First Garden? This May Help...!

I know that many of us are itching to get started in the garden.

There may be a few that are putting in their very first garden, and if that's the case...let me just offer some advice, if you don't mind!

Some of these tips come from my own eye-opening experience with a garden that was WAY too big...but I have to admit that I learned a lot of tomato recipes that year! My ex-wife's uncle owned two plant farms in East Texas, and they thought we needed to put in more rows!

I ended up with four rows, 100 feet long, of tomato plants! That, my friends, is a whole lot of tomatoes indeed! Anyway, like I said...I learned a lot and that's the reason I thought it would be good to put a few suggestions in today's post

A good-size beginner vegetable garden is 10x16 feet and features crops that are easy to grow. A plot this size, planted as suggested below, can feed a family of four for one summer, with a little extra for canning and freezing (or giving away).

Vegetables that may yield more than one crop per season are beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, rutabagas, spinach and turnips. For the plan below, your rows should run north and south to take full advantage of the sun.

Make your garden 11 rows of 10 feet each of the following veggies:

Tomatoes — 5 plants staked
Zucchini squash — 4 plants
Peppers — 6 plants
Cabbage
Bush beans
Lettuce, leaf and/or Bib
Beets
Carrots
Chard
Radish
Marigolds to discourage rabbits!
Leave 2 feet between bush beans, 1/2 foot between bush beans and lettuce, and 1 foot between all of the rest.

(Note: If this garden is too large for your needs, you do not have to plant all 11 rows, and you can also make the rows shorter. You can choose the veggies that you'd like to grow!)

If you're interested in planting potatoes, just remember that tomatoes and potatoes are not ideal companions and need "distance" to be successful.

So, now I've done my good deed for today...we can get some fresh coffee and sit in the kitchen for a bit. Maybe we can draw out some garden plans.