• Exercise:  Fresh air and breaking a sweat for a few hours a day can be worthwhile exercise (besides, it’s a good excuse not to go to the gym!).
• Nutrition:  If you’re serious about your health or you’re on a diet, you can enjoy the nutritious fruits of your labor - guilt-free.
• Savings:  If you eat a lot of vegetables on a regular basis you will save money growing them on your own rather than buying them at the grocery store.

So, if you’ve never done this before, or if your old garden hoe is collecting dust in the shed, here are few practical tips on getting started this season with your home vegetable garden.

Location, Location, Location
You’ve heard this in real estate and you’ll hear it for growing vegetables, too.  There are two important factors regarding location: where you live in the U.S. and where in your yard you will plant.  The U.S. is categorized into Plant Hardiness Zones according to the climate of a particular area.  For example, parts of southern New Jersey are in zones 6 and 7, where the last frost date is typically mid-April and the first frost date is typically mid-October.  The period in between those frost dates is considered “the growing season.”  So first you need to find out what zone you are in.  The United States Department of Agriculture has a zone map available on-line.  Once you know your zone you will be able to “guestimate” the frost dates to know what your growing season will be.

The second location factor is that almost all vegetables, whether cool or warm season (what’s that?), need full-sun.  So, before you start digging up your costly turf, take a look around your yard on a sunny day from about late morning to mid-afternoon and see what area gets the most sun for the longest period of time.  Make sure that area has proper drainage and it does not meet up against a fence or other structure.  That may mean having to put the garden in the middle of your yard especially if trees line your property.  Dig carefully in strips because, depending on the size of your garden, you may be able to salvage any sod you remove and sell it for a little pocket cash.  But don’t dig yet.  You need to figure out how large of an area to excavate, which means next, you have to decide what you want to plant.

What to plant
First decide what vegetables you like to eat the most.  Think about what you buy at the store.  For example, maybe your favorite salad contains lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, radishes, and broccoli.  Those are all cool-season vegetables and the crop will be finished by late spring/early summer.  Warm season vegetables, such as tomatoes, will not be ready at the same time as cool season vegetables so you’ll have to plan on buying them out of season at the grocery store if you want them in your home-grown salad.  You can repeat cool season vegetable planting in late summer/early fall.

How much to plant
Now that you’ve determined what you’re going to eat, shop around your local garden center for seed or transplants.  The back of the seed packet will tell you how far apart to plant your seeds and the transplants should come with tags indicated how far apart to plant them in the ground.  Be aware of the frost dates so that you don’t plant seeds in the ground that can’t tolerate cold temperatures.  Most warm season vegetable seeds will have to be started in a greenhouse or under grow lights in your home.

Now that you have an idea of how far apart the seeds or plants need to be and how large of an area your yard will accommodate for a garden, you can determine how much of each vegetable to plant.  This is where you can get a little creative.  If your garden can accommodate ten lettuce plants, for example, you probably don’t want them to be ready for harvest all at the same time (instead of a lemonade stand you could have a lettuce stand!).  You may want to consider staggering the planting dates one to two weeks apart so that you will have several harvests instead of just one big harvest.  I would also suggest planting a few extra plants of each variety just in case there is loss associated with bad weather, insects, disease or wildlife.

Example Plan
Now that you have gathered all relevant information for planning your garden it helps to see it on paper.  Consider making a diagram of the size of your garden and indicating where each variety will be planted.Draw Diagram A for cool season plants and Diagram B for warm season plants.  Next, make a time-line for when to plant (don’t forget the scattered planting dates).  And remember, you can have two growing periods of cool season vegetables: one in the spring and again in late summer/early fall.

And finally, when you should begin planning your vegetable garden?  I know it’s difficult to imagine green plants, busy bees, and heat waves during mid-winter, but I would begin drawing out plans no later than one to two months before the last anticipated spring frost date in your area.  That way, you’ll at least have a head-start for planning your cool season vegetables and seeding warm-season vegetables at home.

So get started now and most of all, have fun!