A Beginner’s Vegetable Garden

I am not much of a gardener, but I am hoping to begin a vegetable garden this spring. My daughters and I have had a small garden in our yard in spring and summers past, but we didn’t maintain them very much or do anything very extravagant. We got a few tomatoes and strawberries, but the bunnies did eat a lot of what we managed to grow, so I’m hoping to somehow thwart the rabbits this year. (And would love suggestions on how to do that!)

I’ve done some reading up on the subject, and based on what I’ve read, this is what I am thinking of doing. But since I am a total beginner, I’d love to get some advice. (So if you have tips for a beginner gardener, please feel free to add them to this column’s comments.)

Make it easier on me – and the plants: The soil on my property is mostly clay and very poor, so I hope to bring in nutrient-rich topsoil. Also, to make less work for me, I hope to plant the vegetable plants in a raised garden bed. I expect that a raised bed will be easier since the height may make it less difficult to weed the bed and will allow better drainage. Also, a raised bed may make getting the bed ready easier, since I could layer in the topsoil and hopefully do less tilling of the clay that lies beneath. I am sure it’s more cost-effective to build a raised vegetable bed, but since I am not handy and don’t have a vehicle large enough to tote the lumber, I’m thinking of buying a raised garden bed frame. I hope to get a cedar frame, as I’ve read that such a frame won’t leek harmful chemicals into the soil and is rot resistant.

Start small: Beginner gardeners tend to bite off more than they can chew, so I plan to start small, possibly with a 4-foot by 6-foot bed. My husband and I took care of our neighbors’ less than 4-foot by 4-foot garden for about a week last summer, and we were kept quite busy picking all their peppers and tomatoes. And when my husband and I tended his mother’s garden years ago, we had so many vegetables that even the neighbors stopped accepting them after a while.

Plan it right: Vegetable gardens need plenty of sun, so I intend to place the garden on the south side of our home. (Veggie gardens need at least six hours of direct sunlight.) There’s a spigot close to the spot where I hope to put the garden, which will make watering easier. To keep things simple, I’ll probably stick to just three plants for now: tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.