How you get started on your vegetable garden depends on a few basic considerations. If your garden area is already ESTABLISHED then the best place to start is with a garden plan. A plan is based on what you like to eat and the specific attributes of your site. A plan outlines what crops will be planted and where, how many plants or seeds are required, and planting dates. Shopping for plants, seeds and soil amendments without a plan means you may buy more than you need. Most gardeners’ eyes are bigger than their gardens!

If your garden area is NOT ESTABLISHED, then establishing your garden is the first step, which starts with assessing the site. Look to address questions such as where is the best place to establish my garden? How much direct sun does it get? What size garden do I want? Should I grow directly in the ground or in raised garden beds? Excellent questions, some of which are answered below.

Most vegetable gardens need full sun to thrive, but that is not always practical. We recommend at least 4 hours of direct sun a day but 6 hours or more is optimal. Salad greens and some herbs will do well with 4 to 6 hours of direct sun per day. Heat and sun-loving plants like tomatoes require at least 5-6 hours per day.

The best place to put your garden is the location that gets the most direct sun. You also want your garden to be close to a water source so you can tend the garden easily, and perhaps close to the house for easy and quick access. If you can, choose a place that is away from constant foot traffic and ground that is relatively flat. Gardening on a slope is possible, it just requires more thought.

The size of your garden depends on many factors. How much of your site gets direct sun and for how many hours? How many people are eating from the garden? What other needs do you want your space to satisfy – a dining area? A place for kids to play? Room for pets or maybe even chickens? If you are a DIYer, ask yourself how much time you want to spend gardening. If you are a We-Do-It-For-You-er, ask yourself how much you want to invest in the maintenance of your garden. You can always establish a garden in stages. Enthusiastic gardeners can sometime overwhelm themselves by doing too much too soon. We recommend starting small and working your way up. Gardening is a life-long endeavour. Take your time.

There are so many reasons to garden in raised garden beds. See our list here. But gardening directly in the ground has benefits too. If the soil texture is good (not too much clay, not too sandy) and it is alive with lots of biological activity (worms, good bacteria and fungi to name a few) then gardening in the ground can be very successful. If you are prepared to put in the physical labour required to bring your soil to optimal quality, then growing in the ground is a viable option for you. If you have a small space, poor soil and a bad back then go with raised beds! If you are not inclined to spend the physical effort to establish an in-ground garden (or raised beds, for that matter), our Installation team can tackle that for you.

This is one of our most often asked questions. The answer?  You don’t. BUT you can prevent them from devouring your precious produce with our handy-dandy Critter Barriers which are at least 80% effective for most plants. Some plants such as tomatoes, are taller than our hoops so they have to go-it-alone after a certain point. But since tomatoes are highly productive, we have come to accept that we will lose a few tomatoes to local wildlife. Top Tip: another way to get ahead of squirrel damage is to harvest your tomatoes before they do. Tomatoes ripen well in a sunny windowsill and taste just as good as vine ripened.

Tomatoes benefit from pruning, especially indeterminate varieties that will keep growing taller all season long. (Determinate or bush varieties can be left to their own devices.) Pruning isn’t rocket science but you do need a short lesson on tomato anatomy to do the best job. Have a look at our blog post for the details.