Tips for Starting a New Vegetable Garden

Starting a Vegetable Garden

Years ago when we bought our house, one of the great attributes to me as a gardener was the big open backyard. It meant that I could finally have a big vegetable garden like the one I grew up with. However, unlike the one I grew up with, I had to start from scratch…literally. Unfortunately it was July when we moved in, so the work was going to be especially hot. But I wanted my garden to be planted for the fall crop here in Georgia, so that gave me about a month to get it done. Here is how I turned my plot of backyard lawn into a productive vegetable garden.

How to Get Started

First, since we have a septic system, I selected a location away from the drain field and slightly uphill. I don’t know of a specific problem with planting shallow rooted veggies over the septic field, but I do know what happens if there is ever a problem with the system and I didn’t want to worry about having the garden polluted or dug up for repairs. My yard gets plenty of sun well into the afternoon, so that was not a problem. Finally I made sure to keep the whole plot within 100 feet of the closest hose outlet.

Next, I staked out a rough plot to make sure that was the location and size I wanted to work with. I also thought about where I wanted permanent plants like berries and asparagus relative to the rest of the garden. I didn’t want to have to work around them when they were not in production.

Digging Phases

Finally there were four phases of digging:

1. sod removal
2. spading the unbroken soil and removing the large rocks
3. an initial pass with the rototiller and removing smaller rocks
4. tilling in soil amendments

I dug up the sod layer (1-2 inches deep) with a shovel. Two easier methods would be renting a sod cutter to do the same thing only faster and with a less effort, or covering the area with black plastic for a couple of months to kill off the grass.