You're going to plant a garden with vegetable seeds or plants? Lucky you! At harvest time, you'll get to eat fresh vegetables, to savor and enjoy. You will be grateful for them when you see the prices for vegetables at the grocery store – usually expensive and not nearly as flavorful.

First Things First

As you prepare to plant your garden, choose seeds and plants that you want to grow. The rule of thumb is generally to plant things you know you and your family will eat – things that are already in your diet, that you buy already from the grocery store or farmer's market. Then also plant at least one new variety that you haven't had before. That way, you gradually expand your diet and experience some new foods.

Decide which plants and seeds your garden will have, and where. There are some things that you should know – for example, if you are planting corn, you need at least a few rows so that you will get ears of corn to eat – they need to be near each other in order to pollinate. If you have trouble with pests like insects or other vermin, planting marigold flowers around the edge of your garden can help protect them. If you plant bamboo in your garden or nearby, it will take a few years to get established, but after that time, watch out! Growth will be very fast, and frequent pruning will be a requirement. Other than these sorts of things, you can choose what goes where. Plan a walkway of a couple of feet wide to be able to enter the garden for watering and weeding, and put lower growing plants nearer the edge or walkway so that you can reach over them to get to the higher growing plants further away. Plants that are staked do well at the back, where they won't shield the shorter plants from the necessary sunlight.

Turn the soil down to about a eight inches or a foot deep, removing any large rocks and breaking up the large clods of dirt. Add in some nourishment for the plants. Many people use manure – steer manure is particularly good. Though it is a bit pungent while applying, it will be wonderful for your garden's seeds and plants! Spread the manure (or alternate) about three inches deep over the whole garden, then turn shovelfuls over to mix the fertilizer into the top several inches of garden soil. Once it is well augmented, it is time to plant your seeds in the garden.