5 Tips for the First Time Vegetable Gardener

Dreaming about growing some of your own vegetables this year? Even though it may be snowing outside, there are some things that you can be doing right now to get ready. Our 5 tips will help you get started.
Growing your own vegetables is easy if you take a few steps right now.
Growing veggies is all about the soil. You can get a soil testing kit from your local cooperative extension office for a nominal fee.
Locate your garden near a source of water. Keeping a seed bed and new plants moist is very important.
You'll be rewarded with yummy produce this summer!
Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Jennifer Jennifer on Jul 23, 2014
    For a raised garden what type of soil would be best? Also, do I want to put a barrier between my yard soil and the raised bed soil?
    • @Jennifer We put a layer of cardboard in the bottom of the first few beds that we constructed, but later we stopped doing that because ours were going on recently tilled soil. I think it would depend how the soil you were placing it on had been prepared. If it's grassy or weedy, then I would recommended placing the cardboard layer down. Some people also put a wire mesh layer to prevent critters from getting into the bottom of the bed but we have never had a problem with that. We are always tinkering with the soil mixture but a good one to start with is a mix of bagged garden soil and compost. Filling the bed can get expensive so you may want to get some soil delivered to cut the expense.
  • Jim Ginas Jim Ginas on Aug 27, 2014
    Hi, Zone 7 (southern VA) and going into fall (28Aug), are there any veggies that can still grow between now and mid-Oct? temps here in mid-Oct are usually still pretty decent. (60s/70s degrees)
    • See 1 previous
    • Jim Ginas Jim Ginas on Aug 27, 2014
      @Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads Thank you Jane! So Carrots are good and I'll search where I can broccoli replants..... and I see you show lettuce. I have 2 raised garden beds (4x6 and 4x7), one had Cukes that this year TOOK OFF then looked like Powdry Mildew killed them and 2nd bed was Tomatoes only. BOTH have Marigolds growing in them and BOTH had radishes as I read marigolds are good to keep the bugs away and radishes as good "companion plants".
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