Secrets to Vegetable Garden Success

There's nothing like the earthy crunch of a just-picked carrot or the sweetness of a juicy tomato still warm from the sun. And the taste is even sweeter when it's one you've grown on your own.
-The editors of thisoldhouse.com

Go Small or Go Home

Vegetable gardens
Vegetable gardens


For parents like Phil Nolan and Michele Rast, backyard vegetable gardening has intangible benefits. "We want our kids to appreciate the way things grow and to understand the value of food," Nolan says when asked why he dug up part of the family's New Jersey lawn to put in a formal 18-by-32-foot veggie garden.The 576-square-foot plot produces veggies all summer for a family of four, with plenty left over to share. Tidy raised beds and gravel paths make it easy to care for, and evoke an English country garden.Nolan's garden, now in its third season, has thrived, but not every homeowner is so lucky. Why do some fail where others succeed? At least one aspect ofsoil preparation, plant selection, or growing wasn't right.

"Often, just a few tips can make all the difference," says Katie Pencke, who teaches vegetable gardening for theSeattle Tilthgardening education program. Her first tip to newbies: Don't attempt too big a garden. "If you start small, you make small mistakes," she says, "and it's a lot easier to achieve success when you're tweaking small problems as you learn."Take a tour of this garden, steal more ideas for your own.

Gather Inspiration and Use All Available Space

Vegetable gardens
Vegetable gardens


Design inspiration for the once-lackluster lot came not from a high-priced consultant but from garden tours and clippings from magazines like This Old House. Through these, the homeowner came to realize that high-style gardens with a limited array of plants and materials don't appeal to her nearly as much as gardens with more going on. "I love romantic gardens that have a lot of stuff," she says, meaning yards with distinct garden rooms furnished with architectural accents and a wide range of plants. "I figure, you have a yard. A lot of people don't. Use every bit of it." So she set out to create the rich jumble of an English country garden, mixing cottage-style informality with formal statuary and trelliswork.The south-facing vegetable garden (shown above) is terraced into the hillside with a Hass avocado tree towering over it and Italian cypresses standing like sentinels at the back.Take a tour of this garden, steal more ideas for your own.

Low on Space? Consider Containers

Vegetable gardens
Vegetable gardens


Even where outdoor space is severely limited-just a small deck or patio, a bright front stoop, or a patch of concrete along the drive-you can grow your own fruits and veggies. Just do your homework and plant them in pots. Growing in containers actually makes some crops, such as strawberries and spinach, less vulnerable to snails and other ground-cruising predators. Others, including peppers, seem to relish confinement and produce more abundantly. Blueberries like more-acidic soil than other edibles, so they are easier to accommodate in pots. And container crops have fewer problems with weeds because they're raised off the ground and grown in weed-free potting mix. Shown above are container-grown lemons, mustard greens, and lettuce rub shoulders with pots of flowering plants.See our full plant list.

Create a Vertical Veggie Garden

Vegetable gardens
Vegetable gardens


In another smart, space-saving move, you aren't limited to what can sprawl along the ground. Trained up a trellis, pole peas and beans, cucumbers, small melons, and vining squash all have a small footprint in the garden. A full or half cage made of field fencing is easy to anchor to a container for supporting tomatoes. For a garden bed, Creasy favors 4x4 posts and hog- or cattle-wire panels, which come in sturdy, flat sections and can support even the heaviest fruit. For either style, get material with 4-inch openings so that you can reach through at harvest time. You can also grow pole beans or cherry tomatoes on a garden arch, which makes harvesting especially easy-just walk through and pluck. Here,Tepees of bamboo stakes allow squash to clamber up in a mixed border.See more tips to grow your vegetable garden anywhere.