5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY FOR TOMORROW'S VEGETABLE GARDEN

By Abbagail - Sage & Shepherd Ranch 

Today's Plans 
 
1. Make a list of your favourite vegetables 

What vegetables do you like to eat most? Which vegetables do you eat regularly? There's no point in planting something if you're not going to eat it or don't like the taste! The easiest vegetables to grow at home are lettuces, spinach, cucumbers, beans, peas, tomatoes, and kale or chard.   

2. Find the best spot in the garden 

Take a minute to find the sunniest spot closest to your house (the closer it is, the more often you'll go there). Pick a spot and then decide if you want to build a raised bed or plant in the ground. Both are good, it just depends on your budget and available resources. 

3. Calculate how much soil you need 

As a rule of thumb: 1 litre per 1 cubic decimeter. So, if you have a 120 x 120 cm raised bed that is 30 cm high, you will need about 30 litres of soil. If you have crater beds, I would make sure that at least 10-15 cm of the soil is fresh before planting. Depending on the size of your garden, you can also look for a bulk supplier that delivers larger quantities. 
 
4. Do some shopping 

Grab the list of your favourite vegetables and the amount of soil you need, and get everything (or order online)! Find a store that sells seeds and get the seeds for your favourite vegetables or, if the season is already well underway, buy seedlings from a nursery. For soil, I would use a mix of specialty soil and compost. If you are building the raised beds yourself, you should also take wood with you.   
 
5. Design a simple garden plan 

This step might put many people off, but if you plant simple vegetables, like the ones mentioned above, it will be very easy! To keep the spacing right, the back of the seed packet is a good start, but I also like the "square foot" method of gardening. This means planting a different vegetable and a specific quantity corresponding to that vegetable in each square. 
 
For example, tomatoes and cucumbers need about 0.2 square meters. For kale/chard and beans/peas, you can plant 5-10 plants per square meter depending on the variety, and for lettuces and spinach, 20 plants per square meter. In the 120 x 120 cm raised bed, I could therefore plant 2 tomato plants, 2 cucumber plants, 1-2 kale plants, 1-2 chard plants, 1-2 bean plants, 1-2 pea plants, 8 spinach plants, and 8 lettuce plants. Not bad, right?

Tomorrow's plans 

Once you've completed the list above, it's time for the exciting tasks! Take an hour to build your raised bed or prepare your in-ground bed. Then fill everything with soil, using the specialty soil first and then the compost. Then grab the plan you made yesterday, lay out all your vegetables, and plant them!

Starting a garden is much easier than you think and can be done in 5-10 minutes a day. I'm happy to answer any questions you have in the comments below!

Thank you,

Abbagail

About Sage & Shepherd Ranch

S&S Ranch is run by husband and wife Abbagail and Mackenzie. We started with a few chickens just for ourselves. Then we just found so much joy in knowing where our food comes from, and in farming itself. We raise our animals regeneratively, meaning we sequester carbon, build topsoil, rotationally graze the animals holistically, and mimic nature as much as possible.

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