I am in official garden dream mode. What does that mean? Well, it means that a great deal of my waking thoughts are dedicated to my upcoming garden. I am dreaming of the veggies to come. So how about you? Are you planning a beautiful and tasty vegetable garden this year?

While growing your own vegetables may seem like a lot of work, there’s nothing like biting into a nice ripe tomato or a juicy carrot and thinking “I grew this myself”. I just love making entire salads with nothing but the bounty from my garden.

The first thing you need to do when starting a vegetable garden is to find a spot and prepare it. Most veggies need lots of sun to grow; so pick a spot that gets sun most of the day. You should then work up the soil to make it loose. This way you will be able to plant your vegetables and their roots will be able to grow. It’s almost impossible for little plants to break through compact soil. You can then put organic material in your soil by adding compost or manure. If you don’t have this on hand, you can go pick something up at your local gardening store. There are lots of folk with horses near me so I have no trouble getting fresh manure.

The next thing you need to do is to pick out what plants you want to grow. And if you grew any veggies last year make sure you rotate crops. Growing tomatoes in the same place for instance can encourage disease…so rotate planting areas every year. Pick your family’s favorite vegetables first. I know it is tempting to grow eggplant because they are so beautiful and purple but if no one in your family really cares for them…skip them. You don’t want a bunch of food sitting around that no one wants. Just make sure that the vegetables you want will grow properly where you live. Take your zone into consideration.

Once you have your garden prepared and you know what you want to grow, plan the actual layout of your garden. The best way to do this is to get out a sheet of paper and draw your garden. Some plants can grow pretty close together, while others need to be spread out so they won’t have competition. Read the seed packets if you grew from seed for general height and spacing information. Draw where you want to put each crop so you know you have enough room for everything.

Now that you have your spot picked out and you know exactly what to get, it’s time to go to the store and buy your plants or seeds. Good luck and happy planting! And be sure to send some pictures to me at diapermama@gmail.com. I would love to see your garden grow!