Expanding a Vegetable Patch

Although this post is about expanding a vegetable patch you might as well want to read it if you want to build one. The steps are literally the same. I'll show you in a few simple steps how to get from lawn to vegetable patch. All you need is a rake, a shovel, soil, some borders and time.

When you are thinking about trying your first vegetable patch, start out with a smaller patch and expand when you feel like it. I started with a smaller one in our backyard since I had just moved in and were not sure about how much we wanted to grow. Either way, it is smart to start out smaller and expand as you go. As you see on the picture below our small vegetable patch provided plenty of produce already. However we wanted to expand it to try to grow more and different vegetables.

Plan the vegetable patch

When planning a new vegetable patch you might want to look for a place that is sunny and has good soil. If it is too shadowy the vegetables won't grow that well. The quality of soil can be improved, lack of sun can't be fixed. Once you found a good spot map it out with either sticks or the borders.

Prepare the vegetable patch

It helps to remove as much grass as possible. Do so by raking the grass vigorously and remove as much grass as possible by doing so. After doing that you need to turn over the soil using a shovel, the deeper you dig the better. When you are done with this put the borders in place. You can use anything from stones, bricks and metal to wood. I like using natural materials in my garden so this is what I chose. Now it is time to fill the vegetable patch with soil. If you have a compost bin you can use your own soil like we did. You can also buy good all purpose compost at the local gardening centre and scatter it over the freshly turned soil. 

Get planting

Now, this is the truly fun part. Chose what you want to plant in your vegetable garden. If you are a beginner try herbs, leeks, strawberries and any leafy green like kale, chard or lettuce. For more advice on how to replant or plant vegetables click here.