How To Start A Kitchen Garden For Beginners

So it’s spring time and you want to start growing your own vegetables but you’re not sure where to start? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Five years ago that was me. I wanted to grow my own food but I didn’t know where to start. I’d watch YouTube videos, read articles online, watch reels on Instagram and read gardening books. There was so much information (some of it helpful and some of it not) but I want to give you the easy steps to start your own kitchen garden.

Let me teach you my easy 8 steps to starting a kitchen garden. Depending on the size of your garden, you could complete this in one weekend or a few weeks.

1. Let’s begin! Measure your space

   Start by choosing the best location for your garden. Ideally, you want your garden to get at least 6-8 hours of sun so you can grow most fruits and vegetables. In New Zealand, a north facing garden is your best location as it will get the most sun during the day.

   Next, decide how many garden beds you plan to have and what size. This will help you work out what size your garden needs to be. I recommend either 1m or 2m long garden beds with them being no wider than 1m. Anything wider than 1m makes it difficult to reach the other side of the garden bed, particularly if you are putting them up against a fence.

   Once you’ve decided on your garden bed size, it’s time to draw up a plan on a piece of paper. If you want to add pathways around your garden beds (for easy access), you want to add about 0.75m between the edge of your garden bed to the outer edge where the steel edging will go. Don’t forget to add a pathway between garden beds too!

   Take these measurements and measure the width and length of your garden. Remember - measure twice, mark once. Measure your garden size in the place you want to build your garden. You can use pegs or string to mark the corners of your beds and any pathways so you know where you are removing the grass from.

2. Remove the grass

   There’s a few ways you can remove the grass. You can take it right down to the roots with a line trimmer, you can use a spade to gently lift the grass up from the roots or you can use an industrial turf cutter to get under the grass and remove it. Either method works fine depending on your budget. I’d recommend using a spade to lift the grass up. It doesn’t take too long and you can control how much of the soil you are keeping underneath.

3. Level the ground

   This doesn’t have to be perfect but it makes it easier if the ground is as flat as possible before the pebbles go on. You can use a spade to remove any excess soil or bumps. If you want it to be extra flat, you can use a leveller tied to a piece of string to get accurate straightness.

4. Add steel edging

   Steel edging is a great way to draw a distinctive line between where your kitchen garden starts and ends. It also helps keep grass from the surrounding garden from getting into your kitchen garden space.

   Most steel edging is made equal and you can choose from a coated metal or corten steel. I do recommend getting steel edging that has spikes at the bottom so it is easier to push into the ground and it won’t move.

   Line the edge of your garden area with the steel edging.

5. Add pebbles

   Choose a pebble that is about 1-2cm big. You want the pebble to be big enough to walk on but not too big that it is too chunky to walk on. Fill the bottom of your garden with pebbles up to about 2cm from the top of the steel edging. You won’t want to fill it to close to the top otherwise stones will go onto the grass.

6. Place the garden beds and stain them

   Place your garden beds on the pebbles and space them out evenly. Remember the size pathway you chose and try to place the beds with enough room for pathways. It’s a good idea to use a leveller to check the garden beds are level when sitting on the pebbles. Don’t forget to check each side of the garden bed but also if it’s level between the two beds as one may be higher than the other.

   Once the beds have been placed, it’s time to stain them with an eco stain to preserve their lifespan.

7. Add soil and trellies

   Fill your garden beds up to about 5cm from the top with a rich soil blend. Look for an organic soil blend that is 30% topsoil, 30% coarse sand and 30% compost. The remaining 10% can be topped up with sheep pellets for added nitrogen and phosphorus to help your plants grow. If you’re adding trellises to your garden, now’s the time to add them. Place them about 30cm down in your garden then fill with the remaining soil to ensure they are rooted in place and won’t move.

8. Add plants

   The fun part is here! Choose a range of seeds and seedlings that you want to grow and plant them. Don’t forget to consider which season you’re in, how many growing days you have and what the temperature is like. I like to plant a combination of flowers and herbs around the border then add in root vegetables, leafy vegetables and fruiting vegetables to the middle for maximum garden production. They don’t call it intensive planting for nothing!

I hope this guide helped you. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask or check out my socials to see this method in action.

Happy gardening! :)