Planning a New Garden Planning a new garden is something many people look forward to, while others find it to be a somewhat daunting task. Remember this: there is no one ‘right way’ to plan a garden. There are enough available resources - thousands of them - to help you with the task. In this case, a bit of research will go a long way. There are a wide variety of books available, on every gardening subject you can imagine. If you don’t have the funds to purchase a few of them, visit your local library. Often times, the librarian can recommend the most helpful titles. There are also many gardening related videos, on sites such as YouTube, that are of great help when you are planning a new garden. Take the time to browse the topics. Chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find. Contact the Cooperative Extension office, in your area. They typically have numerous resources available, in regard to gardening and other outdoor projects and are more than willing to provide a helping hand. The next thing you should do is request seed catalogs from each of the major seed companies. Most are available free of charge and are packed with a wealth of general gardening information. You also have the option of browsing their online catalogs, as well. You will be saving a tree, in the process. As a purchase incentive, many of these same vendors include a coupon or discount code, which can easily be redeemed with your first order. If this is your first garden, it’s a good idea to plan things on a small scale… at least for the first year. This is especially true if you will have limited time to tend to it. If all goes well, you can always expand and even experiment a little next year. Also, if gardening is new to you, you might want to consider planting easy to grow crops, such as tomatoes,
peppers, green onions, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini and radishes. They are all quite simple to harvest and typically produce a bountiful crop. Many of the above mentioned vegetables are wonderful choices for children who want to try their hand at gardening. Because they are so easy to grow, they almost always guarantee success. Some new gardeners make the decision to plant only two or three different vegetables, the first time around. In this case, tomatoes and peppers are an excellent choice. There are so many different varieties of both that simply picking three types of each will yield an interesting crop. Depending in your location, you will have to consider the length of the growing season as well. This will have bearing on what you choose to grow. Another thing you want to keep in mind when planning a new garden is the wildlife that frequents your area. It may be wise to fence in your garden to keep out rabbits, skunks and even deer. It can be a bit of an investment, the first year, but pays for itself because of the money saved on produce, season after season.