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Find the spot that gets at least six hours of direct sun, build one bed of roughly four by eight feet, fill it with good soil, and plant five or six things you already eat. First gardens fail from being too large and too shaded, almost never from the wrong seed choice.
Choose the spot by watching, not guessing
- Track the sun for one full day. Check the candidate spot at nine, noon, three, and six, and write down whether it is in sun or shade. Six hours is the working minimum for fruiting crops.
- Put it near a water source. A bed you have to haul buckets to gets neglected by July. Within hose reach is a real design constraint.
- Check drainage. Dig a hole about a foot deep, fill it with water, and see how long it takes to drain. Water still standing many hours later means you want a raised bed.
- Keep it where you walk past it. Gardens fail quietly out of sight. Problems get caught early when you see the bed daily.
Build one bed and fill it properly
One bed at roughly four feet by eight feet is a good first year size. Four feet wide means you can reach the middle from either side without stepping on the soil, and compacted soil is a real problem.
Filling it matters more than what it is made from. A common mix is roughly half screened topsoil, a third finished compost, and the rest something that keeps the mix loose, such as coarse bark or aged manure. Native soil alone usually compacts, and pure compost alone drains oddly and shrinks.
Before you fill, put down cardboard over grass and wet it. It smothers what is underneath and breaks down over the season. Check with your local extension office about a soil test if you are planting in ground, particularly near an older house where lead is worth ruling out.
Plant what you actually eat
| Crop | Spacing | Season | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bush beans | 4 to 6 inches | Warm, after frost | Very easy |
| Lettuce and salad greens | 6 inches | Cool, spring and fall | Very easy |
| Radishes | 2 inches | Cool, fast | Very easy |
| Zucchini | 2 to 3 feet | Warm | Easy, plant only one |
| Tomatoes | 2 feet, needs a cage | Warm | Moderate |
| Carrots | 2 to 3 inches | Cool, loose soil only | Moderate |
Start tomatoes and peppers from purchased transplants your first year. Beans, radishes, lettuce, and squash go in as seed directly, because they resent being moved.
Water deeply, mulch, and keep a note
Deep and infrequent beats light and daily. A soak that reaches several inches down pulls roots downward, while a daily sprinkle keeps them at the surface where they cook. Check by pushing a finger two inches into the soil before watering.
Water at the base in the morning. Wet leaves overnight invite fungal problems, especially on tomatoes and squash. Then mulch with straw or shredded leaves, two or three inches deep, kept slightly off the stems. Mulch halves your watering and smothers most weeds.
Keep a cheap notebook. Write what you planted, the date, and what happened. Next year that page is worth more than any general advice, because it is about your yard.
