Keep it small – Most first time gardeners fail to take yield into consideration when they’re planning their first garden. When planting vegetables you’re going to get a lot more than one tomato or one cucumber or one bean per plant. You may get a dozen or more tomatoes for each tomato plant in your garden. Who’s going to eat all those tomatoes?

Plan your plot – When planting vegetables it’s important to remember that some plants grow up and tall, like corn, and other plants spread out on a vine, like cucumbers. You need to allow plenty of room for your vine plants to spread out and you don’t want your taller plants casting a shadow over your whole garden. Plot your garden before planting your vegetables to make sure there’s enough room for everything to grow properly.

Try something new – Your first inclination when planting vegetables will probably be to plant things that you know you like to eat. Try planting something new and interesting, too. If you know you like cherry tomatoes try planting some heirloom tomatoes as well. Go ahead and plant onions but maybe plant some radishes, too. It’s always fun to try new things – especially if you grew them yourself.

Be prepared to work – There’s a lot of work involved in raising a garden. You need to prepare the soil first and then you need to tend your garden every day – pulling out weeds, thinning out seedlings, making sure it has enough water. You’ll have something to do nearly every day during growing season so make sure you’re prepared to stick with it.

It’s not enough to know what you want to plant, you need to know what will actually grow in your area. Talking to your neighbours or visiting a local garden centre is a good place to begin.

Cost is also a consideration. Seeds are the cheapest way to start but require more time and expertise than buying individual plants. Also, you’ll need some tools to work the soil. You may even need to build raised beds, terrace your land or add a fence. All things which have cost implications.

If space is a consideration concentrate on vegetables that can be grown vertically such as beans and cucumbers and then you can plant beets, lettuce, carrots etc under the canes.

You can also group plants with similar needs together, sometimes called “interplanting”, to save time and conserve space. Consider the amount of watering needed, the degree of sunlight or shade, and the type of fertilizer/soil and at what time of year they grow etc. For example, radishes are ready long before corn gets high enough to block out the sun so they grow well together.

You will need to prepare the soil and can buy or make your own compost and nutrients. Use organic matter if possible as chemical fertilizers can damage the crops and be harmful to your health.

Learning how to grow a vegetable garden need not be hard. Start in a small way with a few crops and then expand as your expertise grows. Don’t be afraid to experiment and you will soon be enjoying the fruits (or vetetables!) of your labours.