How to Start a Vegetable Garden in 9 Easy Steps (2024)

Gardening

Vegetables

Marie Iannotti

Marie Iannotti is a life-long gardener and a veteran Master Gardener with nearly three decades of experience. She's also an author of three gardening books, a plant photographer, public speaker, and a former Cornell Cooperative Extension Horticulture Educator. Marie's garden writing has been featured in newspapers and magazines nationwide and she has been interviewed for Martha Stewart Radio, National Public Radio, and numerous articles.

Learn more about The Spruce'sEditorial Process

Updated on 09/17/22

Reviewed by

Kathleen Miller

Reviewed byKathleen Miller

Kathleen Miller is a highly-regarded Master Gardener and horticulturist with over 30 years of experience in organic gardening, farming, and landscape design. She founded Gaia's Farm and Gardens,aworking sustainable permaculture farm, and writes for Gaia Grows, a local newspaper column.

Learn more about The Spruce'sReview Board

Fact checked by

Emily Estep

Fact checked byEmily Estep

Emily Estep is a plant biologist and journalist who has worked for a variety of online news and media outlets, writing about and editing topics including environmental science and houseplants.

Learn more about The Spruce'sEditorial Process

Trending Videos

How to Start a Vegetable Garden in 9 Easy Steps (4)

If you've never gardened with vegetables before, you are in for a treat on many levels. Growing great-tasting vegetables and staying ahead of problems does take a little knowledge and effort, but the following lessons will get you comfortably up and running in no time.

The rest you'll learn as you go, which is the real thrill of gardening: overcoming unexpected obstacles and ending the season with a hearty harvest. You literally get to eat the fruits of your labor!

Here are 9 easy steps to growing your own vegetables.

01 of 09
Pick a Spot Your Vegetable Garden

You want to make your vegetables happy as stressed plants won’t give you bushels of great-tasting vegetables. Most vegetables enjoy the same growing conditions, so making them happy isn’t complicated, especially if you have a spot with full sun.
It's also important that your vegetable garden is in a convenient spot to get to; otherwise, it may be neglected.
In addition, the spot should be fairly level and have soil that isn't compacted or too rocky. Don't worry if the soil isn't perfectly dark and rich with nutrients—you can always add soil amendments to make it a healthy place for vegetables to grow.
02 of 09
Choose What to Grow

This is the fun part of planning a vegetable garden. It’s also deceptively difficult, because our eyes are much bigger than our gardens. Everything sounds so luscious that it’s very tempting to try and squeeze in more than we should.
When vegetable types come in a wide variety, such as tomatoes, do some research to determine the best bet for your garden plan. For example, if you'd like to harvest a little bit at a time, cherry tomatoes are a better option than large heirloom or beefsteak varieties.
03 of 09
Start From Seeds or Buy Seedling Plants

There are some practical considerations here. A lot of gardeners will start all their plants from seed, because seeds come in greater variety than seedlings.
But even if the idea of spending your winter pampering tiny plants in the basem*nt is disagreeable to you, there are still vegetables that grow best if planted from seed. Don’t panic. These can be direct sown in your garden.
04 of 09
Design Your Vegetable Garden

Aesthetics take a back seat in vegetable gardens. Your first concern should be placing the vegetables in their optimal growing conditions. You’ll also need to consider room for paths and space for working. But that doesn’t mean it can’t look great.
Research tips for laying out your vegetable garden and look at vegetable garden photos for inspiration.
Continue to 5 of 9 below
05 of 09
Grow More Vegetables in a Small Space

You don’t usually plant your vegetable garden all at once. Some vegetables will fade when the weather heats up and others can be popped into the opened space. Other vegetables only produce for a limited time and can be sown in staggered plantings to extend the harvest.
There are several easy ways to make the most of even a small vegetable garden space, such as choosing small or dwarf plant varieties, growing vining plants that can be trained upward, and mixing sun-loving and shade-tolerant plants so that the former provide shade for the latter.
06 of 09
Grow Vegetables in Containers

Almost any vegetable can be grown in containers. Container vegetable gardening has certain advantages. First, you can control the soil and drainage. It’s a lot easier to have great soil when you’re pouring it into a pot and not breaking your back tilling in amendments.
You can place your containers where they’ll get the most sunlight or even move them around to follow the sun. And raising your vegetables off the ground a few feet makes them harder for pests to reach.
Of course, they’ll need more water than in-ground plants, and some of the larger vegetables won’t be happily cramped into a pot.
07 of 09
Tend Your Garden

Now we’re ready to tackle more practical matters. A vegetable garden requires regular maintenance. Vegetables won’t wait until it’s convenient for you to water them, stake them or harvest them.
Some tasks, like staking and mulching, can be done early in the season. Others, like watering and weeding, will be ongoing.
You also want to decide early on whether you want to garden organically, because this may require soil improvements that should be made before planting.
08 of 09
Control Pests

You knew it was coming. Pest control is a vital part of vegetable gardening. The last resort is to start spraying all kinds of concoctions on your food.
The trick is to stay on top of the situation and take the appropriate steps when necessary. This is what is called Integrated Pest Management, or IPM.
Continue to 9 of 9 below
09 of 09
Harvest and Preserve

Finally. To savor the best vegetables, you need to know when to pick them at their peak. Some vegetables tell you, like the way a cantaloupe will slip off the vine. Others take a bit of finesse.
It’s possible to grow only what you intend to eat fresh or give away, but it seldom happens that way. Besides, there are few winter treats as enjoyable as a pie made from your frozen blueberries or a jar of your crushed tomatoes.
If you grow herbs, it's handy to know how to freeze or dry them to enjoy their flavors throughout the off-season.