15 Tips for Starting a Vegetable Garden

For decades, my family and I have grown God’s wonderful food right in our own backyard. We’ve been blessed with healthy, organic, and affordable fruits and vegetables. When my husband and I moved east from Denver, Colorado, we left behind our backyard that had matured Italian plum trees, a fabulous sour cherry tree, a productive peach tree, and a charming vegetable garden lined with cobblestone walls. When we moved, my husband and I looked at our grass-only backyard and knew it was time for a Chip and Joanna Gaines—style “fix and flip,” backyard. Here are 15 tips for starting a vegetable garden. 

Create a Backyard Paradise

We wanted “zones” in our yard, to have various places to enjoy God’s creation on our quarter-acre lot. First, my husband built a pergola, where our grapevine eventually grew so large atop that with a support line, a portion stretched like an elephant’s trunk, and we could pluck grapes from our upstairs balcony. 

A curvy brick lane became part of the design, along with terracing, and a koi fish pond. Fruit trees got planted. Early on, we created a vegetable garden in a sunny, twenty-feet by thirty-feet area. Three raised beds came later. Other areas in the yard included rhubarb and strawberry patches and currant and elderberry bushes. We’ve tried different spots for wandering vines such as sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and squash, as well as high climbing green beans, which have grown particularly well. 

Yet more than the tasks are the spiritual joys of growing a garden. As we nurture plants and savor the harvests, our souls are nurtured, too. Yes, sometimes gardening is hard work, so it’s good to know how to pace oneself, but praying to God and being amazed by the plants He creates can make the time in the garden a great spiritual comfort. God always knows what is best for us; He made the Garden of Eden our first neighborhood. In Hebrew, Eden means place of pleasure! Of course, He wants us to enjoy gardens too!

Our Creator makes such incredible varieties of plants that are fascinating and beautiful. This year I tried pineapple sage in my herb patch for the first time. Yesterday, I marveled at the delicate red flowers that sprouted on a bushy plant. It was like it was popping up to say hello when so many other plants have bowed out for the season. Today, I stepped into our historical barn, glanced at the dried garlic, and enjoyed wrapping my hands around the stalks to pull off the garlic bulbs for winter storage. 

In the garden, God gives us moments of deep soul breathing. For me, it is a rest from electronics that renourishes the soul. I thought of the antique-white garlic flowers that dotted our garlic patch months ago and how God made both the flowers at the top and the bulb underground to be delicious for healthy eating. 

Gardening at Any Age

Growing a garden for food is also a way to bless others as well as ourselves. I had a friend who cherished gardening into her nineties and was grateful to God to be productive and share her bounty with her neighbors. Because they knew her kindness, they kept a loving eye on her well-being, too. She chuckled to tell me a couple of times neighbors checked on her when she was lying down in her cornrows after her tired body had eased her to the ground. 

Children can also delight in seeing seeds and saplings grow into food-producing plants and trees. Added to their fancy are the teepee-style beanpoles and yummy berry patches. During our family meals, we rejoice seeing so many ingredients from our garden. God also brightens our spirits year after year during the cold, short days of January, as we pore through colorful, picturesque catalogs to select our seed packets for the coming spring. Such signs of His creation and promise, on otherwise drab days! 

Work Wisely in the Garden

Be wise—strategize! Proverbs 3:13 says “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding” (KJV). I am sure God wants us to work in our gardens wisely. Part of the joy of gardening can be strategizing the labor by reducing weed pulling. For instance, besides enjoying seed planting, I chose a few vegetable starter plants, so I could plant them where I had put down a plastic weed-blocking ground covering. 

Our fruit trees in Denver had given us a substantial supply of organic fruit—thirty quarts of peaches from one tree—we would have to wrestle wasps to gain peaches in our eastern backyard unless we sprayed the tree. Instead of a peach tree, we planted seeds extracted from pawpaws that grow wild in the woods near us. Yes, that’s the fruit you might remember from Disney’s Jungle Book song, “The Bare Necessities.” Being native meant they were of good promise. We had bowls and bowls of fruit from our few sturdy trees. We are also enjoying fig trees. My husband and I cherished sitting side-by-side at our wooden picnic table on a warm autumn day while we cut and cored pears for canning, thanks to a nearby abandoned pear tree. We had the joy of working together, like two peas in a pod. 

Having a garden can be such a blessing, whether praying in the garden, reaching out to neighbors with produce, laboring together, or smiling and sharing homegrown family meals. A garden brings joy and a healthy lifestyle.

Tips for Starting a Garden:

• Start small so you don’t get overwhelmed but have several types of plants growing simultaneously, so if one doesn’t fare well, you will still have the others to enjoy. Don’t think you have to plant your whole seed pack each time. Plant enough to allow for thinning early on of the ones growing to close together. Realize that some seeds won’t sprout, but aim to plant how much you want to harvest. You want to plan your vegetables so they can be harvested at different times through the growing months, so you can spread out what becomes available to you for healthy eating. 
• If you live in a small space, consider using clay or plastic pots that can drain into saucers. We have grown decorative and edible eggplants this way. However, pots will need more frequent watering. You might build a salad table that can include wheels so you can move it to stay in the sun or away from the sun if you live in the south. Fruits and vegetables need lots of sun. Only vegetables with shallow roots are best for a salad table. If you are unfamiliar with these, they are like a cart or wooden table with mini-garden plots. The University of Maryland at www.extension.umd.edu is a great resource for learning how to build a salad table, in their article, “Steps for Growing Vegetables in Salad Tables or Salad Boxes.”
• Our two favorite seed companies are Pinetree Garden Seeds (www.superseeds.com) and Farmer Seed and Nursery (www.farmerseed.com) for their small packet options and good deals. However, there are many excellent companies from which to choose.
• Test your soil in ample time before planting so you can enrich the soil if needed. Your county’s agricultural extension office can help you with soil test information.
• Make sure your garden is in an area that gets full sun. 
• Consider starting a compost pile of vegetable and fruit scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, autumn leaves, and grass clippings. Turn the pile every week with a garden fork (about the size of a spade), or at least once a month, so the items break down to make a rich fertilizer to improve your soil. Spray water on the pile while you are turning it. 
• Know your gardening zone. The US Department of Agriculture website can help you determine your hardiness zone, to guide you when to plant. A common practice in our area is to plant after the last frost. However, spring seeds (such as spinach, peas, and radishes get planted earlier). 
• Some seeds may have “volunteers” (returning each year) such as dill and the beautiful amaranth—whose early greens are delicious in the spring. In the summer, this plant towers in the garden with ornamental flowering that produces seeds that add a delightful crunch to rice and crackers.  
• My nonagenarian, gardening friend held firmly to the advice—after planting seeds, keep the ground moist.
• Once seeds sprout, water gently with a watering can till stems are strong enough to have gentle hosing.
• Watch gardening YouTube videos to learn tips for a particular vegetation. For instance, when watering tomatoes, don’t water the leaves. How to stake tomatoes and green peppers can be helpful to see. Consider videos with advice for planting starter plants and videos on harvesting, drying herbs, and preserving fruits. 
• You may prefer to buy your cabbage, tomatoes, herbs (such as oregano, sage, and basil), peppers, and strawberries as starter plants. We do. Depending on where you live, some herbs survive in the winter to flourish for many years. We buy our sweet potatoes as “slips” sold locally, but this year I wintered over one of my sweet potatoes by potting it for inside our home. This summer it has gone gangbuster in the garden! The plentiful leaves are edible and still available for our salads into the fall. 
• Some crops may do best when planted mid-summer after certain garden pests are no longer a problem. We plant cucumber and squash in July for this reason. It may surprise you to learn that garlic is planted in the autumn! We plant cloves from some of our garlic bulbs we harvested.
• Consider taking photos of your garden at different growth stages and over several seasons. There is so much beauty in gardens, it is well worth treasuring the memories with photos. It is best to rotate your vegetables. Photos may help you remember where you planted previously so you can better plan which ones may need rotating for the next planting season. Also, draw a map for this purpose. 
• In all your steps and stages of gardening, enjoy the blessings of praying to God for guidance, excellent results, and praise Him for your harvests! My prayer to you is that you, too, can be a happy gardener and enjoy healthy living.

About the Author

If you would like additional tips please see the article, Seven Steps to Create Your Own Vegetable Garden. If you have questions about my experiences with gardening, you can reach me at heidivertrees.com, www.newSongpress.net, or Heidi Vertrees Author/Educator on Facebook.

Besides gardening, I have been an educator for many years and authored Victor Survives Being a Kid, to inspire boys and girls ages eight and up with this high-adventure fiction that’s packed with humor and compassion. Victor Survives Being a Kid is also available from Christianbook.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Target.com, and Walmart.com.