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Good soil and plenty of sunlight are key to any new garden.

TOM'S TIP

IN MY COLUMN April 12 about getting ready to garden, I said I was going to get rid of rocks in a 3-foot by 10-foot area, add compost and plant compact rows in that area.

Barb Smith of Raymond had an alternative idea. She suggests I get rid of rows altogether, and do three succession plantings.

"Mix your carrot seed with some dry sand (to help with even seed distribution) and put it in a large-holed shaker, like maybe one for cinnamon. While you are in the kitchen looking for a shaker, practice sprinkling the seed mixture into an old pie pan or something to get the feel of your shaker system and make sure the hole size works.

"Back in the garden, use a hoe or gloved hands to pull aside the top half-inch of soil from the area to be planted. Sprinkle the whole area with the seed/sand mix from your shaker. If you like, you can then scatter on a few radish seeds to get double duty from the space (the radishes will be up and out before the carrots need the space, and the radishes will help keep the soil from crusting over). Then use your hands to scatter the reserved soil back onto the seeded bed and pat everything down firmly.

"You know the rest – keep the bed well watered. And once the carrots are up, you'll have to thin them a couple times – first to about an inch apart, then later to 2 or 3 inches apart. The later thinnings should be getting big enough to eat."

Everybody seems to be talking about vegetable gardening this year. Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden at the White House. The demand for community-gardening plots is strong. Seed companies are reporting big increases in sales of vegetable seeds.

With all of this new interest, new gardeners need enough information to do the job right. I write a lot about Nancy and me growing vegetables in our garden, and sometimes about growing specific vegetables at home.

But after some reflection, I realized that I had never written a basic column on how to create a vegetable garden.

Instead of writing off the top of my head, I decided to attend a "Grow Your Own Organic Garden" class sponsored by Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. About 40 classes were held statewide on April 1, and they proved highly popular.

The class, held at Turkey Hill Farm in Cape Elizabeth, was taught by David Buchanan. Buchanan managed Turkey Hill Farm last year, is one of the organizers of Slow Food Portland, and is a designer with Stillman Land Restoration and Design.

"Light is the key to any new garden," Buchanan said. "Light and soil."

Your garden plot should receive seven to eight hours of sunlight every day, especially to grow tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, Buchanan said. For greens, such as lettuce and beets, you can cut it back to five or six hours. Root crops are somewhere in the middle.

"But as you lessen the light, you weaken the vigor of the plant," he said.

If you have several places with enough light, Buchanan suggests picking the one that is most convenient to the kitchen. "You want to get from your kitchen to your garden with minimal time, effort and clothing," he said.

If you are a new gardener, start small. Buchanan suggests a beginner's garden should be 10 feet by 10 feet. If you try to do more the first year, you can become overwhelmed and give up. And by planting closely together, you can get a lot of food from a 10-by-10 garden. If you do a good job with that garden, next year you can expand.

Removing sod is one of the first steps in creating a garden. Don't just till in the sod, because a tiller goes only 3 or 4 inches deep and the grass will keep resprouting through the year. The best method of getting rid of grass is starting a year earlier, covering the grass with a layer of newspaper six sheets deep, and putting mulch on top of that. If you didn't think to kill the sod last year, you are going to have to lift it this year.

Buchanan does not like raised beds. He said pressure-treated wood should not be used near vegetables, and creating raised beds is a lot of work.

The layout of the garden is up to you. You don't have to use the typical rows favored by commercial gardeners. Buchanan favors planting zones about 30 inches wide. You can plant several rows in that 30-inch space or put in groups of plants without any thoughts of rows. The 30-inch width is easy to reach from both sides for planting, weeding and harvesting.

You can companion plant in the garden. Buchanan suggests putting basil and tomatoes together because you can keep cutting the basil throughout the season and it does not get in the way of the tomatoes.

When you start a garden, sandy soil is better than clay. Clay is really difficult to break down, and it prevents the roots of plants from getting needed oxygen and moisture. Also, it's difficult to mix in compost with the clay. If all you have is clay, bring in a lot of compost – so you have a layer about 6 inches deep – and plant in that.

"Sand is a much better place to start," Buchanan said. "You just keep on adding organic material."

Buchanan believes in working the soil as little as possible. He uses a spading fork and a broad fork, which is similar to the U-bar that we use on our garden, to loosen the soil for planting and mixing in compost. If you work the soil too much, it breaks...