How to Start a Garden

How to Start a Garden in Ten Simple Steps

Gardening can be rewarding for both the beginner and the seasoned Utah gardener. Whether you grow to unwind from stress or to enjoy more nutritious and flavorful produce, your garden provides a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Want to start a garden, but not sure where to begin? This page will cover the basics of gardening, and provide links to more detailed information so you can garden with confidence and have fun doing it.

Step 1: Decide What You Want to Plant

If you won’t eat cetain fruits and vegetables, don’t grow it in your garden. (I break this rule for flowers. Edible or not, I like to see at least a few in every garden.) Focus on the fruits, vegetables or herbs that your family enjoys the most.

Step 2: Find Planting Guides for Your Area

Plants have a preferred growing condition and need to be planted at the right time. Knowing and providing these preferred growing conditions give plants the best chance for success. Contact your local extension service or an experienced gardener in your area if you need additional advice.

Learn the unique growing conditions in your area and the benefits and challenges it brings. Learn how to adapt to these conditions and ways to maximize the benefits and minimize the challenges.

Make sure your top choices make sense for your area. Figure out your gardening zone and estimated first and last frost dates. If possible, talk to successful gardeners in your area to find out which crops grow well and which don’t. See “USDA Hardiness Zones & Your Microclimate” for a more information on how growing conditions affect garden plans.

Step 3: Choose a Location

Convenient location
Plant your garden where it is convenient for you. Think about how you will access the garden for picking, watering and caring for your plants. Out of site often equals out of mind and a neglected garden.

Sunlight
Most fruits and vegetables need full sun, with a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight per day for fruiting. Greens, herbs and root veggies will grow in partial shade.

Water
Access to water. The closer the water source, the better.

Step 4: Start Small

Sketch out an overall plan for your garden, with bed placement for your plants. Consider starting a garden in a container or raised bed. Raised beds and containers are attractive and may make it easier to work in your garden, but they also dry out more quickly.

Guidelines for raised beds: No wider than 4 feet and should be 12-18 inches deep. Allow three feet between beds for walkways and wheelbarrow access. Within the garden beds, place plants in rows or a grid pattern. The goal is minimize walkways and maximize growing space.

Start small, and make sure to give each plant enough room to grow. The seeds and transplants are tiny, but full grown plants can get huge. Overcrowded plants have difficulty thriving. A small, well-tended garden can produce as much or more than a large, poorly tended garden. Add beds and containers when your experience grows.

4x4 or 4x8 bed is a great way to start. You can grow quite a few in that amount of small space. Rectangular or square beds are the most common, but you’re only limited by your imagination and building skills. See “Raised Garden Beds” for more information on different types of raised beds and how to work with them.

Step 5: Soil

Soil is one of the most important part of your garden. Compost, Peat Moss/Coconut Core and Vermiculite make a perfect mix for container and raised beds. The soil is light and airy and gives the roots plenty of access to nutrients and water. The more you garden the better your soil will become, especially if you follow organic gardening principles.

Test your soil before you start building your garden beds or planting, you need to know something about your garden soil. Is your soil acidic, alkaline or neutral pH? Do you have sand, clay, silt, rocks, or a mix of all four? Is there a risk of soil contamination from nearby structures, roadways or other sources? Does it have a good amount of basic nutrients? Some of these characteristics can be determined just from looking at the soil. Others may require home tests or professional lab tests.

Most plants prefer a deep, well-drained, fertile soil rich in organic matter. Plant roots need good garden soil to produce good vegetables and fruit. Once you start a garden, you’ll gain a new appreciation for healthy soil as it improves year after year. Healthy, vibrant soil = healthy, vibrant plants with built in disease and pest resistance and more nutrition.

How much soil will you need?
Length x Width x Height = Volume
1 cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet.
Example: 4' x 4' by 1' = 16 cubic feet of soil.

Step 6: Set Up a Watering System

Consistent watering is one way to ensure your plants are healthy. Healthy plant are more able to resist disease and pests and other stresses in the garden.

Drip irrigation is efficient and provides consistent water to your plants. Don't let seeds and seedlings dry out. Water the entire root zone of your plants. This promotes larger roots which equals healthier and more productive plants.

Step 7: Keep a Garden Journal

Step 8: Spend Time in Your Garden Each Day

Try to catch problems when they are small. When you catch problems pests, waterin issues or disease when they are small it is easier to manage. Large problems are harder to treat.

Healthy plants are successul are less suceptable to pest and disease and insects.

There's an old saying that says, “The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow.” If you're not prepared to make time in your schedule to tend to your plants, you may be better off hitting the farmer's market, or sticking with extremely low maintenance items like sprouts or herbs. Depending on the size of your plantings, time requirements may range from a few minutes per day to a full time job.

Nab weeds when they’re small with a scuffle hoe – or use them as groundcover, food or medicine.

For a full list of my favorite gardening tools, check out, “The Best Garden Tools Help Make Gardening Easier”.

Don't buy cheap plastic tools if you can avoid it. Shop yard and estate sales for bargains on real metal tools, or visit your local garden center. Get tools that are the right size for you to reduce the risk of injury.

Good tools will save time and effort, and your back. Keep tools clean and sharp, just like you should treat a good knife. To learn how to keep your tools in good condition, visit “Cleaning and Sharpening Garden Tools”.

Step 10: Harvest and Eat What You Grow

Learn the best time to harvest. Most vegetable are best picked young and picked often which encourages more vegetables. Flavor is typically at a peak when the morning dew has cleared, but before the afternoon heat has settled in. Sample and decide what tastes best to you.