8 foot bed 12 inches deep holds 32 cubic feet, about 1.2 cubic yards, before settling. The bed calculator does the math and the bag count.
How much water does a vegetable garden need per week?
About 1 inch a week is the usual starting convention, which is roughly 62 gallons per 100 square feet. Sandy soil, heat, wind and containers need more. Check the soil two inches down before you water. The water calculator turns inches into gallons and hose minutes.
What vegetables can I grow in containers on a balcony?
Lettuce, radishes, herbs such as basil, peppers and compact tomatoes all grow in containers sized to the crop: University of Maryland Extension gives 1 to 3 gallons for small crops and 8 to 10 gallons for large ones. Ask your building owner about weight first. In-ground, raised beds or containers covers sizes and mix.
If you want an order
A garden has a season, so if you want an order, let the season set it. Before the ground thaws, or about three months before your last frost: setup, Size your first garden, Read your site and Know your soil, then choose the growing space, plan what goes where and print the planting calendar. Six to ten weeks before your last frost: Time the season and Seeds and transplants. Through the growing season: water, feeding, problems and harvest as the garden calls for them, with the weekly checklist. After the first fall frost: Close the season and plan the next, and export the garden notebook.