If I were you, I would start by building a few raised beds and a compost pile. Pick a spot that gets close to full sun. And make sure your garden hose can reach it.

Your first year, I would buy seedlings from a nursery since it is going to take a lot of work to get your beds prepared.

What to plant? What do you like to eat? Lots of people start with tomatoes. (But if you don't like tomatoes, why dedicate the garden space to grow something you won't eat?) Cucumbers are zucchini are also popular. As are lots of herbs. Any seedling you can buy at a local nursery should grow in this area.

Lots of herbs are perennial. Lots are annual. Make sure you know which type you have, since that will dictate where to plant them. I tend to place many of my perennial herbs in my flower gardens. I have chives in the front garden, mint in the borers, parsley and dill in other flower gardens

It might help if you could come back with specific questions. These general questions are tough to answer since there are so many aspects of gardening.

Stephanie,
Welcome to the New England forum. I am by no definition an expert on vegetable gardening but I did have a couple of plots in a community garden last year where I had mixed results.

The Positive of Community Gardening

1. I learned volumes from the other gardeners. I found everyone was anxious and willing to share their knowledge but I also learned by observing other garden plots throughout the season. This knowledge from observation can't be found in a book.

2. The garden offered something I did not have at my house Full Day Full Sun that most vegetables require to grow successfully rather than the less than perfect results you are likely to end up with if you have part shade.

3. The community plot had ten foot high deer fencing, critters no matter where you live can be a challenge.

4. I started most of my veggies from seed but there are a few things such as tomatoes that you might want to buy. I would strongly suggest you pick up a book on veggie gardening to help you with this. I used "The New Victory Garden" but I am guessing that others might have good suggestions for you as well.

The Negative About Community Gardening

1. I tend to do a lot of my gardening at either the beginning or end of my day and I much prefer being at home during that time rather than having to go out to a destination.

2. Just as quickly as a cold can spread through a daycare for children I found my plants where very susceptible to viruses from the other plots.

I guess if I had to sum up my advise in a few words it would be COMPOST,SUN,WATER,& FENCING

Hi Stephanie,

Before giving you suggestions for what to grow in your garden, it would helpful to have some information about it. How big is it? How much sun does it get? Are you digging up a place in your yard for the garden or are you using a raised bed, pots, half-cedar barrels, etc? Do you have a problem with deer or other critters (including the neighbor's pets)? Is it windy in your area?

To re-emphasize what Runktrun said, the most important things for a vegetable garden are: COMPOST, SUN, WATER, & FENCING.

I compost my vegetable patch with horse manure, but assuming you do not own livestock, probably purchasing a bale or two of dried cow manure would be best your first year, and starting a compost pile now (of cut plant material and discarded household food items) for use in the future. Because manure is acidic, I also buy bags of ground limestone to "sweeten" the soil. Fireplace ashes are also useful for this purpose.

You want full sun, or as close to it as possible, and access to a garden hose.

Fencing is a wise idea. I've had good luck with a single strand of electric fence, but many people use page wire enclosures around their gardens. I guess you have to see what works against whatever critters decide to freeload or dig.

For years we used to have a big vegetable garden and then life became busier for us so we planted it over in lawn grass and clover. Now that we're semi-retired I'm planning a small patch of vegies this coming summer. I turned over the ground in the fall and piled pony poop and lime on it, and there it sits under the snow. I find it best to add a lot of compost in the fall and let it overwinter, then hoe (or rototil) it into the soil in the spring. I plan to grow a few short rows of sweet corn, sunflowers of varying heights and colors, a hill of pumpkins, and a couple shorter rows of carrots (the carrots and corn to be shared with the pony who contributed so much to the garden!) I mostly want the vegies for added color in the fall.

During the decades that we were without a vegetable garden I did often grow tomatoes, bought as young plants. However after the depressing experience last year with late blight, I've been loathe to grow tomatoes again. You might have better luck though, if the disease has disappeared from NE now.

I plant everything else from seed. The corn, carrot, and sunflower seeds that I bought online last fall are organic heirloom seeds. They are the last I should ever need to purchase because I shall save the seeds each year, as I do with the few annual flowers I grow. (The pumpkin seeds, I harvested from the Halloween pumpkins that sat on my porch during October.)

Good luck in your new home and especially with your new garden. We look forward to seeing photos when the plants are up!

Unlike pixie_lou, I would garden right in the ground rather than building raised beds " unless, of course, you have a specific reason that you require them. Starting a new bed can be a huge amount of work, but it really is possible to start with little more than turning over a bit of soil and planting some seedlings from the nursery.

I completely agree with everyone who suggested that you start a compost pile or bin. It will serve you well.

For me, starting a perennial herb bed was one of the very best things I ever did. It's not hard to start one, and then once it's established, it's really low maintenance, and it will just keep giving back.

Even though I am a serious "bite off more than I can chew" sort of person, I would recommend starting with just a few things, and leaning toward things that are likely to be successful. Starting with seedlings from the nursery (or even some place like Home Depot) is probably a good idea, at least for anything where starting with seedlings is a good idea.

Also, as others have said...tell us more! How much space do you have? How much sun? What do you like to eat, that can grow in this area?

I'm of the non-raised bed persuasion too. It just seems simpler, and the garden more accessable if it is at ground level.

I've been planting and growing my own veggies for something over 30 years. As others suggested, grow what you like to eat. Position the bed where you have easy access to water and where it will get lots of sun, since most veggies require sun for the majority of the day and regular water. Some years mother nature gives them enough water, but some summers are like last year where we had weeks with no rain, and watering is needed. When needed, it's better to water deeply and less often. Mulch the garden's surface with organic matter such as chopped leaves or compost to hold in the moisture and reduce the number of weeds. As in most gardening, soil is the key. You will have best results with your veggies if the soil has a reasonable level of organic matter and fertility, so get a soil test done where you want to plant to see what (if anything) your soil needs to grow veggies. The other MA folks can tell you where to get a soil test done, and then either the test will have recommendations, or you can ask here. Unless your garden area is unusual, the first few years the soil probably won't be optimum, but you can still grow your veggies and improve the soil each year. For this year, bagged composted manure or compost added will certainly help. (or if you have friends with a bunny or two, see if you can haul off all the bunny manure since that can be put on fresh without harming the plants. Most manure can't be used fresh. Or if you have old leaves from last fall somewhere in the yard, pile them up and run the lawnmower over them and then use those on the surface of the soil after planting.)

Some other random thoughts:
I prefer raised beds for easy access, better weed management, earlier soil warming, and ease of setting up seasonal extenders like low tunnels, but I wouldn't start with them. For this year, plant in the ground, or if you don't have sun except in your driveway, plant in 5 gallon pots/buckets with drainage holes in the bottom.

Get a catalog from Johnny's Selected Seed in Albion, Maine. It has a wealth of information, such as what temperature the soil has to be for seeds to sprout so that you don't plant your peas (which will germinate and grow in cooler conditions, like April) at the same time as your beans (which will rot in cold soil and have to wait until after the last frost.) And their seeds do well in New England, often producing earlier than varieties found at national chains.

Get a copy of one of the two books:
Crocket's Victory Garden by James underwood Crocket or the New Victory Garden by Bob Thompson (don't know if you can find them new or will have to get it used) because they give info by month, so this will help you know what to do when especially because they were written in MA. However, ignore the info given on pesticides as it tends to be quite nonorganic and quite dated, and there is little reason to use pesticides in a home garden. Visiting the garden for a few minutes each day should tell you if there is a problem (holes in leaves, bugs that are clearly chomping, or varmints like woodchucks) and then you can ask here or other gardeners what to do about them. Remember that many bugs are your friends, so don't kill all of them indiscriminately.

Have fun, enjoy what you produce, and expect something of a learning curve. I started in high school with tomato plants because I love fresh tomatoes, and I don't think I've ever had a garden without them. But I come from a nongardening family, so I started small and read lots of books (that was not only pre-internet, but also pre-personal computer . . . ) and added and improved as I learned. A few minutes spin around the garden before or after work or while the kids are napping or whenever works for you will do wonders for your state of mind, and there really is nothing like fresh-picked produce. Most of my edible podded peas, cherry tomatoes, and other small veggies don't ever make it into the house . . .

Let us know how it goes and feel free to ask questions as they come up.

I just read a short Q&A for beginners on designing a winter garden that I thought was more applicable to the mid-Atlantic then it was for New England gardeners but thought his advice to beginners was great.

Experience starts the moment you start to like gardening. You can't do it right the first time. You can't even do it right in a few years. You always see the next step you have to do. Start simply, putting good combinations of plants together, and work from there. You have to go through all the steps. You cannot skip any lessons. That is honest. It's hard work. But you get something back, that's the good thing. It's like raising children. You try to do your best.

Great advice from all. As nhbabs recommended, a soil test is really important.

You can do all of the soil testing by mail, see this link for instructions.
University of Massachusetts Soil and Plant Tissue Testing Laboratory

Claire (who doesn't grow vegetables herself but still believes in soil tests)

I guess I want to add something else here, which is "don't over-think it."

What I mean is...you've received loads of excellent advice, and I completely agree with the vast majority of it. However, I also want to encourage you not to get overwhelmed by it. Don't start believing that there's so much to do and you have to make it so perfect that you couldn't ever actually grow anything.

You could spend a lifetime building the perfect soil, or finding the perfect mulch, or building the ideal raised beds...but there's also something to be said for just turning over some soil and tossing in some plants, and getting something, so you can feel good about your efforts, and feel inspired to continue.

My last 3 years have quite unintentionally been a study in "Look how much I can get out of the garden for how little I actually put into it." The first year I'd just moved into the house and was planning my wedding. The second year I was quite pregnant, and gave birth in early August. Last year I had a very small baby. Yet, I can look back on each year and say, "Wow, look how much stuff I got out of the garden anyway."

So, I guess what I want to say is that everything everyone is telling you is great advice, and it will improve your garden, if you have a garden at all. However, especially when you're first starting out, you could do all of it and still fail (because you over- or under-water, for instance), or you could do none of it and still succeed (because plants do like to grow, and sometimes your starting soil is "good enough" and the weather is kind).

Just don't let yourself believe that you "can't" garden unless you do all this stuff. Don't fall into a mode of wearing yourself out trying to do everything, until you poop out before you get seeds into the ground, or no longer have any energy to care for them properly. Pick a couple of bits of advice that sound manageable to you, and get yourself some seeds or some plants, and give it a try. Improve as you go, ask specific questions as you have them, and next year you can tackle the next step.

One more piece of advice, although you've already gotten a ton of good ideas.

When you're planning what to plant, include some quick-to-bloom flowers. There have been many, many times when the glowers were the only thing that got me into my vegetable garden. I'd just go out to see how the Shirley poppies (or nasturtiums, or whatever!) were doing, and lo and behold, I found something that actually needed to be done for the veggies (like, overnight, the snow peas were ready to be picked).

Adding something just for fun and beauty can make the whole kitchen garden more enjoyable ... and, so, more successful.

Thank you everyone for the great ideas! I am going to read carefully through them all tonight so I can absorb it all. I guarantee I'll still have 101 questions!

What great posts from everyone! I agree with suggestions to get Crockett's Victory Garden. I also like Square Foot Gardening and Lasagna Gardening. From Square Foot gardening I learned to plant seeds so I wasn't planting too many nor too long a row. I have had great results from Lasagna Gardening and find it the easiest way to start a new bed without using a rototiller. I like to curl up with Crockett's to see what I need to do in the garden and what to prepare for. It's a great guide for New Englanders.

Find a great weeder. I had two and lost one but basically it's an L-shaped blade that you drag thru the soil and is great for getting up long rooted nasty grass. Get a good shovel (I prefer a square spading shovel for digging.) and a good spading fork.

Check Craigslist for free manure and other compostibles. It helps if you have a trailer to haul manure or a friend with a pickup.

Look for a good local plant nursery or local grower which might be someone at a farmers market. I found a local backyard grower who offers an amazing variety of tomatoes and peppers and you can buy single plants. She sends a list so we can pre-order and pick up on a set weekend.

You could grow tomatoes or other things in large plastic pots. Last year I found an old tin tub for 25 cents at the flea market. It's great for a small basil garden.

Except for tomatoes and peppers, I get seeds for everything else barring last minute grabs for things that are already up and growing. Nasturtium and marigolds are a must and I have a particular fondness for lemon gem marigolds which have fragrant foliage.

Resist the temptation to plant an entire packet of seed unless you really want a lot of something. Sugar snap peas were very prolific last year. If you have enough room, stagger your seeding to provide a longer harvest. Do NOT plant more than one or two hills of zucchini.

Find a good planting chart for your zone so you know that spinach can go in very early and you can plant more things in July and August.

Expect to learn something every year and sometimes something won't work. I planted some things last May and then left the garden for two weeks during a dry spell. Germination was almost nil. I had to re-plant everything.

I really really like liquid fish or seaweed fertilizer. I always give it to transplants and rarely lose a plant. I mix it up in gallon milk jugs.

Try something new every year. Maybe a new bush bean, maybe a new type of cucumber. I also like Johnny's Seeds but Baker Creek has some very interesting varieties.

When we moved in 2007 I only had time for tomatoes. I spent the first summer getting lasagna beds started. I also had a bed of herbs next to the walkway. Every year I have added another bed or two. I also like the organization that small beds provide. We have grass walkways which are nice except for the nasty weeds in the grass that want to get into the beds. Don't think one huge garden area. It might be overwhelming. I like having a 4' wide bed. A 4' long row is plenty for things like radishes and greens. Or I might plant the long way for beans, half the row for green and the other half for yellow.

Do what works best for you. Personally I'm fine with buying corn at a farmstand and not worrying about raccoons ravishing my garden.

>COMPOST, SUN, WATER, & FENCING.

Let me add the one thing I couldn't garden without, especially in a newly turned bed: MULCH.

Old leaves, preferably shredded, over newspaper will do, or you can be fancy and use something like cocoa hulls. If you don't mulch, you'll have a hard time giving your seedlings a fair chance against the multitude of weed seedlings that will pop up, especially if your garden is in an area that used to be lawn.

Hi First Time Gardener:

Well! You certainly came to the right place! Most of the folks on this forum are very experienced and love to share their vast wisdom. They are nice, too! Here is my one lonely piece of advice: Read this book. It's called, "The Lazy Gardener". I'm enclosing a URL so you can download it for free. (If for some reason the download doesn't work, you can get it from your library.) This book is amusing and will save you lots of backaches and blisters! Happy Gardening.

http://worid-of-books.com/?id=BCcvqMqCpwAC

I think a lot of the advice in this thread overly complicates gardening. It would be quite intimidating for someone who is just starting. The simple fact of the matter is that there are various ways of going about this. If someone has good soil in their yard then starting a garden is as simple as clearing out a patch of yard, planting some seeds in the ground and watering everything when Mother Nature isn't doing so often enough. I dropped some cherry tomatoes in my yard while harvesting them last year and before the season was out I had tomato plants growing in my yard. They probably would have grown up and produced just fine if I had not mowed them down when cutting my yard. A similar thing happened with some other vegetables that were overripe or diseased that I tossed into the woods behind my house. Within a short period of time, there were squash and pepper plants growing in the woods. Compost, raised beds, and all of that stuff are great but they are not a requirement for having a garden.

Well remember, tree oracle, that woods are carpetted with rich compost which is probably why your seeds grew without any other care. (Although I wonder that your plants were able to get enough sunlight in a shady area.)

I do agree that soil tests are probably not neccesary. If you just continue adding compost from year to year, eventually whatever is missing from the soil will be added this way.

I also am not big on raised beds which just seem like extra work, money, and an obstacle to easy roto-tilling or hoeing or even walking amidst the rows of vegetables.

However my past experience dictates that the more compost, the better the garden grows. Same thing for sunlight, adequate water, and probably some form of critter control fencing.

The woods behind me are carpeted with pine needles and poison ivy. The soil in my area is not the lush rainforest type of soil that you are envisioning. It's more like the soil on the Cape where only Pitch Pines and scrubby Oaks grow.

Don't get me wrong about the info that you guys have posted earlier. I too believe in compost and use it regularly. I also believe in chemical fertilizers, too. Compost is important in my area because the natural soil is sandy and very infertile. I also use the method my grandfather used. Whenever I have scraps from fruit and vegetables, I just throw them in the garden and let them rot. Sometimes in the summer, I'll cover them with some compost to keep the flies away.

I'm a big fan of raised beds and I have several but I also have a garden plot straight in the ground. They both have their pros and cons. I like the raised beds for crops that grow in the ground like carrots, onions, and potatoes. To me it's just a given that the loose soil of a raised bed is going to allow these types of crops to expand more properly than if they were in the ground where the soil gets compacted more readily. My raised beds are approximately a foot and a half tall which makes things easier to tend to especially as I get older. BTW, the soil in a raised bed if done properly is so loose that it doesn't require roto-tilling. You can easily turn it over with a garden fork.

I'm with tree_oracle on this, as I more or less said a few posts back. There is great advice here, but don't think you need to follow it all or you'll fail.

I'll also add, though, that if you dig your soil in a conventional bed the first year, and then don't walk on it (lay down paving stones or some other sort of path for access), it will be every bit as loose and easy-to-turn as a raised bed.

don't let them scare you on here. 30 years ago I built a house in the woods. It was the first time in my life I did not have a garden. that winter I cut the trees needed to put a garden in but did not have the money to stump plow and amend the soil. I dug small patches around the stumps and planted what I thought would grow (sweet plants by hardwood acid by soft woods. I had a wonderfull harvest. It is easyer to tend now but not any more productive.Not mulch, fertilizer, compost anything but dirt and seed. I did weed and cut the suckers from the stumps. Put a seed in dirt , tend it and it will grow. LOL I think the carrots pushed the maple roots out of the ground because it gave up with out a fight the next year.