8 Tips to Pick the Best Location For Your Vegetable Garden

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Are you wanting to start a vegetable garden? Before you start planting you need to choose the best location to start your vegetable garden.

If you want your garden to thrive there are many things you need to think about before you get started.

You’ll want to carefully consider how much sun, shade, and wind the area has. Plus water access and soil quality.

One of the worst things you can do for your garden is to just pick a random spot in your yard and start planting.

Taking a little time upfront to pick the best growing area of your yard will save you so many problems later on. That will help your vegetable plants to thrive and produce well for you.

Choosing The Best Location For Your Vegetable Garden

Sun Or Shade

Most vegetables will grow best in full sun. This means you should pick an area of your yard that gets at least six hours of sunlight a day.

But if you have an area that gets direct sunlight for six to ten hours a day your garden will grow even better.

If you don’t have enough natural light in your yard you can have trees pruned or removed to create better-growing conditions.

If this is not an option for you don’t give up your garden dreams. You can grow many vegetables in the shade successfully especially the cool season crops.

Leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, and arugula will often grow better during the summer heat when they have some shade.

Open Area

While gardens can look pretty when planted in a thickly treed area, it’s best to plan your garden in an open location.

When it’s surrounded by too many trees and shrubs it restricts airflow.

An open area where the wind can easily move through your garden is a much better space.

The wind helps to dry up moisture on the leaves and stems of plants that when left to long can cause mold and diseases.

If you live in an area that gets very strong winds and are worried about it causing damage to your garden you can create a windbreak.

The fastest way to do this is to build a garden wall that will help to slow the winds down. This could easily be turned into a trellis for growing grapes or vining vegetables on too.

Another option would be to plant a hedgerow further back from your garden. It would help to protect it from the wind but not stop the breeze compliantly.

Avoid Slopes

If you are a new gardener planting on flat ground will be the easiest location for you.

Gardens planted on slopes have many challenges.

When you water a hill garden the water naturally flows down the hill. This can cause seeds to wash away and uneven watering.

Heavy rainfall can also cause soil erosion on hill gardens that haven’t had retaining walls installed.

If you are up for the challenge of gardening on slopes then the best method I’ve found it to use the Back to Eden garden method.

This type of no-dig gardening has worked really well for us on 3 steep gardens that traditional tilling methods would never have worked well on.

Easy Access To Water

Watering your garden is a job that you will be doing often. So you want to make sure that it’s planted close to a water source.

A job is more likely to get done consistently if you make it an easy task to do.

If you have to drag a hose a long-distance and fight to keep it from being snagged on everything you are less likely to keep up with watering your garden properly.

This means your plants will struggle to grow well and you’ll have a low return on all the work you put into starting your garden.

Select a location in your yard that makes watering easy and you’ll find it becomes a relaxing part of caring for your garden.

Good Soil Quality

The health of your soil is so important to the success of your garden.

This can be built up over time but if you select an area with naturally good soil your garden will have a head start.

Ideally, you will want an area will few rocks in the soil as these can cause problems for growing root vegetables like carrots. Rocky soil is also a real pain to till, using no-dig gardening will work the best for you.

An area with rich dark soil that goes deep into the ground will often be the best area to start your garden.

Yes, you can enrich the soil with compost and you should before you start planting. But if you are adding to a good foundation you’ll have a head start.

Well Draining Soil

Plants just won’t grow well in soil that stays wet all the time. This will quickly lead to root rot and other disease problems.

Picking an area with well-drained soil to start your vegetable garden can make all the difference to your plants thriving or dying. This lets them get enough water to grow well without becoming waterlogged.

You can do a simple test to see how good your soil is.

Water the area well and then let it sit for 24 hours.

Then go and squeeze some of the soil in your hands.

If it starts to fall apart as soon as you open your hand you have sandy soil. This will need a lot of watering and compost added for plants to grow well.

If it forms a hard ball that doesn’t fall apart your soil is clay. It will have a hard time draining water. You’ll want to add sand and compost to your soil to help it loosen up.

If it holds its shape but gently crumbles when you poke it then your have good loamy soil. Adding compost will help it to get better but you already have a great base to start your garden with.

Check For Buried Lines

You know the saying call before you dig right?

It’s always a good idea to call your local authorities to have them come and mark out where buried lines are in your yard before you start digging.

This is really important if you are starting a garden in an urban area, but still helpful in rural locations.

It’s so easy to break a utility line, or water pipe and cause a lot of damage.

Check Local Bylaws And HOA

If you live in a rural area and own your own property then you likely don’t have to worry as much about where you want to start a garden.

But if you are renting make sure to check with your landlord before you start to make sure the location and size are approved by them.

If you are in an urban area you might be surprised that many have bylaws or HOA rules about where you can have gardens and what you can grow.

Some may not allow vegetable gardens to be on your front lawn. Even in the backyard, there could be size regulations or restrictions on the height of your plants.

Checking these rules before you start planning your garden will save you a huge headache later on.

If your HOA or landlord makes it difficult to have a traditional vegetable garden try to get creative.

You could start a container garden instead so it’s easy to move around. Another option is to plant fruit and vegetables that are ornamental.

Blueberry bushes make pretty decorative hedges, asparagus grows into beautiful ferns in the summer, fruit trees put on lovely flower displays in the spring, and return lots of fruit later in the year.

There are many ways to work fruit and vegetables into your decorative garden.

But whether you are growing in the front yard or backyard make sure to think about these simple things when you are picking out your garden location. You’ll be giving your plants a great start when they are planted in an area that is naturally good for them to grow in.

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