Start planning!

Planning what, you ask? There are several things to be thinking about if you do not currently have a garden. For example, where do you get the best, direct sunlight in your yard? What type of garden do you want to have - raised beds, ground level, container? How big do you want your garden?

A question to consider before deciding on type of garden is what type of soil you have. When we decided to create our garden, we knew we needed to do raised beds. The soil in Colorado is clay-based, which is not ideal for growing vegetables, unless you add a lot of amendments. Raised garden beds allow you to add the soil/compost you want to use to an above ground bed. The picture below was how our garden started last year. Two, 8 x 8, cedar beds.

Looks like a lot of room to plant, right? Well, keep in mind that plants grow...up AND out. Needless to say, I will be expanding the garden this year. I would like half of the back yard to be the garden, but that idea was shot down :)

If you do not have a large back yard, or an area that gets a lot of light, I would consider doing a container garden. Quite literally, using large pots to plant your tomatoes, pepper, cucumbers, strawberries, etc.

Planting a garden is very rewarding, even if it's small. I love eating tomatoes off of the vine!