How to Start a Vegetable Garden

Sun is the one thing you can't add later. According to NC State Extension, most vegetables need at least 8 hours of direct sun a day. Leafy greens and root crops can get by with about 6. Tomatoes, peppers and squash do best with even more.

• Watch the light for a day. Check your spot every couple of hours and note when it's in full sun.
• Close to water. If you have to drag a hose across the yard, you'll water less.
• Drains well. Avoid low spots where puddles sit after rain.
• Away from trees and big shrubs. Their roots steal water and nutrients, and their shade grows each year.
• Close to the house, so you'll see it, weed it and pick from it.

Start small. One 4 by 8 foot bed can grow a good share of the vegetables for one or two people. It's better to have a small garden that thrives than a big one that gets away from you.

• Keep beds no wider than 4 feet, so you can reach the middle from both sides without stepping on the soil.
• Make beds at least 6 to 12 inches deep. Deeper is better for carrots and tomatoes.
• Use untreated lumber, stone, or a metal kit. Leave paths about 2 to 3 feet wide between beds.
• For an in-ground plot, remove sod, loosen the soil 8 to 12 inches deep, and mix in compost.

Healthy soil grows healthy plants. Two things matter most: organic matter and the right pH.

1. Get a soil test. Your county's cooperative extension office offers low-cost tests that tell you the pH and which nutrients you need, so you don't guess with fertilizer. Fall is a great time to test.
2. Add compost. Spread 2 to 3 inches of compost and mix it into the top several inches each year.
3. Fill raised beds with a mix of good topsoil and compost, not straight bagged potting soil (that's for containers).
4. Fertilize based on the test. Most vegetable soils do best slightly acidic to neutral, around pH 6 to 7.
5. Don't work wet soil. If a handful stays in a sticky ball, wait a few days.

Grow what you like to eat. Then check two things for your area:

• Your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone. The USDA map (updated in 2023) splits the U.S. into zones by the average coldest winter temperature, 10°F per zone. It tells you which perennials, like asparagus or fruit trees, survive your winter. Enter your ZIP code at the USDA site to find yours.
• Your average last spring frost and first fall frost dates. These decide when to plant vegetables. Your local extension office publishes a planting calendar for your area.

Square-foot spacing

Divide a bed into a grid of 1-foot squares. Each square holds 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants depending on how big the plant gets. Big sprawling plants take more than one square. Try it:

Spacing source: these counts follow the square-foot guide from NC State Extension. Seed packets give exact spacing for each variety, so check them too. Put tall plants and trellises on the north side so they don't shade the rest.

• About 1 inch of water a week, from rain plus watering combined. A rain gauge or a straight-sided can in the garden tells you how much fell.
• Water deeply and less often, not a little every day. Deep watering grows deep roots.
• Water the soil, not the leaves, in the morning. Wet leaves overnight invite disease. A soaker hose or drip line makes this easy.
• Check with your finger: if the soil is dry an inch or two down, it's time to water. Raised beds and seedlings need checking more often.
• Mulch with 1 to 2 inches of straw, shredded leaves or untreated grass clippings once plants are up. It holds moisture and blocks weeds.

Fall is the best time to build a new garden. Beds you make and feed now will be ready the moment spring arrives.

Plant garlic

• Plant garlic in fall, about 4 to 6 weeks before the ground freezes. In much of the Midwest and North, that means October to early November. In mild-winter areas, check your extension office's calendar.
• Buy garlic from a garden center or seed company (grocery store garlic may be treated or not suited to your climate). Hardneck types are better for cold winters.
• Separate the cloves and plant them pointed end up, 1 to 2 inches deep and 4 to 5 inches apart.
• Cover the bed with 4 to 6 inches of weed-free straw to protect it over winter. Pull it back in early spring when shoots appear. Harvest next summer when about half the leaves have turned yellow.

Sow a cover crop

• Cover crops protect bare soil over winter and add organic matter. Winter (cereal) rye can be planted the latest in fall; crimson clover and hairy vetch add nitrogen but need an earlier start.
• University of Maryland Extension suggests sowing between mid-August and October 1, and no later than mid-October. If you've missed that window, mulch with leaves instead.
• Oats are killed by the first hard freeze, so they're easy to manage. Cut down or turn under other cover crops in spring and wait about 2 weeks before planting.

Prep beds for spring

• Pull finished plants. Compost healthy ones; trash diseased ones.
• Send a soil sample to your extension office.
• Build or fill new raised beds.
• Spread 2 to 3 inches of compost on beds.
• Plant garlic before the ground freezes.
• Sow a cover crop, or cover bare soil with shredded leaves.
• Drain and store hoses before the first hard freeze.
• Clean and oil tools; write down what grew well this year.