How to Start a Vegetable Garden In Your Backyard

Whether you’re wanting to live more sustainably or experiment with your green thumb, you can’t go wrong with a backyard vegetable garden. While it’s incredibly rewarding to grow your own food, it can also be incredibly challenging if you’re new to the process.

In this guide, we’re going to teach you how to start a vegetable garden in your backyard in just 8 easy steps.  

Step 1: Find the Perfect Location

The first and most important step for starting backyard vegetable gardens is to choose the perfect location. Just because you have a flat, expansive spot in your backyard doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the ideal location. 

Growing vegetables require lots of sunlight in a well-draining, nutrient-rich environment. Some shade is okay – especially since some plants do prefer a little sun cover – but in order for your harvest to grow at its best, somewhere in the sun is most preferred. 

Step 2: Consider the Size of Your Garden

Another step to finding the perfect location is determining how big your garden is going to be. A vegetable garden for beginners should start out small until you get the hang of growing, caring, and harvesting what you plant. 

It’s easy to get carried away with excitement at the thought of planting your first backyard vegetable garden, but you don’t want things to get out of hand. Here are a few basic rule of thumbs to follow for sizing your first vegetable garden:

• A 10 ft. x 10 ft. garden size is ideal for beginners.

• Plant three to five vegetables of your choice. 

• Keep each plant 6-12 inches apart from each other. 

Don’t forget to consider the size of your yard first. Knowing how much room you have to plant also makes it easier to pinpoint the right garden size so your crop doesn’t take up too much yard space.

Step 3: Choose Your Veggies!

Now for the fun part: choosing your vegetables! Vegetable gardens for beginners produce the best results when you choose vegetables that are the easiest to grow. Those are:

• Bell peppers

• Cucumbers

• Tomatoes

• Zucchini/squash

• Lettuce

• Radishes

• Green beans

• Peas

• Onions

• Carrots

• Herbs

• Cruciferous plants (kale, cabbage, chard, etc.)

Choosing the easiest vegetables to grow as a beginner is crucial for your first crop. These vegetables are fairly effortless to maintain so you can get used to nurturing your garden before exploring more complex plants. 

Step 4: Buy the Right Materials

Other than your vegetables and materials for a garden bed (if you’re using one) there are other materials your backyard garden will need. 

You’ll need a mix of gardening tools and plant matter for a high-performing crop. Here are the following items to make sure you have on hand when starting a vegetable garden:

• Garden gloves

• A shovel or rake

• A watering can

• Compost or other organic matter

• High-quality soil mix (if using containers or beds)

• Mulch

• Plant labels

• Vegetable seeds

Step 5: Plant Your Seeds (At the Right Time)

In order for your crop to grow successfully, you have to know when to actually plant your seeds. Planting times can vary for a few reasons such as your climate, the plant’s needs, and the last frost date. 

Spring is the best time to plant your seeds, but it needs to be after the last frost. Planting too early in freezing temperatures can damage or kill your plants, especially if they’re young. Using a handy tool like the Planting Calendar can tell you when is the best time to plant your seeds based on the climate in your region. 

When it comes time to finally plant your seeds, use the following steps to ensure your soil and seeds are in prime position for growing:

1. Prepare the soil by tilling it up with a garden fork or shovel. Add compost or other organic matter to make the soil full of nutrients and loamy. Also remove any weeds or rocks.

2. Read the instructions on your seed packets to see how deep you need to dig in the soil for plant depth. 

3. Dig the appropriate depth according to your seed’s instructions and plant your seeds several inches apart.

4. Cover the seeds with your soil and moisten the area with your garden hose. Use a gentle spraying setting to wet the soil but don’t overdo it as too much water can drown and kill the seeds.

5. Plant your vegetable markers so you know which seeds are planted where.

Step 6: Tend To Your Garden

After planting your seeds, the hardest part begins: the waiting period. The waiting period is full of garden maintenance, like watering your plants and adding fertilizer to the soil as directed. 

Every seed packet should indicate how long it will take each seed to grow. Some plants require more water and care than others, so make sure you know what each vegetable requires as you tend to your garden and wait for harvest time. 

Step 7: Watch For Pests & Diseases

As you're tending your garden during the growing phase, there are a few things you need to watch out for. Pests and diseases can take over your crop if you're not routinely inspecting your plants for the first signs of invasion. 

The key places to check are the stems and underside of leaves. Signs that your garden has pests or a disease are usually:

• Discolored or wilted leaves

• Spots or holes in leaves

• Fuzzy spores

• Visible pests

Luckily, you can easily remove pests from your vegetable garden by either lighting spraying them off with your hose or pulling them off by hand (wearing your garden gloves, of course) and putting them in soapy water. 

Step 8: Harvest When Ready

The only better than seeing your seeds grow into healthy vegetables is bringing them inside to eat! As soon as your plants reach full maturity, make sure you go outside and harvest as soon as possible! 

Don’t wait to pull your vegetables off the stems. A late harvest can not only cause the plant to stop producing, but it can significantly alter the taste as well. 

Your seeds should have harvest indicators printed on the packet since signs vary upon what you grow. But, as a basic rule of thumb, here are signs to look for that indicate it’s time to harvest your plants:

• Vibrant, uniformed colors

• Grown to desired size

• Plant feels firm

• Plants pull off stem easily

Bundle Your Veggies With Sustainable Kitchenware!

Backyard vegetable gardens are one of the best ways to live sustainably and lower your environmental impact. Not only does this decrease the amount of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions produced from production plants, but it also decreases wastes and improves the soil. 

As you prepare culinary creations with your homegrown gems, make sure you stock your kitchen with other sustainable essentials! Bamboozle offers a range of biodegradable kitchenware items like mixing bowls, food prep sets, and composting bins made from plant-based plastic called Astrik. 

Ready to do your part in making the world a better, healthier place? Start your vegetable garden and shop our collection for true sustainable living!