Succession Planting Guide: Maximize Your Vegetable Garden Harvest Year-Round

by Angela Braun | Feb 2, 2025 | Gardening

Imagine having fresh vegetables from your garden throughout the entire growing season. With succession planting, you can transform your garden from a place with a one-time harvest to a continuous source of fresh produce!

When I started as a new gardener, I was overrun with harvest for a few weeks every season for the first couple of years. We couldn’t possibly eat or preserve everything that was ripe then and the neighbours started changing the roadside when they saw us coming from fear of being forced upon cucumbers or zucchini. Some weeks later, however, the situation was quite the opposite and we had to run to the supermarket to buy all those vegetables we had in abundance a short while before.

It took me a while to figure out how to ensure a continuous harvest throughout the whole season without any “gaps”. With a bit of smart planning, the next year’s harvest was a good deal more satisfying and we had almost no gaps between harvests. Over the years, I improved my planting plan and now I can proudly say that I can continually harvest from spring to late autumn.

The trick is to sow or plant vegetables whenever there is a gap where some other vegetables have been harvested.

I’ve been using these techniques for years, and I’m excited to share how you can maximize your garden’s potential.

Understanding Succession Planting

By cleverly sowing or planting whenever there are gaps in the beds after harvesting, we can ensure a continuous harvest throughout the whole season. This successive planting is called (drumroll, please!): “succession planting”. Apart from a continuous harvest, there are a lot more benefits and advantages of succession planting

Succession planting reduces weeds by constantly keeping the soil covered. Whenever we have harvested one kind of vegetable, we sow or plant right afterwards so that the gaps close fast and weeds don’t stand a chance. It also keeps the soil moist.

With clever planning and observing what plants go well together (i.e. mixed culture), staggered planting guarantees our soil’s health. For example: when we plant legumes like peas or beans which collect nitrogen before or after hungry plants like cabbages or tomatoes, we can ensure that the soil won’t be leached out.

Succession planting also helps control pests and diseases. By avoiding growing large numbers of the same vegetables at once, we create a natural barrier. Besides, different growth stages attract different beneficial insects.

When, due to the weather, pests or disease one crop fails, succession planting is our backup plan and reduces the risk of losing our entire harvest.

By spreading out planting and harvesting times, we prevent an overwhelming workload, either of planting or harvesting. As I told you before, I had this experience when I started gardening. I had lots to do in spring what with sowing and planting and then later with harvesting simply everything at once!

The different methods of succession planting

Succession planting is not only a season-long lettuce harvest. Instead, there are quite a few different methods to do it:

Same-crop succession

This covers the above-mentioned lettuce harvest. By planting the same crop every few weeks, for example lettuce, we ensure a constant harvest of this crop throughout the season. Make sure to always choose a different place for the same crop. Otherwise, the soil will get leached out of nutrients.

Different-crop succession

This means following one crop with a different crop, for example plant tomatoes after early peas.

Interplanting

A clever way to make the best use of your space is to plant fast-growing vegetables between slow-growing ones. A good example for interplanting is to cultivate radishes between cabbage plants.

Relay planting

This means starting one crop before the other has finished. A good example of relay planting is the famous “three sisters” bed, where we plant winter squash (harvest in autumn) between corn rows (harvest in late summer).

Temperature-based succession

Some plants like it hot, others thrive in colder temperatures. Choose different varieties of your crops and plant them accordingly by cultivating cold-season crops that are “followed by warm-season crops.”

Catch cropping

No matter how well you plan your vegetable garden, there will always be gaps for a few weeks. In that case, we plant or sow fast-growing vegetables like radishes or spinach to close the gaps and cover the soil until the next main crop can be planted.

Succession planting misconceptions

There are some common misconceptions about succession planting that I want to rectify.

• “I need a large garden space”

That’s not true. You can apply succession planting in a raised bed and even in large pots on your patio.

• “Succession planting means planting the same crop repeatedly.”

As you can see above, there are different methods of succession planting, same-crop succession being only one of them.

• “I need to follow a fixed calendar schedule”

Local climate and weather conditions matter far more than a strict schedule. While not leaving out the calendar completely, it’s more important to watch the weather at your place.

• “All plants are suitable for succession planting”

Some main crops like tomatoes and peppers don’t work well with succession planting. Instead, stick to the tried and tested veggies that go well with this concept.

• “It’s too complex for beginners”

Definitely not! Even as a fledgling gardener you can apply basic succession planting methods.

• “Every planting will show the same results”

Unfortunately: no. Growth rates and harvest yield strongly depend on seasonal changes like temperature, moisture and sun hours.

What do we need for succession planting?

Well, first of all, time. Wait, don’t go yet! The time I’m talking of is mostly spent on planning your vegetable garden and especially what to plant and when. Additionally, it costs a bit of time to sow (indoors or outdoors) or plant every few weeks and regularly monitor for harvest timing.

Another thing we need is a continuous supply of seeds or seedlings. You can either seed-start or sow your plants directly or plant seedlings from the nursery into the gaps.

Plants need nutrients, so you have to feed them with compost or other fertilisers.

If you want to extend your season, you’ll need row covers or a cold frame.

Although you have to constantly monitor your garden, the workload is spread throughout the whole season rather than concentrated in spring and fall. This makes gardening more manageable despite requiring consistent attention.

Planning Your Succession Garden

There are a few things you have to observe when planning your succession garden.

First of all, you should make a planting calendar where you indicate when to sow, seed-start and plant what vegetables. Don’t confuse a planting calendar with a planting plan. The first is about timing while the latter is about what veggies you want to plant and where.

The next step is to understand your actual growing season which is determined by frost dates, temperature, daylight hours and microclimate. Your growing season or hardiness zone, indicates the length of time you can grow crops outdoors. Cold frames, winter gardens and greenhouses prolong this growing season. Not sure about your hardiness zone? Find out at this site.

A further important factor to consider is maturity dates, i.e. the time different vegetables need until they can be harvested. This information is usually printed on seed packages or in seed catalogues. If you know, for example, that a certain variety of tomatoes you want to plant needs about 75 days to be harvested, you’ll want to write down when you planted them (for example: May 15^th). Then, you can calculate the estimated date of the first harvest, in this case, July 29^th. To adjust to local growing conditions, you might want to allow for a wiggle room of 7 – 10 days.

With all that planning, always keep a close eye on how far each of your plants needs to stand from each other. You’ll also find this information on the back of the seed packages or in seed catalogues. I know how tempting it is to reduce the space between plants, especially when they are still young and small. Every gardener has made that mistake at least once. (Some of us more often… ahem). However, vegetables that are planted too close compete for nutrients and space and will stay a good deal smaller than those planted with enough distance from one another.

During the season it’s helpful to keep a record of your gardening. Be it with a software/app or with a traditional handwritten gardening journal, there are a few things that should be covered:

• The crops you choose
• Crop varieties
• Days to maturity
• Expected and actual harvest date
• Notes on the crops’ performance
• Succession intervals
• Space planning

This might look something like this:

Feel free to use this chart as an example or create your own and remember to update your chart during the season.

Best Vegetables for Succession Planting

To get a good basis for planning succession planting, we must distinguish between fast-, medium- and slow-growing crops.

Fast-growing crops (30 – 40 days)

• Radishes: Plant every 2 weeks March-September
• Lettuce: Plant every 2-3 weeks March-September
• Arugula: Plant every 2-3 weeks March-September
• Baby Spinach: Plant every 2 weeks March-May, August-September
• Baby Asian Greens: Plant every 2-3 weeks March-September

Make sure you choose the appropriate variety for the respective season (remember: there are cool- and heat-tolerant varieties!)

Medium-Speed Crops (50 – 60 days)

• Bush beans: Sow every three weeks from May to July
• Carrots: Sow every three weeks from April to August
• Beets: Sow every three weeks from April to August
• Kohlrabi: Sow every three weeks from April to August

Slow-Growing Crops (60 + days):

• Tomatoes: staggered plantings 2 – 3 weeks apart in spring
• Peppers: staggered plantings 2 – 3 weeks apart in spring
• Broccoli: Early spring and late summer plantings
• Cabbage: Early spring and late summer plantings
• Brussels Sprouts: Late spring for fall/winter harvest
• Winter Squash: Single planting in late spring

Either grow the Speedy Gonzales veggies between the sloths or let a fast-growing one follow a medium-growing crop.

Season-by-season guide

Depending on your hardiness zone, terms like “early spring” and “late summer” can vary considerably. For that reason, let’s define these seasons by their temperature:

– Early Spring (soil temp 5 – 10 °C / 40-50°F)

– Mid-Spring (soil temp 10 – 15 °C / 50-60°F)

– Late Spring/Early Summer (soil temp 15 – 20 °C / 60-70°F)

– Mid-Summer (soil temp 20 – 30 °C / 70-85°F)

– Late Summer/Early Fall (soil temp 15 – 20 °C / 60-70°F)

– Autumn (soil temp 10 – 15 °C / 50-60°F)

That defined, let’s have a look at exemplary tasks that’ll help you to keep your garden’s soil covered and harvest rolling in continually.

Spring succession tips

Prepare the soil as soon as you can work it without smearing it. Remove the mulch to let the soil warm up. Then, rip out all weeds that may have grown, loosen up the soil with a hoe and work in some compost to add nutrients.

Start with cool-season crops like peas, spinach, radishes, and lettuce in early spring (depending on your hardiness zone). Cold frames and low tunnels allow you to plant and sow a few weeks earlier than normal.

Let carrots, beets and Swiss chard follow in Mid-spring. Continue the succession of lettuce and radishes and plant the first bush beans. Now, it’s also time to seed-start indoors the warm-season crops like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and so on.

In late spring, when the temperature rises, succession plants more quick-growing greens like lettuce, arugula and radishes every 2 weeks.

Continue the greens succession and plant the last cool-season crops before summer.

Summer planting strategies

When late spring changes into early summer, replace the bolting spring crops with heat-tolerant varieties. It’s also time now to plant, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers and other heat-loving vegetables. Continue to plant herbs and leafy greens every 2 – 3 weeks and seed-start fall crops like broccoli, cabbage and kale indoors. Plant out the last set of cucumbers.

In Mid-summer you can sow quick-maturing crops like bush beans directly into the bed.

By the end of August, you can plant a second round of cool-season vegetables like spinach, arugula and lettuce and sow fall root crops like turnips and radishes. Continually plant short-season crops.

Although it can still be hot, consider the first frost date for your region and choose your vegetables accordingly. It’s best now, to cultivate varieties which take no longer than 30 – 45 days to mature. That way you’ll make sure that they ripen before the first frost hits.

Autumn garden planning

Continue to plant cold-hardy greens and root vegetables, always considering the first frost date. If necessary, you can use row covers to protect your vegetables from cold temperatures and thus extend the growing season.

Plant your last batch of quick-maturing crops like spinach and lettuce by mid-September. Now is also the best time to plant garlic for next year’s harvest.

Sow cover crops in every gap that arises when you have harvested or cover the soil with mulch.

Winter preparations

Protect your perennials, like certain herbs as well as vegetables like leek, kale and winter lettuce with covers from the cold.

Winter is the time for planning next year’s garden and succession planting. If you have recorded your garden year in a journal, you can see what worked well and where you can make improvements next year.

In January, you can seed-start the first vegetables for the upcoming season.

Soil Management

As the soil is always covered with crops that take nutrients out of it, it is our task as gardeners to provide exactly those nutrients. After all, we not only want to maintain our soil’s fertility but also to ensure the healthy growth of our plants.

To do that, we start with working compost into the soil in early spring.

When planting strong uptakers like cabbage or tomatoes, we can add well-rotted manure or compost into the plant hole.

During the season, we need to make sure to add organic or mineral fertiliser to give the plants what they need when they need it.

When we have harvested one crop it’s good to loosen the now uncovered soil and work in some compost, well-rotted manure or another long-term fertiliser before sowing or planting the next crop.

Always keep in mind which plants grow great together (and which don’t) and apply the rules of companion planting. That way, we can prevent soil depletion.

Like in nature, our garden’s soil should always be covered, either by plants or by mulch. The cover not only holds the weeds at bay but also retains moisture and prevents the soil from being washed away by rain.

Advanced Succession Strategies

Beyond the basics, there are some advanced strategies you can use that will make you look like a succession planting pro in no time:

Intercropping Techniques

Plant crops together that complement each other, for example, tall corn and low-growing beans. That way you make the most use of your space, keep pests at bay and improve nutrient cycling

Companion Planting

Companion planting means knowing which crops support each other’s growth and strategically placing them together. The combination of tomatoes and basil or carrots and onions are good examples of companion planting. A clever combination of “best buddies” helps to repel pests, enhances nutrients and supports soil health.

Vertical Gardening Methods

Make the most of your space and let your vegetables grow upwards. You can use trellises, for example, where cucumbers, pole beans or winter squash can climb. Or you try hanging pots from carport ceilings or patio canopies and plant them with vegetables. On your balcony or patio, you can also use wall-mounted planters or buy stackable growing systems. Vertical gardening is ideal for small spaces.

Season Extension

With cold frames or a greenhouse, you can extend your region’s growing period. You can sow and plant weeks earlier than outdoors and, depending on your hardiness zone, ensure a year-round harvest, if necessary with a bit of additional protection.

Especially for the first crops outdoors, row covers are a game-changer. They protect the seedlings from harsh weather and temperature variations. Hoop houses create a microclimate that’s beneficial for growing and great for keeping pests out.

Microclimate Creation

With a bit of clever planning, you can create a beneficial microclimate in your garden and thus manipulate your local growing conditions in your favour! My garden, for example, has a slight slope. To prevent the soil from being washed off, I have created the beds at a 90 ° angle to the slope. That way, water is kept longer at the beds’ edges and has more time to seep in.

It’s important to place your plants strategically to create a good microclimate. Large or climbing plants, like corn or pole beans, should be planted at the back of the garden so that they don’t cast a shadow on other plants.

Or you use them as a wind-breaker to protect other, more sensitive plants from harsh winds. A side effect may be the retention of warmth that benefits heat-loving plants like tomatoes and peppers.

Succession in Small Spaces

Gardening in containers is no reason to give up on succession planting. On the contrary: what works in a garden works in containers as well. However, given that we only have a limited amount of soil in containers, fertilising is more important to keep the soil nutritious enough to ensure the healthy growth of your vegetables. Also, use smaller varieties that are better for being grown in containers, like dwarf plant varieties. As with a garden, make a planting and a growing plan.

Succession Planting Wrap-up

You see: a good succession planting strategy can easily provide you with fresh produce during the whole growing season. Just observe the following points:

• To get started with succession planting, begin small by focusing on quick-growing crops like lettuce, radishes, and bush beans.
• Keep a calendar to track planting dates and expected harvest times, taking into consideration your hardiness zone.
• Make sure that you’ve always new crops ready to replace any gaps where plants have been harvested.
• Match the crops to the seasonal temperature ranges. Make sure to plant cold-hardy veggies in spring and late summer and heat-loving ones in late spring / early summer.
• Maintain your soil’s health by working in compost in late winter and spring, fertilising according to your plants’ needs during the growing season and making sure that the soil is continually covered through successive planting.

Start planning your succession schedule now, and you’ll be amazed at how much food you can grow in even a modest garden space.

January Seed Starting Guide: 11 Vegetables to Sow Now for a Successful Harvest

by Angela Braun | Jan 13, 2025 | Gardening

I don’t know about you but once the festive season is over and life starts again in January, my fingers itch to dig into some dirt! Although there are some outdoor garden tasks you should do in January, it’s too cold to get my fingers dirty outside. But I can always do some seed-starting in January and sow vegetables indoors! Of course, it’s way too early to seed-start tomatoes, for example, but there are some plants we can give a head-start by sowing them out in January. Let’s get growing!

Understanding Your Growing Zone and Its Impact on Seed Starting

As you probably know, there are 11 hardiness zones, each divided further into two half-zones. Hardiness zones are set worldwide and classified by the lowest temperatures reached in winter and last frost dates. If you want to know your hardiness zone, hop over to this site, insert your postal code and find out your zone.

The hardiness zone you live in determines to an extent what plants you can cultivate in your region. It also tells you when to plant and seed-start your vegetables which is largely determined by the dates of the last frost.

However, knowing your hardiness zone doesn’t take into consideration regional microclimates that mostly affect temperature and humidity. Also, soil quality contributes a lot to the microclimate. Sandy soils, for example, have a lower minimum and higher maximum temperature than loamy soils.

Apart from temperature, the last frost dates are what’s most important for us vegetable gardeners. When we know how long it takes for a plant to germinate and from sowing to harvest, we can calculate backwards and determine when to seed-start indoors.

Essential Indoor Seed Starting Equipment for January

The basic equipment consists of cultivation trays and/or small pots with transparent covers, alternatively cling film.

Then, you need cultivation soil specially for seed-starting. It contains fewer nutrients and is also good for planting herbs, which also need a few nutrients, in pots.

A small watering can or a plant sprayer helps you to water your seeds carefully without washing them out of the soil.

Plant sticks are great for noting the plants and varieties you sow and sticking them into the tray to mark your plant rows. Don’t think you can determine the plants later. Been there, done it, not successful!

A plant lamp is a true game-changer when it comes to indoor seed-starting as light intensity and light hours are usually not sufficient for healthy plant growth. When there is too little light for our seedlings, they become leggy and might even fall over as they try to reach for the light. A plant lamp can be programmed for how long it has to shine (12 – 14 hours/day) and it usually provides just the right light spectrum for plants.

Additionally, you may want to think about buying a heating mat for warmth-loving plants like peppers, tomatoes and eggplants. With a mat like that underneath the seedling trays you can ensure a consistently high temperature.

How to seed-start indoors

Seed-starting indoors is not rocket science but there are a few things to observe:

Rinse the tray or pots with hot water to eliminate bacteria and fungi.

Put the soil into the tray or pots, press it lightly and make small holes where you want the seeds. Put the seeds into the holes, cover them lightly with soil and press the soil gently. Now, water the seeds carefully with a fine-holed watering can.

Put the transparent covers onto the trays. This enhances the temperature and keeps the moisture in. Put the trays in a sunny place at the temperatures required for each plant. If you want to seed-start plants that need relatively high temperatures, like eggplants, peppers, physalis etc., you should consider using a heating mat that you can put under the trays and heat up to the appropriate temperature.

Once the plants grow, check them daily. Keep the cover off for a few minutes to enable ventilation and prevent fungi. Also, check for fungus gnats, those small black flies that come out of the soil and whose larvae eat your plants’ roots. Sometimes, we bring them into the house with the soil. Put glue traps into your propagation trays and if gnats stick to them, put nematodes, which eat gnat larvae, into water and water your plants with it. Maybe you have to repeat this procedure at a later time.

Vegetables to seed-start in January

#1 Peppers / Chillies

Peppers and chillies need some time to get started. If you sow them too late, they’ll have their fruits late, too, and you risk damaging them by cold temperatures—even if you cultivate them in your greenhouse.

Sow the seeds into a tray with cultivation soil and put it in a sunny and warm spot at 25 °C (77 °F). A bright south-facing window, a winter garden or a heatable greenhouse are good places.

#2 Physalis

Seed-start physalis in January by sowing several seeds into one pot. Put the pot in a warm and bright spot. Temperatures about 25 °C (77°F) are ideal. Physalis grow slowly at the beginning and must be kept moist. Separate the plants when they are about three weeks old and plant them in single pots. Either plant physalis out after the last night frosts or separate them again and put them into large pots that you put outside.

Physalis are perennials and can be kept indoors during winter.

#3 Winter lettuce

Seed-start winter lettuce like ‘Baqieu’ to plant it out later in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. That way you’ll have an early lettuce harvest.

Sow the seeds into a tray with the appropriate soil and press it lightly. Lettuce only germinates in light so don’t cover the seeds with soil. Temperatures mustn’t be as high as for peppers or physalis. 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) are ideal. When the plants are large enough, separate them and set them into single pots.

#4 Sweet potatoes

Cut sweet potatoes in halves and let the cutting areas dry for a few hours. Then, put the halves with the cut end facing down into a pot or balcony box with soil. Place the pot or box in a warm and sunny place. After some time, shoots will grow out of the sweet potatoes which we’ll cut off later and put into water for building roots.

#5 Ginger / Turmeric

Ginger and turmeric build rhizomes instead of deep roots and thus are best grown in flat pots. Put a rhizome with “eyes” into a tray or pot and cover it with soil so that two-thirds of the ginger or turmeric is in the soil and one-third is still above.

#6 Eggplants

Like peppers and physalis, eggplants like it warm and thrive best at temperatures of 25 °C (77 °F). Seed-start eggplants at the end of January by sowing seeds into a tray. Later, when they are large enough transplant each plant into a single pot. Always make sure that they are in a warm and sunny place.

#7 Cabbage

Cabbage is usually harvested in autumn, but there are varieties for a summer harvest and those should be seed-started now. As usual, sow the seeds in a tray and separate them later when they’ve grown four seed leaves.

Cabbage doesn’t need high temperatures like peppers and eggplants. On the contrary, it’s perfectly content with temperatures of 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F).

When we plant out these cabbage varieties after the last day frosts, we can harvest the plants already in July.

#8 Savoy cabbage

As with cabbage, there are summer varieties that should be seed-started at the end of January. Savoy cabbage germinates already at temperatures of only 3 °C (38 °F). Once they have four seed leaves, separate the young savoy cabbages and plant them into single pots. Now put them in a bright place at about 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) and plant them outdoors end of March/beginning of April.

Summer varieties of savoy cabbage can be harvested in July and August.

#9 Early cauliflower

Seed-start early cauliflower varieties in January by sowing them into trays and putting them in a place with 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F). Separate them when they have grown four seed leaves and plant them into single pots. Plant them into an unheated greenhouse or a cold frame mid to end of March. If you have them in the greenhouse, you can plant tomatoes in between later. By the time they need more space, the cauliflower is already harvested.

#10 Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi can also be seed-started now for an early harvest in the cold frame or greenhouse. Indoors they need temperatures about 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) and should be separated once they’ve developed four seed leaves. Plant them out into the cold frame or greenhouse end of February/beginning of March for an early harvest.

#11 Onions

Sowing onions may be more time-consuming than planting the bulbs but it shows advantages like healthier growth, more varieties and better storage capability. And it’s cheaper. Seed-start onions in January to ensure that you can harvest them before the first frost in autumn. Put the seeds into a tray or small single pots and place them in a bright spot of about 16 – 18 °C (60 – 65 °F) or colder (not under 10 °C / 50 °F). At the end of March/beginning of April, you can plant them outdoors.

#11 Summer leek

Summer leek, that’s harvested in July / August must be seed-started in January. You can either sow the seeds in trays and separate them later or you sow them into small single pots. Plant the leek outdoors when it’s about as thick as a pencil. To protect it from night frosts, however, you should cover it then with a frost fleece.

Summary

Starting seeds in January sets you up for a productive growing season ahead. Remember to choose varieties suited to your zone and provide proper growing conditions for strong, healthy seedlings. When you observe the simple rules for seed-starting vegetables indoors (see above), you’ll give your plants a good head-start and have a great harvest later that season.

Ready to get growing? Grab your seed packets and let’s make this your best gardening year yet!

Garden Tasks in January: Setting Up Your Vegetable and Fruit Garden for Success

by Angela Braun | Jan 7, 2025 | Gardening

Although our gardens are sleeping right now, doesn’t mean that we gardeners have nothing to do! Admittedly, it won’t be so much OUTDOOR tasks like weeding and planting but more INDOOR chores like maintenance and planning. But these are not the only garden tasks in January. Below, I’ve listed several jobs you should think about.

#1: Dreaming up your garden in January

If you’re new to gardening and just starti#ng, this may seem a bit overwhelming but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Whether you have a large backyard you want to turn into a veggie paradise or just a patio or balcony with a few containers to cultivate in, planning is always the first step. This is also valid if you have already a garden or if you want to expand. Let’s dive in and start planning our dream garden step by step.

Drawing

Grab a piece of square paper and draw the patches you have or want to have. Just don’t get overambitious, especially as a beginner. It’s best to start with one or two patches about 1,2 x 1,2 metres (3.3 x 3.3 feet).

Imagine what you’d want your garden to look like. Do you want a cottage garden with flower borders and herbs? Will you start with raised beds? Do you want to have a greenhouse and/or cold frames? Or is a permaculture garden what you’d like? Go crazy here and think big, the sky’s the limit. Then, adjust to what you have and what is possible (now). Go step by step, there’s almost always room for expansion.

Wishlist

The next step is to make a wish list of all the vegetables you’ll want to grow. Bear in mind what you and your family like. It’s no use to grow spinach if you loathe it.

Maybe you want to try new varieties; put them on your list.

Adjust this list to your available space and your experience. If you’re a garden greenhorn, start with these easy vegetables for beginners. With more experience, you can try other, more complicated crops.

Seeds

When you know which vegetables you want to grow, check your seeds if you have some already, browse seed catalogues (my favourite garden task in January!) and order what you need. January is a good time for seed ordering, later some may be sold out.

Planting plan

This can be tricky, especially if you are a first-time gardener, but with some basic knowledge, you’ll have it up in no time.

If you want to learn more about starting a vegetable garden, this beginner’s guide will tell you everything you need to now on that topic.

#2 Seed checking

If you have seeds left from the last seasons, especially when they are more than two years old, you’ll want to check if they are still capable of germination. Some plants like parsnips and celery can be a bit finicky when it comes to germinating.

To find out if they’re still good, put some seeds between moist kitchen paper and observe for a few days if they germinate.

#3 Create new patches

January is a good time to build new patches. Don’t worry, you won’t have to dig up your garden (which would be especially tedious with frozen ground). My favourite method of building new patches only requires cardboard and good planting soil or compost. Peel off any plastic from the cardboard and lay it flat on the ground where you want to have the patch. Distribute well-rotted compost or planting soil about 10 – 15 cm (4 – 6 inches) on it. Done! If you want to learn more about this easy no-dig method, hop over to this article.

#4 Prepare your indoor growing station

Another garden task in January is cleaning your growing stations with hot water so that all pathogens and pests are killed before we start to sow.

Also, sterilize your growing soil by baking it at 150 °C (300 °F) for 30 minutes. This will kill for example fungus gnats that can be a real danger for seedlings.

If you don’t have any planting lights already, consider buying some. They’re a real game changer when it comes to indoor sowing as the natural light usually isn’t sufficient to help develop healthy plants.

#5 Seed-starting

Although it may seem a bit early, you can already start to sow indoors. Some vegetables, for example chillies and peppers, are real sloths when it comes to growth. To give them enough time to become large enough to plant them out eventually, sow them indoors at the end of January. Cabbage, cauliflower, leeks and onions can also be sowed indoors at the end of the month. Wanna read more about what vegetables you can seed-start in January? Hop over here!

#6 Protect your plants

Whenever you’re out in winter, you’re happy for any frost protection you can get. The same goes for our plants: they are freezing. So, one of our garden tasks in January is covering them with frost protection fleece that not only protects them from the cold but also from drying winds.

Still got any root crops in the ground? Cover them with an extra layer of mulch to protect them from the freezing weather.

You can also use the branches of your Christmas tree to cover your root crops or herbs BUT ONLY if hasn’t been treated with pesticides! We don’t want that in our gardens, do we? So, do your garden – and yourself – a favour and make sure that your Christmas tree is organic before using it to cover your plants.

#7 Harvesting

If you’ve ever harvested frozen vegetables in winter, you’ll know that for example lettuce becomes soft and slimy once it has thawed. The reason for that is that the plant you harvested can’t recover from the frost once it’s separated from its roots. Either harvest them when they are wrapped up in a fleece for example (which prevents freezing) or when it’s mild enough that they aren’t frozen.

#8 Watering

This may sound weird, but your plants can suffer from dryness even in winter, especially when it’s sunny and windy. This phenomenon is called frost draught.

When the ground is frozen, your plants can’t take up water but they still evaporate moisture through their leaves, especially on sunny and/or windy days.

To protect your plants from drying out, you have to water them. This is best done in the mornings when temperatures will still rise and the plants will get a chance to snatch up the water during the day.

#9 Pruning

January is still a good time to prune your fruit trees and berry shrubs. The best time to do that is while the plants are still dormant. If you haven’t done so earlier (ahm… yes: guilty), cut out any old growth from your fruit trees, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, black and red currants and gooseberries to maintain their productivity in the upcoming season.

#10 Tool inventory and maintenance

Check if you’ve everything ready for the upcoming season:

Do you have enough frost protection fleece? Winter may go on a bit longer and you’ll want some spare fleece at hand, just in case.

Also, you’ll need pest protection nets for spring and summer. Companion planting, which means planting vegetables together that support and protect each other, is a great way to keep pests and diseases at bay. If you want to learn more about some foolproof pairs for your vegetable garden, hop over here. Yet, companion planting is no guarantee that there won’t be any pests. If you want to have your harvest for yourself then, and don’t want to share it with maggots, store up on protection nets.

Snails are also always a problem in my garden, especially last year when it was exceptionally wet. If you have the same problem, make sure you have enough barriers like snail collars and snail fences to keep them off your vegetables.

If you haven’t done it already, clean up your garden tools by scraping off the dirt and washing them thoroughly. Afterwards, it’s good to sharpen them, if necessary, and oil them. If something’s broken, repair it.

#11 Build what you need (and want)

The garden is still dormant so why not head into your workshop and build what you’d like to have? Whether it be a trellis, raised beds, a scarecrow or an insect hotel, now is a good time to put your designs into reality.

#12 Support the animals

Our feathery friends will be grateful for food, so hang up bird feeders and fill them with appropriate food for wild birds.

If you have squirrels in your garden, you can also hang a squirrel feeder with balanced squirrel food into one of your trees. Install the feeder far from the house and at least 2 metres (6,5 feet)

Leave dead plant stems and fallen leaves on the ground as they offer hedgehogs and insects a great winter home. You can clean it all up later in spring when they’ve woken up from hibernation.

You see, even if almost nothing’s growing outside right now, there are still some garden tasks in January that we can do. And although the tasks seem different, they can be mostly summed up as: Preparation. No matter if it’s planning new patches and crops, maintaining and repairing tools, building new things or seed-starting indoors, these are all steps that lead to the next season’s garden. Have fun and enjoy the (relative) calm. We’ll soon be digging in the soil again!

Easy Vegetables for Beginners: 11 Foolproof Crops for Your First Garden in 2025

by Angela Braun | Dec 27, 2024 | Gardening

Did you know that over 67% of households started gardening during recent years? As you’ve found this article, I gather you’re a newbie, too, and you’re finally ready to start growing your own food. That’s wonderful! And don’t you let yourself become anxious that you might kill your plants. I’ve got you covered: because there are some vegetables that are practically begging to grow, no matter how brown your thumb might be.
2025 is your year to leave all doubts behind and finally develop that green thumb. Whether you have a spacious backyard or just a few containers on your patio or balcony, these 11 easy vegetables for beginners are practically guaranteed to thrive with minimal gardening experience. From fast-growing radishes to foolproof tomatoes, I’ll show you exactly what to plant for a successful first harvest. Let’s dig in! (Pun absolutely intended 😉)

What are “beginner-friendly” vegetables?

What makes a vegetable easy for beginners?

One criterion, for example is that they are robust against diseases and have a high germination capacity (that means, seeds grow easily) .

Furthermore, they must be easy in their demands on the soil, temperature and watering. Even in conditions that are not ideal, they can grow successfully. For that reason, maintenance requirements are comparatively low.

A furhter indicator is that beginner-friendly vegetables often have a rapid growth cycle. That means that you can harvest them after a relatively short growing time.

Easy vegetables for beginners

The following vegetables are easy to grow and thus great for beginners.

#1: Radishes – the perfect beginner’s vegetable

Sowing: When the soil’s no longer frozen
Harvesting: 4 – 6 weeks after sowing
Pot size: small; a balcony container is sufficient

Radishes were the first vegetables my mum let me grow when I was just a toddler. That said, radishes will work for anyone and everyone who has a patch of soil – be it in a garden, a pot or a container. They have very few requirements on the soil and you can harvest them already after 4 – 6 weeks!

Depending on your growing zone, you can start to sow radishes outside after the last days of frost. In my region (7b) that’s beginning to mid-April. If you have a greenhouse or a cold frame, you can start even earlier.

Prepare the soil and make rows with the stick of your rake or the side of your hand. Sow the seeds 1 cm (1/2 inch) into the row with a distance of 3 – 5 cm (1 – 2 inches). The distance between rows should be about 10 – 15 cm (4 – 6 inches). Cover the seeds with soil, water them and let nature do its magic.

When your radishes are about the size of a large cherry, they’re ready to harvest. If you leave them too long in the ground, they’ll become woody in texture.

You can continually sow radishes until September, which makes them a great gap filler. They grow very well in balcony containers.

Pro tip: When you’ve sowed too tight, plug out all the seedlings that are too close to one another. When they’ve too little room, they won’t build out bulbs.

#2: Rocket salad – an easy green

Sowing: early spring to early autumn
Harvesting: 4 – 6 weeks after sowing, multiple times
Pot size: small; a balcony container is sufficient

Rocket salad grows similarly fast and easy as radishes. It’s a great salad and addition to pizza and pasta.

Sow rocket salad at around the same time you sow radishes and also in rows. Sow the seeds 1 cm (1/2 inch) deep and keep a distance between rows of 15 – 20 cm (6 – 8 inches).

If you sow in spring, cover the rows with a garden mesh to keep the seeds warm. After about 6 weeks (depending on the temperature), you can harvest your first rocket salad by breaking off the leaves you want to eat.

You can also sow rocket salad continually until September. It also grows well in balcony containers.

Pro tip: Sooner or later rocket salad will shoot into bloom. At that stage, it won’t taste that good any longer. Cut off all the leaves at about 5 cm above the soil and it’ll soon build out new leaves.

#3: Sweet Peas – a must-have for a beginner’s vegetable garden

Sowing: early spring to early summer
Harvesting: 6 – 8 weeks after sowing
Pot size: You can sow sweet peas in a balcony container (one row per container) but you have to build some kind of stable support for the plants
like twigs. Otherwise, the wind will snap them.

Sweet peas are one of my favourite veggies and usually, I snack them right from the stem! And the best thing is they’re terribly easy to grow.

Sowing time is after the last day frosts.

Prepare the soil and mark two rows with a distance of about 20 (8 inches) in between. Sow a pea seed every 3 – 4 cm (1 – 2 inches) and cover the seeds 4 – 5 cm (1.5 – 2 inches) with soil.

Peas grow to a height of up to 50 – 60 cm. For that reason, it is advisable (but not absolutely necessary) to build a trellis of wire or twigs to support the peas.

Also, protect the peas from birds during the first few weeks of growth with a protective net.

After about three months, the sweet peas are ripe for harvesting. Pluck off the peas when they’re still flat so that they’ll continue to bloom and build new peas.

Pro tip: Peas don’t like beans. If you want to grow beans as well, make sure that you don’t plant them next to peas.

#4: Lettuce – easy to grow and so many varieties!

Sowing/planting: Depending on the variety early spring to early autumn
Harvesting: 6 – 10 weeks after sowing, in case of pluck salad multiple times
Pot size: A balcony container is sufficient for pluck salad; if you want to grow head salad in pots they should at least be as large as the ready-to-
harvest head will be.

Lettuce comes in almost all colours and forms. There are green, red and purple varieties, some even with lovely speckles. Some lettuces build out round or elongated “heads”, others consist of loose leaves or rosettes. When you plan wisely, you can grow salad all year round, because some varieties like for example, radicchio unfold their full flavour not until it’s cold.

Lettuce grows quite fast which makes it a perfect gap filler.

The easiest lettuce to cultivate is pluck salad which you sow directly into your patch or container around the same time as radishes. Cover the seeds only very lightly with soil or just press them into the soil without covering them at all. If you just pluck the leaves without damaging the plant’s heart, it will continue to grow leaves for harvesting.

Head lettuce takes a bit more time and space to grow and you have to make sure that the varieties you sow or plant are appropriate for your climate. Head lettuce itself, for example, doesn’t like temperatures above 22°C (100 °F). In summer, therefore, it’s better to plant iceberg lettuce.

Pro tip: If you use seedlings, don’t plant them too deep. They must “wave in the wind”, otherwise they won’t build out heads.

#5: Swiss chard – an easy vegetable with a long harvesting time

Sowing: early spring to late summer
Harvesting: 10 – 12 weeks after sowing, multiple times
Pot size: The pot should be at least 20 cm high

In my opinion, Swiss chard is the prettiest vegetable ever. It comes in different colours (yellow, orange, red and green) and looks good even in a flower bed. It doesn’t need much regarding nutrients and maintenance and it’s well resistant to pests.

Sow Swiss chard when the temperature is above 15 °C (75 °F) during the day. Sow in rows with a distance of 15 – 20 cm (6 – 8 inches) between plants and about 30 cm (12 inches) between rows. Cover the seeds about 3 cm (1.3 inches) with soil.

After 10 – 12 weeks, you can harvest the stalks and leaves of Swiss chard. Make sure that you leave the plant’s heart intact. That way you can harvest until the first frost.

Pro tip: Swiss chard is closely related to spinach and beetroots which means they need about the same nutrients. To avoid competence, don’t plant these vegetables near each other.

#6: Beetroot – an underrated vegetable for beginners

Sowing: mid to late spring
Harvesting: about 6 – 8 weeks after sowing; leave it longer if you want to get larger plants
Pot size: The pot should be at least 20 cm high

Beetroot is the jack of all trades in the vegetable world. They come in different colours (even striped varieties) and can be eaten raw, roasted or cooked. They can be stored in sand during the winter months and are also easily preserved.

Beetroot grows best at temperatures around 16 °C (60 °F) which means that we either sow it in spring or later at the beginning of autumn.

Sow beetroots in rows with a distance of 15 cm (6 inches) between plants and 25 cm (10 inches) between rows.

Beetroots can be harvested when they’re about the size of a golf ball, but you can also let them grow.

Pro tip: When harvesting, twist off the leaves. That way, the beetroots don’t dry out so fast and can be stored for a longer time.

#7: Bush beans – easy to grow and a rewarding harvest

Sowing: Late spring / early summer
Harvesting: 6 – 10 weeks after sowing
Pot size: You can grow bush beans in a balcony container but you must build a stable support for the plants, like twigs. Otherwise, the wind will
snap them.

We differ between bush beans and climbing beans. The latter are more difficult to cultivate but bush beans are a great beginners’ vegetable.

Country lores tell us that beans want to hear the bells ring and that they are best planted barefoot. And it’s true! Beans shouldn’t be planted too deep, not more than 2 – 3 cm (about 1 inch) and when the soil is sufficiently warm to walk barefoot. In my region, that’s about the beginning of May.

Either sow bush beans in rows with a distance of 5 cm (2 inches) between plants and 20 cm (8 inches) between rows or sow them in groups of 6 seeds with a distance of 30 – 40 cm (12 – 16 inches) between groups. Sowing in groups has the advantage that the plants support each other. Nevertheless, as long as the variety doesn’t exceed a height of 25 cm (10 inches), I prefer sowing in rows.

After sowing and watering you needn’t do anything. Bush beans are very modest and don’t need much to grow. On the contrary, they even enrich the soil with nitrogen they catch out of the air and store in their roots.

Pro tip: Harvest regularly. The more often you harvest, the more beans you’ll grow.

#8: Potatoes – an easy vegetable for beginners with a magic harvest

Planting: late spring
Harvesting: depending on the variety 10 – 24 weeks after planting
Pot size: Take a large pot of at least 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter or a sturdy sack.

To cultivate potatoes, you only need some space and time.

Give potatoes a headstart by presprouting them: about 4 weeks before planting, put the planting potatoes on a window sill (this is best done in an egg carton) and let them sprout. You can plant the potatoes about 3 – 4 weeks before the last night frosts.

Dig a hole 10 cm deep into the soil, place a potato with the sprout facing upwards in and carefully cover it with soil. When the leaves are about 15 cm high, earth them up by raking soil from around the plant and accumulating it around the leaves (don’t bury them; the green must still be visible).

Potatoes are also suitable for growing in pots. Put a drainage into a large pot, add about 20 cm (8 inches) of good, rich soil into it, put about 4 – 6 potatoes onto it (depending on the pot size) and cover it with 10 cm (4 inches) of soil. As the leaves grow, earth them up as described above.

Potatoes are ready to harvest when the leaves have died.

Pro tip: Earthing up not only supports the growth of more potatoes but it also protects them from the sun. If exposed to light, the potatoes will turn green and as a consequence won’t be edible.

#9: Bush tomatoes – the easiest of their kind

Sowing (indoors): 6 – 8 weeks before planting out
Planting (outdoors): after the last night frosts
Harvesting: 8 – 10 weeks after planting, continually until the first frost
Pot size: Depending on the variety from a balcony container to a large pot of at least 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter.

Admittedly, tomatoes are usually not considered a beginner-friendly vegetable. They have very special requirements regarding nutrients, temperature and watering and can be a bit tricky to cultivate. However, bush tomatoes are more forgiving than the larger varieties! They don’t need to be pruned or tied up and even grow in large pots.

As a beginner, I recommend buying plants from a good nursery. Prepare the soil by working in compost and/or manure to provide enough nutrients. After the last night frosts (in my zone that’s mid-May), you can plant the tomatoes outdoors, either into your garden patch or even into a large pot. Make sure they have enough water, especially when they grow in pots. (If you don’t know your hardiness zone, check out the “plantmaps” website.)

Bush tomatoes produce abundantly all summer long, providing you with loads of little fruit for a salad or just as a snack.

Pro tip: Tomatoes are very hungry: add some liquid fertilizer every 4 weeks to give them everything they need.

#10: Zucchini / Summer squash – more than you can eat

Sowing (indoors): 4 – 6 weeks before planting out
Planting (outdoors): after the last night frosts
Harvesting: 8 – 10 weeks after planting
Pot size: The pot should be at least 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter

There’s hardly any vegetable that produces reliably so many fruits as a zucchini. 2 – 3 plants can easily feed a family of four, with plenty to spare for preservation. Zucchini can be eaten raw or cooked, even the blossoms are edible.

Summer squash is very easily grown from seeds. However, as the plant likes it warm, you’d best start them indoors. Zucchini grow very fast which is why I recommend sowing them around 4 – 6 weeks before the last night frosts. In my region, night frosts are usually over by mid-May, which means I sow the seeds indoors at the beginning of April.

When the plant has four leaves and night frosts are definitely over, you can plant it out into the garden patch or a large enough pot.

Zucchini need nutritious soil and some fertilising every four weeks or so. As a beginner, it’s best to use a ready-made liquid fertiliser for fruit-bearing vegetables which is normally made of organic manures. If you want to know more about fertilisation you can read about it here, here and here.

Pro tip: Harvest zucchini when they are between 15 – 20 cm (6 – 8 inches). They taste best at that size and continual harvest will produce an abundance of new fruit.

#11: Kale – the easy-to-grow superfood

Sowing: March (indoors), after the last night frosts (outdoors)
Harvesting: August to October. If you harvest only the outer leaves you stimulate growth and harvest yield. That way you can harvest throughout winter.
Pot size: Take a large pot of at least 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter.

Kale is not only a superfood due to its high vitamin content but also very easy to grow, even in containers.

Further, it’s frost-hardy which makes it great for early and late cultivation. You can even harvest it in winter when nothing else grows outside.

Kale is a hungry plant, however, which means that you must enrich the soil with nutrients, for example by digging in compost or well-rotted manure. Additionally, it needs further nutrients during the summer which can be done by watering it with diluted nettle manure.

Sow kale in rows at a distance of 50 cm (20 inches) between plants and rows.

Pro tip: Although frost is not necessary, light frost and sunshine stimulate the storing of sugar in the leaves which makes them even better.

Essential Growing Tips for Beginner Vegetable Gardeners

Whether you turn (part of) your backyard into a vegetable garden or grow your plants in pots, there are some basic things you have to consider.

Soil preparation basics

First of all, it’s important to know your soil’s pH level and nutrient composition. In this article you can learn more about the different types of soil, how you can find out your main soil type and what to do to improve it if necessary. A local agricultural extension office can help you with affordable and comprehensive soil testing.

The next step on your way to cultivating vegetables is to remove all weeds, grass patches, rocks and debris from your patch. That way your vegetables won’t have to compete for nutrients, light and water

I know there are recommendations out there to dig your patch up with a spade, tiller or gardening fork but that’s not necessary. Just loosen the soil with a hoe and afterwards rake it even. If you want to make a (new) patch, this article will show you the easiest method to do so.

It’s good to incorporate compost, well-rotted manure or other organic matter into your soil. This not only adds nutrients and enhances water retention but it also improves the soil structure. Add 5 – 8 cm (2 – 3 inches) of organic matter and mix it thoroughly into the soil.

If you plant in a pot, make sure you have high-quality planting soil with all the nutrients vegetables need. Ask your local nursery what soil is best for your plans.

After planting, add a layer of mulch – yes, in pots as well. This will suppress weeds and retain moisture while at the same time regulating the soil temperature. Over time, the mulch will decompose and that way add more organic matter to the soil.

Watering techniques

After sowing or planting always water the seeds or plants thoroughly. That way, the soil is pressed close to the seed or roots without any space in between. The plants can grow easily into the soil and get water and nutrients from it without effort.

As we mulch, our plants needn’t be watered very often. Unfortunately, most beginner gardeners water way too much, sometimes even drowning their plants! Watch your vegetables and only water them when they show clear signs of a lack of water.

Watering is best done either in the mornings or in the evenings, never when the sun is blazing down. Imagine you take a sunbath and suddenly someone drowns you in cold water. That’s how your plants will feel if you water them during a hot day.

When you water, water deeply. Instead of regularly watering shallowly, water once but deeply. The water should go down all the way to the roots which in some cases can be pretty long.

If you want to invest a little, you can buy drip irrigation and water hose systems. These are the most efficient watering methods. They deliver water directly to the plant’s root zone, minimize water waste, and keep foliage dry. Drip systems can be set on timers for consistent, precise watering and are especially useful for larger gardens.

Sunlight requirements

Vegetables need light to grow, some more than others, but they all need it. Take therefore the sunniest part of your garden to create your vegetable garden, build a raised bed or put your pots. Make sure there are no large trees, buildings etc. that would throw a shadow onto your plants.

Pest management strategies

Better to hear the hard truth right now: there is no garden without pests! BUT: although we don’t want to share our veggies with them we should focus on using the least intervening methods first. The goal is to create a healthy, self-regulating environment in your garden and prevent pests rather than eliminating them with hard chemicals.

An easy but often overlooked approach is to build physical barriers. Install snail barriers and use garden mesh to protect your plants. Additionally, gather snails and harmful caterpillars and dispose of them far away from your garden.

A good step towards regulation is companion planting, which means planting together vegetables that help keep pests away from each other. A good example of that concept is planting onions and carrots together. Onions secrete an odour that keeps the carrot fly (a common pest for carrots) away while the carrots prevent onion flies from attacking the onions.

Fertilization fundamentals

As you know, plants need “food” which they take up with their roots from the soil. However, the nutrients in the soil are not always enough which is why we need to “feed” (= fertilise) them. Every kind of vegetable needs a mix of key nutrients for root growth, healthy leaves and overall plant strength. The key to success lies in the ground – literally. A simple soil test will tell you what your garden needs.

It’s always a good idea to work in compost or well-rotted manure before planting in spring. These methods will slowly release nutrients and improve soil structure. Depending on the plants’ requirements, however, you’ll have to add nutrients at different stages of growth. Be careful though to not overdo it. Much does not help much here.

Container-Friendly Vegetables for Small Spaces

If you don’t have a garden but maybe only a patio, balcony or concrete backyard, you can grow all of the above vegetables in containers. Container gardening is slightly different from regular gardening but with a bit of preparation, both are equally easy.

Soil and pot selection

If in doubt always take the larger pot. There’s nothing more frustrating than watching plants grow and then stagnate or even die before you can harvest anything, just because their roots don’t have enough space in their container.

The second important factor is the soil. Although it’s more expensive, use high-quality, nutrient-rich soil for your containers. You can use ready-mixed vegetable soil or compost. Especially fruit-bearing vegetables like zucchini or tomatoes need plenty of nutrients to keep them going during their long growth period.

Sunlight and watering requirements

All vegetables need sun but some more than others. Fruit-bearing vegetables like tomatoes, zucchini and potatoes prefer a place with many sun hours while others like salad and radishes can grow well in a place with fewer sun hours.

If you grow plants in containers, you must always have a sharp eye on the water. Containers dry out a lot quicker than soil in the garden and therefore must be watered more often. Especially tomatoes, zucchini and potatoes need plenty of water. Too much, on the other hand, isn’t good either. Watch your plants carefully and only water them when they need it.

Common Mistakes to Avoid for New Vegetable Gardeners

Here are a few common mistakes I’ve often seen new gardeners make:

• Overwatering plants

Water thoroughly when sowing or planting and then only if it’s really necessary.

• Incorrect spacing

Resist the urge to sow or plant veggies too close together and give them the space they need although it may seem too big at the beginning. But trust me, it’s a bit like children and oversized garments: they’ll grow into it.

• Poor soil preparation

Prepare your patch into a bed your plants will want to lie in. That means, put out weeds and rocks and add compost and well-rotted manure

• Ignoring local climate conditions

Learn your growth zone and cultivate your garden accordingly. It’s frustrating to plant too early only to watch our seedlings die from frost.

• Unrealistic expectations

Remember the first letter you learned to write? Did you think you could write a whole book with it? No? Then why do you think you can feed a whole family from your first garden’s harvest? Like your garden, your experience will grow.

Conclusion

It can be a bit daunting to start cultivating vegetables but don’t let yourself be intimidated by that! By observing a few simple steps and using beginner-friendly vegetables, your success is guaranteed. Remember, every single gardener out there started exactly where you are now: with curiosity, a bit of uncertainty and the passion to grow something new. Don’t get discouraged by initial setbacks or small harvests. Gardening is a skill that will develop with time and the willingness to learn from every experience. Start small, stay curious and celebrate everything you grow.

Whether you’re nurturing a few balcony pots or transforming a backyard into a garden, you’re not just growing vegetables: You cultivate a deep connection with nature, understand where your food comes from and create something truly magical with your own hands!

Welcome to the wonderful world of gardening. Your adventure starts now!

Beginner’s Guide: How to Start A Vegetable Garden

by Angela Braun | Nov 17, 2024 | Gardening

Hey there future garden guru! Are you excited to try your hand at vegetable gardening, but feeling a bit nervous about where to start? Don’t worry – you’re in the right place!

Whether you have a large garden you want to start cultivating or just a small patio, in this ultimate guide I’ll show you how to create your own veggie paradise. From picking the perfect spot to choosing plants that practically grow themselves, we’ll turn you into a gardening whiz before you can say “carrot”.

So, are you ready for an adventure that will be equally rewarding for body and soul? Grab your gardening gloves and we’ll dig right in! With this step-by-step guide (and some foolproof tips), you’ll be soon eating your first homegrown tomatoes (even if they look a bit wonky).

Step 1: Choose the right spot for a vegetable garden

The first step on our journey is selecting the right spot for your vegetable garden-to-be.

Location

If you can, set up your vegetable garden near your house. That way, you can just step out and grab some lettuce and herbs for your lunch or some veggies for cooking dinner. A patio or balcony is also a good possibility to create a garden (think containers and raised beds).

If you don’t have a space, that’s not necessarily an obstacle. I, for example, live in a rented apartment on the second floor and created a vegetable garden on the outskirts of my village.

Watch out for seemingly unused land and ask the proprietor if you can establish a garden there.

Rent an allotment garden.

Ask a farmer if he can spare a row of a crop field that you can use.

Sometimes people with a huge garden that they cannot cultivate (any longer) will be happy to rent it out to you for either a small fee or a share of your harvest.

Get creative. You’ll find your perfect spot.

Light

When choosing where you want to set up your garden, the spot must be sunny, at best facing south/south-west and protected from winds. It should also be level, although a slight south-facing slope wouldn’t hurt. And there shouldn’t be any large trees or houses that could throw shadows on the patches.

Next, consider your available sunlight. 6 hours per day is a minimum. Most vegetables are sun worshippers and need long sunny days to thrive, although some like beetroots and spinach will also grow in a place with less sunlight.

Soil

Another important point to consider is soil quality. At least, if you want to plant directly into the ground. To get a feel for the soil, take a handful and press it together. Can you form a small sausage or does it run through your fingers? Is it soft and pliable or hard as a brick? To learn more about the different soil types, how to determine them and what you can do to improve them, read this post.

If you want to be sure about what soil type dominates your garden, take a few samples from different areas of the space and send them to a lab for testing.

Sounds too complicated? I understand perfectly. In step 3 I’ll show you my favourite (and the easiest) method to create your patches without worrying about the soil quality. Keep on reading!

Step 2: Determine the ideal size for your vegetable garden

Most beginners start with a garden that’s way too large for them, soon get overwhelmed and ultimately give up, thinking that they are “just not cut out for it”. That’s simply not true!

If you want to succeed, start small. 4 – 9 square meters (45 – 100 square feet) will be enough if you have never before cultivated a garden. You must be able to cope with watering, weeding and tending the garden without getting overwhelmed. When you’ve gained more experience, you can enlarge your garden by adding more patches.

If you only have limited outdoor space, don’t get discouraged. As I said before, you could look out for renting gardening space. Or you can try out alternative gardening techniques, such as square-foot gardening, or vertical growing systems. With these methods, you can use your space more efficiently to grow quite a large amount of produce.

Step 3: Create patches for your vegetable garden

There are different methods of creating patches for a vegetable garden.

Flat beds

Dig

The most common idea people have when creating a new patch is to grab a spade, spit into their hands and dig up the soil. Well, that can be a good method, especially when reviving a neglected vegetable garden and digging in some manure or compost to enhance your soil’s nutrient content. But that’s the only occasion I’d recommend digging for. If you want, of course, you can do that and show your determination and muscle to your neighbours. But why put in so much effort when you can have the same—or even a better—result a lot easier? Watch out for the next method.

No-dig (my favourite!)

I try to keep the amount of hard manual labour in the garden as low as possible. That’s why I love to make these compost patches. They don’t require any digging and can be made with minimum effort regarding time, muscle and money! All you need is cardboard boxes (which you can often get for free in bike shops and humus/compost. If you want to go really crazy, get some logs to border the patch but that’s not necessary. Cover the ground with cardboard, make a border for the patch with logs (optional) and fill up with humus and/or compost. That’s it! Easy, fast and so rewarding.

Raised beds

Common raised beds

But what to do, when the place you have picked is a gravely, sandy or stone-hard area? Don’t worry! Even if you only have a concrete backyard or a balcony you can still plant vegetables there. Not in the ground, of course, but in raised beds that you can either build from scratch or buy as a simple DIY set.

Besides the possibility of controlling your soil quality, raised beds have many more advantages: weeds grow sparsely, pests can be controlled easily and working in a standing position guarantees minimal back strain. So even when you have good garden soil, you can still build raised beds, create a lovely sight and spare your back.

Mound beds

Have you ever heard of “Hügelkultur” or mound beds? It’s a widespread concept in Eastern Europe and Germany and a great way to get rid of loads of garden waste and create a patch that’s self-fertilising for years to come.

The edges of the meadow where I have my current garden were (and in parts still are) overgrown with shrubbery and even small trees. To make entering possible, I had to severely cut back the wild bushes and even hack out several small trees. Although the majority of my newly designed patches were made according to the no-dig method with cardboard boxes and humus, I decided to add two “Hügelbeete” (mound beds) where I could discard all that garden waste. They hadn’t required fertilising during the first three years and although I had built them about 80 cm / 32 in high, now, in my fourth year, they have fallen to the same level as the other beds.

Step 4: Creating a garden layout

Let me share a pro tip here that I learned the hard way: graph paper is your best friend when planning a garden layout. Each square can for example represent one square foot or ¼ square metre which makes it super easy to plan. Take your time here: 30 minutes of planning your layout can save you hours of frustration later.

When planning your patches it’s ideal to make them no broader than 1,2 m / 4 ft. That way, you can reach every part of them without contorting yourself. Theoretically, the patch length doesn’t matter, but practical experience shows that 2 m /6.5 ft is ideal.

Leave at least 50 cm / 2ft between rows for walking paths that you can cover with wooden boards or planks, wood chips or even grass.

You’ll also have to consider access to water sources when planning your garden layout. You won’t want to drag a heavy hose across your yard every time you need to water your plants.

Make it as easy for you as possible!

Step 5: What vegetables do you want to grow?

Now that you have your garden layout you’ll want to consider what vegetables to plant.

This is where I see most beginners go wrong- they want to grow everything at once! When I started gardening, I made this mistake and ended up with way too many zucchini and not enough of the stuff we actually eat.

Here’s my tried-and-true method for choosing vegetables:

Preferences

Make a list of what your family likes and really eats. What are your favourites and what don’t you like at all? There’s no sense in growing kale if you loathe it.

Hardiness zone

When you know what you’d like to plant, check your hardiness zone.

If you live in the States or Canada just Google “hardiness zone + your zip code”, if you live in any other part of the world, search for “hardiness zone + your country”.

Knowing your hardiness zone is important for knowing what plants grow well in your climate and which of them may need additional support (like a greenhouse for example).

Vertical space

Have you thought of integrating poles and trellises into your garden plan? Believe me, using vertical space can make a huge difference. Even if you have a large garden, elements of vertical gardening can be a game-changer! Not only can you grow more on less space but it also makes harvesting much easier. Great plants for vertical gardening are for example peas, climbing beans, tomatoes and summer squash.

Beginner-friendly vegetables

Based on my experience (and that of a lot of gardeners 😊) some vegetables are easy to grow and for that reason perfect for beginners:

• Leaf lettuce
• Onions / Garlic
• Zucchini/summer squash
• Carrots
• Spinach
• Cherry tomatoes
• Bush beans

Yet, don’t choose too many different veggies. As with the garden size, start small and expand.

Step 6: Make a planting plan

Alright, by now you not only know where to establish your vegetable garden and what beds to put in but you’ve also decided what vegetables to grow. Time to plant? Not yet. There’s one tiny – but important – step before and that’s: creating a planting plan. So grab your garden layout plan and let’s get started.

Basics

There are some basic things you should consider like planting large vegetables on the north side of your garden so that they won’t shadow smaller plants.

Another tried and tested tip is to group plants with similar water needs together.

However, that’s not all. When you want to make the most of your garden, you have to consider companion planting.

Companion planting

Remember that time in school when the teacher randomly divided the class into teams? You so wanted to be with your best friend in a group but instead, you ended up with that kid you loathed. Friendships and aversions also happen with plants. Some grow really well in each other’s company, others have a negative influence on each other. That’s what companion planting is all about: pairing “best buddy” veggies and avoiding planting arch enemies together.

Here are some examples of plants that work well together:

– Tomatoes + Basil (keeps pests away and improves flavour)

– Carrots + Onions (onion scent confuses carrot flies)

– Beans + Corn (beans add nitrogen that corn needs)

– Cucumbers + Radishes (radishes deter cucumber beetles)

Making a planting plan may take some time but it’s worth every minute. A good plan is essential for healthy plants and a good harvest. Remember, your first garden plan isn’t set in stone. Think of it as a rough draft that you’ll keep tweaking as you learn what works best in your specific situation. That’s the beauty of gardening – there’s always room to grow and improve!

Step 7: Starting from seeds or buying plants?

Some plants thrive better when you sow them directly where they shall grow. Carrots are a good example. They don’t want to be transplanted as they build long roots but grow better when directly sown into the bed.

Other plants get a headstart when you sow them indoors and plant them out after the last night frosts. Cabbages, for example, which usually have a long cultivation time, profit from being sown indoors in February or March (depending on your climate zone) and transplanted into the garden mid to late April.

Another example of plants that should be sown indoors is tomatoes and peppers. As they like it really warm, you can only plant them outside after the last night’s frosts. In my zone (7b), that’s mid-May. If I started to sow them out then, their fruits would never ripen.

Starting plants from seeds indoors is also a great way for succession planting. For example: when you’ve harvested your spinach in late spring, you can plant cauliflower seedlings into the free row.

Although starting from seeds has its advantages, it also requires some knowledge about what the plants need and the right timing for each vegetable. As a beginner, it can be overwhelming to start from seeds, so it’s totally okay to work with plants from a nursery if possible. That way you can feel your way around gardening first and gradually gather more experience.

Later on, you sure will want to try to grow your vegetables “from scratch”, i.e. from seeds. You’ll have a larger variety with seeds and as I said it’s way cheaper. Also, there are some plants that you’ll always have to sow. Carrots for example (and other root vegetables) are sowed directly into the patch.

Later on, you’ll certainly want to try to grow your vegetables “from scratch”, i.e. from seeds. You’ll have a larger variety with seeds and it’s way cheaper.

Step 8: Sowing and planting

The time has come! You’re about to sow your first seeds and plant your first seedlings. Don’t worry: if you observe a few tips, everything will be fine.

Preparing the patch

Before you start to put something INTO the patch, you have to put OUT what doesn’t belong there. You guessed it: get started weeding. This step can be omitted, of course, if you have created a new patch or raised bed. In all other cases, make sure that your vegetable patch is weed-free.

After weeding, loosen the soil with a hoe and break up any soil clumps. Rake your patch to create an even surface to sow into.

Direct sowing

The exact time for sowing your seeds depends on the hardiness zone you live in. However, I recommend having a close look at your seed packets. They usually indicate the right sowing time together with the right spacing.

When you sow directly, draw a straight line with the handle of your rake. Using a string may help you to get straight rows. Then put the seeds into that line observing the right spacing. When the row is finished, carefully cover the seeds with soil and press it slightly either with your hands or with the back of your rake.

Carefully water the seed line so that it’s fully soaked through but not water-logged.

If you have large seeds like pumpkin or squash, you can make individual holes in the right spacing. Covering with soil and watering are carried out similarly.

Labelling

I must admit I’ve often “forgotten” (read: was too lazy) to label my seed rows and I don’t want to know how many seedlings I’ve ripped out, taking them for weeds. So do yourself a favour, write the plant name on a label and stick that at the end of the row. You can get labels made from plastic, wood, clay and even slate.

Seedlings

You’ve bought vegetable seedlings or a friendly neighbour gave you some spare ones and now you’re ready to plant. Prepare the soil as described above and then… don’t plant yet. You’ve got to harden the seedlings first.

Hardening off

The very first time I planted vegetables, I learned the hard way to harden off my seedlings. I was so excited about all the (store-bought) tomato seedlings, that I planted them straight from their warm and comfortable indoor spot right into the garden. This turned out to be a big mistake. Nearly half of them withered away from sunburn within a few days, and the rest looked like they were hanging on by a thread.

Seedlings can be compared to little children who have never been outside. You can’t shoo them out just like that but have to ease them into it. Some 7 – 10 days before transplanting, I start putting out the seedlings at a sheltered spot for just 2 – 3 hours.

Each day after that, I increase their outdoor time by about an hour and gradually move them into more direct sunlight. After that, they are ready to plant outside

Planting

I recommend laying your seedlings out on the patch before planting. That way you can still adjust the spacing between plants. Then dig up a whole that’s slightly larger than the root bale and fill in some ripe compost or well-rotted manure. Carefully remove the plant from its container (make sure that the stem doesn’t break!), put it into the hole and fill the space between root bale and the hole edge with the soil you dug out earlier. Carefully press the soil around the plants and water them generously so that the soil there will be no air holes and the roots are well soaked.

Planting depth

A rule of thumb when it comes to how deep you should set your veggies is that they should be planted at the same depth they were growing in their containers. That way you usually can’t go wrong.

An exception to this rule, however, is tomatoes. I plant them super deep, which means I bury about 2/3 of the plant after having removed the lower leaves. That way those little fuzzy hairs on the stem turn into roots and thus make your plants super sturdy.

Planting width

When you start veggies from seeds, take a look at the seed package. Usually, the spacing between plants and rows is indicated there.

When you have seedlings to plant, here are some general widths to go with:

– Tomatoes: 70 – 100 cm / 24-36 inches apart (believe me, they need it)

– Peppers: 30 – 40 cm / 12-16 inches apart

– Cucumbers: 30 cm / 12 inches apart along a trellis

– Broccoli and cauliflower: 40 – 45 cm / 16 – 18 inches apart

Watering

After the initial watering directly after sowing and planting, cover the soil with mulch (for example dry grass clippings) to prevent it from drying out. During the first week, you best check the soil moisture daily by sticking a finger about 3 cm / 1 inch deep into the ground. If you have to water, it’s best to do so in the morning. This makes sure that the leaves can dry before the evening which helps prevent fungal diseases.

Remember, every garden is different, and what works in my Zone 7b might need tweaking in your area. But these basic principles of hardening off, proper spacing and careful watering have served me well through many growing seasons. The key is paying attention to your plants – they’ll let you know if they’re happy or struggling if you learn to read their signs.

Step 9: Maintenance

The garden patches are made, the vegetables are planted, and now you can relax and wait for the harvest? Wrong! Think of your vegetables as your babies: you have to make sure that they have everything they need to grow into healthy adults:

Watering

As I said before, watering the right way is especially important at the beginning when you’ve just planted your vegetables. Unfortunately, most beginners tend to overwater their plants. Except for the first week after planting, it’s much better to let your plants “sit dry” for a while before watering them. That way they will grow deep and strong roots that will not only provide them with water but also make them sturdier.

Mulching

I’m a huge fan of mulching! After sowing and planting, cover the soil with mulch to prevent it from drying out and protect it from weeds. If you have sowed, distribute a very thin mulch layer, for example, dried grass clippings so that the seeds get enough water and light to grow. When the plants are larger the mulch layer can be thicker. Just make sure that the mulch material is dry, otherwise it may mould and spread fungal diseases.

You may have to weed despite mulching but only sparsely and those weeds will come out very easily.

Fertilising

Like humans, plants need to eat. And just like humans, it’s not healthy for them to let them have fast food only. Nutrients are key to a healthy life! Get informed on your plants’ needs and feed them accordingly with fertiliser (from plants or animal origin). For beginners, it’s best to buy a well-balanced fertiliser but you can also make some organic fertiliser at home. Be careful, however: “Much helps much” is not valid in the garden! When “overfeeding” your plants they will become mushy and prone to diseases. It’s best to feed your plants organically throughout the season.

Step 10: Pests and diseases in the vegetable garden

Truth bomb: you will at some time have pests and diseases in your vegetable garden. Hopefully not often and not to a large extent but that’s how nature works. It’s got nothing against us (I hope) but seeks balance by eliminating weak or ill plants through pests and diseases. The good news is that you are not powerless.

Companion planting (again)

First of all, by doing companion planting you’ve already done a great thing to hold pests and diseases at bay. Take the classic couple of carrots and onions for example: while carrots keep the onion fly away, onions hold off the carrot fly. If you know that and plant accordingly, you’ve already taken a huge step toward a healthy vegetable garden.

Physical protection and collecting

Another thing you can do is use physical protection like vegetable mesh. If you protect your cabbage plants with a mesh when the cabbage fly is around, trying to lay its eggs on your fondly raised plants, it’ll lose out.

However, when you already have pests in your garden, especially caterpillars and snails, it’s effective to collect them and discard them somewhere else, far away from your garden. For hunting snails, early mornings and evenings are best, as they’ll then come out of their hiding places. Caterpillars are best collected during the day.

Eco-system

Taking the alleged easy way by using chemical pest control has no room in my garden world. After all, you should always bear in mind that pests and diseases in your garden are a sign of imbalance. Make sure to establish a healthy eco-system with enough room for beneficial insects, birds and small mammals that’ll help you keep pests at bay. Care for your garden soil by fertilising it wisely with organic material, discarding infected plant parts and mulching. That way your garden will stay healthy.

Step 11: Harvest and enjoy

Let me tell you about my first attempt at harvesting broccoli- I waited so long for those heads to get “grocery store big”… and ended up with tough, flowering stems that were practically inedible. Now I know better – Harvest when florets are tight and dark green

Harvest timing

Here’s a quick cheat sheet for common veggies I’ve learned through experience:

Beans: pick when they’re about as thick as a pencil but before you can see the beans inside

• Tomatoes: Pick when colourful.  but firm
• Cucumbers: 6-8 inches is perfect
• Zucchini: Check daily or prepare to find baseball bats hiding under the leaves
• Bell peppers: wait until they reach full size and desired colour

Oh, and use actual garden tools instead of wrestling with your plants. Using clean, sharp scissors or pruners makes all the difference.

Preserving

The real challenge hits when everything starts ripening at once. I remember standing in my kitchen one August, surrounded by mountains of tomatoes and thinking “What in the world am I gonna do with all these?”

Let me give you a quick rundown on preserving methods:

Freezing is my go-to for most vegetables as it’s fast and easy. Just remember to label everything you pop into the freezer – playing “freezer surprise” in January isn’t as funny as it sounds!

Canning is not as scary as it might look (although a pressure canner sends off those mad scientist vibes).  I do water bath canning for tomatoes and pickles, and pressure can green beans and other low-acid veggies. Just remember to always follow tested recipes and processing times!

Dehydrating has become another favourite preserving method as dried vegetables take up way less storage space than canned or frozen ones. Just make sure everything is completely dry before storing, or you might end up with mouldy surprises later (don’t ask…).

Step 12: Build your soil

Ok, strictly speaking, this step is a preparation for your NEXT gardening year. But, as I’m absolutely sure that you’re hooked by now and on your best way to becoming a gardening addict, this step is crucial for a further great harvest in the upcoming season.

After harvesting, the garden season isn’t over. On the contrary: you have to make sure that your soil is well nourished and protected so that your vegetables will grow as well (or even better) in the next season.

Mulching

Make sure your soil is always well-covered during winter. You can either put half-rotted compost on your patches or cover them with dried grass, leaves, or wood chips. The soil beneath the mulch is usually a bit warmer and that way mulch protects the soil organisms.

Soil building

To build your soil, you can for example sow green manure like phacelia. Not only do they cover the soil and protect it from washing off but they also collect nitrogen from the air, thereby forming the basis for plant nutrition. Additionally, they build a mulch layer when they die in winter, covering and protecting the soil. In spring, you can cut them off and dig the remnants in.

Get Growing and Enjoy the Rewards!

Okay, let’s quickly recap the key steps to get a new vegetable garden up and running:

1. Choose a sunny spot with well-draining soil near your house (if possible)
2. Decide what to plant based on your climate and preferences
3. Build garden patches or raised beds
4. Buy seedlings, start them indoors or directly sow seeds outdoors
5. Properly plant and space your veggies
6. Water, weed, and care for your garden regularly

Growing your own veggies is incredibly rewarding! You’ll get fresh, flavourful and nutritious food and it’s a satisfying and eco-friendly task.

Even with limited space, you can have an amazing little garden.

Ready to get started? I’m excited to hear about your gardening journey. Reach out if you have any other questions. Happy growing!