Ideal garden size

[Kentucky gardener]

how big should a beginners garden be?

 

[Meadowlark]

Good question. My response assumes a veggie garden.

Choose a site that can be large (larger than you want to work at first), that you can work with equipment, and then start small within that site.

It would be preferable if the site had good level ground, drained well, and had full sunshine all day. Water source nearby is helpful.

That choice of the site is a very important decision...actually more important than the initial size.

As for the initial size, start small...something like 20x30 ft.

Make raised rows like 10 of them running lengthwise.

Or something half that size, if your time is limited like 5 rows in 10x15 space.

Start now by preping the ground for next springs crops. Clear it of all vegetation. Lightly disc it. Add composted manure if you have it and if you don't start making some for the future.

Then plant a good, thick cover crop with a legume and leave it until next spring when you should turn it under add compost if you haven't already added, and make your rows and seed bed.

 

[Chuck]

I don't think being a beginner has anything to do with the size of ones garden. IMO the size of ones garden should be determined by ones enthusiam and the ability to maintain it. This involves how much time and energy you have to dig it, fertilize it, plant it, weed it, maintain the plants and harvest the crops. For some folks a 3' x 3' spot of ground is all they can manage while others have an acre. Myself, my big garden was a tad less than 1/4 acre. Today I could not manage something that large which is why I am now only growing in containers. I would start small though as Meadowlark stated. If you have more time and energy you can always make it bigger.

 

[Xraycer]

This is my first year as a gardener. I didn't know if I would enjoy gardening or not, so I started with a 10'x10' space and using all containers. This set up turned out to be an excellent size. It provided me plenty of room to grow plenty of plants, yet kept maintenance very manageable. The amount of veggies produced was fairly close for my desired consumption.
I've very much enjoyed my gardening experience and looking forward to starting anew again next spring. This garden size worked well enough that I have no plans to enlarge the footprint, at this point.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

This is my first year as a gardener. I didn't know if I would enjoy gardening or not, so I started with a 10'x10' space and using all containers. This set up turned out to be an excellent size. It provided me plenty of room to grow plenty of plants, yet kept maintenance very manageable. The amount of veggies produced was fairly close for my desired consumption.
I've very much enjoyed my gardening experience and looking forward to starting anew again next spring. This garden size worked well enough that I have no plans to enlarge the footprint, at this point.
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You might find the ground to be easier, less watering, bigger plants

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Mine is shrinking, 82 tomorrow and I am starting to find I don't want quite as much work. I have always gone for four foot wide beds, working from either side it is possible to reach everything without walking on them. I would start with one about six foot long and put potatoes on it, a good crop to clear the ground, then follow with beans and clear another for potatoes, then greens of some sort after the beans, beans after the potatoes, and start a third bed with potatoes.
Three beds in three years is not wildly ambitious, but better to start that way than overload yourself with work and give up halfway.

 

[Xraycer]

You might find the ground to be easier, less watering, bigger plants

Hand watering, with a hose, takes only about 8 minutes for me. I bought a drip system, but never felt the need to install it with such a short time it took to hand water.
I suppose bigger plants would be nice, but what grew in containers produced adequate food for me. I don't want to grow more than what I'm willing to consume.
Container gardening has its advantages in that I can move existing plant arrangements, and working the soil from sitting on a milk crate is a lot better than having to be on my knees and on all fours when working from the ground.
After my first season, I am very satisfied with my set up, and have no desire to make any changes for next season. I’ve learned a whole bunch, and consider my first attempt a success. I now have a better vision/plan for next year.

 

[Meadowlark]

I don't want to grow more than what I'm willing to consume.

That's sort of the thing that drove my gardening journey from the very beginning...we eat food every day, usually more than once.

The garden food is so much tastier and more nutritious than store bought food it encouraged me, when I first started gardening 1/2 century ago to grow more and that led to larger and larger sites.

An occasional meal wasn't enough for me, and I wanted my family to have the benefit of the most nutritious food I could provide. Thus, the gardening journey that led to producing over 90% of the veggie food my family consumes.

That continues to this day. My site grew from a 4 x 6 bed in hard pan clay to 40 x 80 in soil that anyone would recognize as super garden food growing soil. Growing nutritious food requires "growing" your soil.

Lately, my journey has added containers to the site which I find provide a means of production to augment my site as well as facilitates some of the work. Loose leaf veggies I can grow abundantly in the containers but not so much in soil. I can protect them from the elements in the containers.

Over the gardening years, I found I could grow more and more on less space and without any chemicals by adopting some commonsense gardening techniques e.g. crop rotation, soil building, extensive use of cover crops especially with legumes, etc.

I still garden in a 40 x 80 space but normally only 1/2 of that space is actively producing veggies at any given time and the other half is in replenishment. I'm producing more today on 1/2 than I ever produced in the full-size site and have done so 100% without synthetic chemicals all the while with soil tests yielding "No N, P, K required" .

You never know unless you grow.

 

[Ruderunner]

As noted, size is more related to time and energy than experience. For a beginner though I recommend something small as the learning curve can be steep. Smaller makes mistakes easier to correct.

I think Xraycer has a good deal going by starting small and in containers, really makes corrections easy.

As you progress, you'll find tricks that make things easier and can upsize as you go.
As for me, 2 16x20 plots is about the limit without buying machinery.

 

[Sluggy]

Well now what a question. People have turned balconies and roofs into little gardens. Then you have country house gardens. So how fit are you and how is your back which will dictate the size of your plot. Being a beginner should not limit your size as there is plenty of advice here and on your search engine or buy gardening books, plenty out there. Mark out your plot then get paper and pencil out ( yes there are programs for this but I am a paper and pencil man) to note what you will be planting and where. Being American just bite the bullet and go for it.

 

[Kentucky gardener]

So how fit are you and how is your back which will dictate the size of your plot

I am not very fit, my backs fine as far as I know. im leaning towards a 30 by 40 plot.

 

[Meadowlark]

I am not very fit, my backs fine as far as I know. im leaning towards a 30 by 40 plot.

Do you have or have access to equipment?

 

[Kentucky gardener]

Do you have or have access to equipment?

im getting a rototiller from my cousin.

 

[Meadowlark]

Perfect.

 

[Sluggy]

Excellent but make sure he shows you how to use it and gives you the manual. Some models you have to walk backwards In certain situations. If electric no problem but ask if it has 2 stroke or 4 stroke engine. If 4 stroke just add petrol if 2 stroke you have to add an additive to the fuel. Then ask how to start it as it might have a choke you have to use and where the dead man’s lever is. It cuts off the engine if you loose your grip. I used to have a Manta when I had a large garden but sadly no more.