How to grow a vegetable garden in 5 easy steps #vegetable_gardening

Deciding What to Plant in The Garden:
At first, when deciding what to plant in a garden, it's best to start small. Many gardeners get a little too excited at the beginning of the season and plant more than they need - and end up wasting food and feeling overwhelmed by their garden.

Determining How Much Space You Need:
Once you know what you want to plant, you can figure out how plan a vegetable garden with the right amount of space. Keep in mind when figuring out what to plant in a garden with vegetables that you don't need a large space to begin. If you choose to grow in containers, you don't even need a yard - a deck or balcony may provide plenty of space.

Picking the Perfect Spot:
No matter how big your vegetable garden is, or how you determine what to plant in a garden, there are three basic requirements for success: Full sun, Plenty of water, Good soil.

Design and Plan Your Vegetable Garden:
There are two basic approaches to planning the layout of a vegetable garden:

• Row Cropping: You place plants single file in rows, with a walking path between each row. Row cropping works best for large vegetable gardens, and it makes it easier to use mechanical equipment such as tillers to battle weeds.
• Intensive Cropping: This type of planting a garden with vegetables means using in wide bands, generally 1-4 feet across and as long as you like. Intensive cropping reduces the amount of area needed for paths, but the closer spacing of the plants usually means you have to weed by hand.

Testing and Fixing Your Soil:
It's best to test the soil before you begin planting a garden with vegetables. Check drainage by soaking the soil with a hose, waiting a day, then digging up a handful of soil. Squeeze the soil hard. If water streams out, you'll probably want to add compost or organic matter to improve the drainage.