Getting Started: Your First Few Days in the Garden

Your first few days in the garden

So, you have some kind of more-or-less detailed plan for the year, and you step into your garden plot in April (or May or June, or whenever).

Where do you start?

The first thing to do is just look around.

What’s there?

Is there anything growing already, and if so, can you tell what it is? Dig some small holes in the soil – how easy is it to dig in and what does it look like? Are there any places that are wetter than others?

Once you have looked around, you need to prepare the plot for planting.

Depending on the size of the garden, the tools you have to work with, your physical fitness, and your level of experience, it may take you a number of sessions in the garden to get this work done.

The best thing you can do for yourself as the final step of your preparation is to mulch your garden heavily. This will keep weeds from growing as you gradually work to fill the garden up with vegetables.

Here are some other import topics to read through:

1.  Introduction to soil
2.  Understanding soil amendments and why you should use them
3.  Guide to starting seeds indoors
4.  How to "thin" your seedlings
5.  What materials to use as mulch