How to Build a Garden From Scratch

Vegetable gardens thrive in rich soil, full sun and good air circulation.

Vegetable and flower gardens around the country erupt into bright new growth and blooms in spring and summer, with a variety of flower, vegetable and fruit harvests. Every garden, though, starts with hard work from the ground up and requires careful timing and plant selection. If you have a new garden in mind this year, start with site selection and soil preparation, then move on to vegetable, fruit, herb or flower planting.

Things You'll Need

• Garden fork
• Rake
• Organic compost
• Fertilizer
• Mulch
• Stakes
• Ties

Instructions

1. Start building the garden in late winter to early spring when the ground dries. Pre-frost tilling and preparation gives the soil time to settle for early plantings.

2. Find a large, flat site with full sunshine, quick drainage and good air movement for the garden. Remove rocks, weeds and litter and rake the site as necessary to level the surface.

3. Amend the soil to give the plants loose, nutritious and crumbly soil. Till the top 10 inches of soil to loosen it, then mix in 5 inches of organic compost. This process raises the bed, aerates the soil and provides gentle organic nutrition and moisture retention. Mix 5-10-5, 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 granular fertilizer into vegetable garden soil and 5-10-5 granular fertilizer into flower garden soil. Use organic fertilizer or bone meal in organic gardens.

4. Plant season-appropriate vegetables and flowers. Cool-season vegetables like broccoli, lettuce, beets, potatoes, carrots, peas and radishes should go into the garden before the last frost for cool, moist starts. Annual and perennial flowers and summertime vegetables like tomatoes, beans, corn and peppers require warm, frost-free starts.

5. Water the garden with 2 inches of water and lay 1 inch of organic mulch over the soil for protection. Stake plants such as peas, cucumbers, beans and tomatoes, which require support during their growth.

Tips & Warnings

• All plants thrive with in-season fertilizer applications. Feed each plant according to its specific requirements for best success.

References

• University of Illinois Extension; Watch Your Garden Grow -- Vegetable Gardening Basics; Ron Wolford, et al.
• Washington State University Extension; Home Gardens; Arthur L. Antonelli, PhD., et al.
• Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service; Growing Annual Flowers; Michael N. Dana, et al.; November 2003