Starting a Vegie Patch

• We recommend starting small and plan a 1x1 metre square garden bed or even a large 40–50cm diameter pot. 
• You can build your garden bed with a range of materials, depending on your budget. Raised garden beds are a great way to start growing vegies. Raised garden bed kits, that are made of metal sheeting or timber sleepers, are available at hardware stores and garden centres. Most are easy to put together, and some don't require any tools.
• You can also create a garden bed by recycling what you have on hand, including lengths of timber, bricks, logs, pipes and even hay bales as edging. 
• What if you don't have a backyard or need a portable solution? There are self-contained raised garden beds available, that can be positioned anywhere, including on balconies and other hard surfaces. Also keep an eye out for large pots, barrels, old wheelbarrows and bathtubs. They can all be used to start a potted vegie patch! 

• Find the sun – most vegies require at least six hours of direct sunlight to do well. Sun is particularly important to fruiting vegies like Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Zucchinis. Some leafy vegies and herbs, like Lettuce, Silverbeet, Spinach and Basil, can be grown in a spot with less hours of sun. Seed packets and plant tags will provide information on the amount of sun that vegie or herb needs.  
• Locating your vegie patch near a tap or where you have hose access is also a good idea. Lugging watering cans over long distances, to and from a vegie patch, can become difficult.     

• A vegie patch can be created in an existing garden bed or on an area of lawn.  
• On a lawn, using a sharp spade, remove as much of the lawn and grass roots from the surface. As it's challenging to completely remove every last piece of lawn, lay damp sheets of newspaper (at least six sheets thick) or cardboard over the area. This helps smother any remaining grass. Then cover with 10–15 cm of good quality bagged garden soil, that you can purchase from your local garden centre. It is helpful to surround your new vegie patch with timber or bricks, to help keep the soil contained.   
• Raised garden beds can be positioned on top of a section of lawn. As they're usually at least 30 cm tall, the lawn doesn't need to be removed first. Just lay down wet newspaper, at least six sheets thick, where the bed will be placed. Next, the bed needs to be filled with soil. Soil from your garden should not be dug up to fill the bed, as it may not have the correct structure to promote healthy plant growth. Your local garden centre will have bagged or bulk garden soil that has been specially designed for filling garden beds. Fill the bed with soil, leaving around 10 cm between the top of the new soil and the top of the bed. 
• One of the many benefits of growing vegies in raised beds is it doesn't matter whether you have a sandy soil or clay soil. By filling the bed with quality new soil, it raises the root zone above the ground below, bypassing the potentially poor soil underneath.  
• Soil is the engine room of your vegie patch, so creating healthy soil is important! Before planting seedlings or sowing seeds, mix some handfuls of Yates Dynamic Lifter Plant Food & Soil Improver into the soil. Yates Dynamic Lifter contains a concentrated blend of organic ingredients to enrich and improve the soil and help give the new plants a great start. 

• Sow seeds or plant seedlings, straight into your new bed or pot. For inspiration on what vegie seeds are suitable for your climate and the time of year, visit Vegetable Seeds | Buy Yates Vegetable Seeds Online 
• There are lots of different types of vegetables. If you're new to gardening, Lettuce, Silverbeet, Spring Onions, dwarf varieties of Tomatoes, Parsley and Basil are all easy to grow and don't take up too much space. Grow larger plants at the back of the vegie patch, and more compact plants at the front. If the vegie patch is next to a fence, attach a wire frame to the fence so you can grow climbing plants like Cucumbers and Beans.  
• If your vegie patch is a pot, a Yates Tuscan pot is ideal. In one 50 cm diameter pot, you can grow a few loose leaf Lettuces and a dwarf Tomato plant, or a combination of leafy herbs like Basil, Chives and Parsley. To promote the best results, use a quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix with Dynamic Lifter.  
• If you have some spare space, include some flowers in your vegie patch. They not only look lovely, they're wonderful companion plants for your vegies, as they attract beneficial insects.  

Vegies need the soil (or potting mix) to be consistently moist, but not wet. It's easy to check moisture levels in the soil by digging around in the top few centimetres with your finger. You'll be able to feel whether the soil is moist, or if it's dry and needs watering. Depending on the weather, you'll need to water your vegie patch several times a week. During hot weather and when growing a potted vegie patch, watering may be required every day.  

Applying a layer of mulch, such as pea straw or sugar cane, over the soil or potting mix surface, can help retain moisture. The added benefit of using mulch is that it can reduce weeds growing. If the soil becomes hard to wet (water repellent), applying a soil wetting agent, like Yates Waterwise Soil Wetter, will help get water down into the root zone.  

Snails and Slugs can decimate seedlings very quickly, so it's a good idea to lightly sprinkle some Yates Snail & Slug Bait around the plants.  

Monitor your vegies for signs of insect pests. Chewing insects like Caterpillars can devour leaves and sucking insects like Aphids can cause leaves to yellow and distort. As soon as pests are spotted, protect vegies with a quick dusting of Yates Tomato & Vegetable Dust.

It's important to feed your vegies regularly, so they can feed you! Vegies need lots of nutrients to grow all their delicious leaves or tasty fruit.  Feeding is as simple as mixing two capfuls of Yates Thrive Natural Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food in a 9 L watering can and applying around the plants every 1–2 weeks. It's time saving too, as you're watering and feeding at the same time.  

And finally, don't give up! Growing vegies can be extremely rewarding, but you might meet some challenges along the way, which is very normal. Visit the How to Grow pages on the Yates website for details about growing lots of different vegies and herbs, including solving some of the most common problems.