Reference

Resources for a First Vegetable Garden

Last updated July 31, 2026

Start with the free stuff

Before buying anything, find your local information: your cooperative extension service gives free advice from people who know your county, and your real frost dates come from a weather station near you. Both are free, and both beat any national guide including this one.

Then, if you want it, the starter tool kit — five things you genuinely need, three that are nice, and the list of what to skip.

Find your local information first

No national site can tell you your frost dates or which varieties do well three streets away. These can.

Cooperative Extension Service directory Free

Every US state runs a free public gardening advice service through its land-grant university, staffed by people who know your county's soil, pests and frost dates.

This is the single most useful bookmark on the page. Most run a free helpline, many offer soil tests for $15 to $25, and their advice beats anything general — including ours.

NOAA average last spring freeze map Free

Interactive map of the date your chance of a freezing night drops below 50 percent, from weather-station records.

Your real frost date, rather than one inferred from a hardiness zone. Put it into our planting calendar and every window recalculates.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map Free

Enter a ZIP code, get your zone. Revised in 2023, so re-check one you looked up years ago.

Useful for choosing perennials and as a rough starting point. Remember it describes winter lows, not frost dates.

USDA Local Food Directories Free

Official searchable listings of farmers markets, CSAs, food hubs and on-farm markets near you.

Growers at a farmers market will happily tell you what does well locally. It is the fastest shortcut to local knowledge there is.

American Community Gardening Association Free

Directory and resources for community gardens across the US and Canada.

A plot in a community garden gives you experienced neighbours, shared tools and someone to water while you are away. Hard to beat in a first year.

Buy Nothing Project Free

Hyper-local gift networks where neighbours pass on things they no longer need.

Pots, tools, spare seedlings and leftover compost circulate constantly in spring. A genuinely good way to start a garden for almost nothing.

Apps and online tools

Worth having on your phone. We have not been paid to list any of these.

iNaturalist Free

Photograph a plant or insect and get an identification, confirmed by a community of naturalists.

The best free way to work out whether the beetle on your squash is a problem before you do anything about it.

Our planting calendar Free

Pick your zone or enter your own frost dates to see what to sow, start indoors or transplant each month.

Built to accept your real frost dates rather than guessing them from your zone.

GrowVeg Garden Planner

Drag-and-drop bed planner that handles spacing and crop rotation for you, with a free trial and a paid subscription after it.

Genuinely useful once you are planning more than one bed. Overkill for a first 4x8.

A notes app you already have Free

One note per season: what you planted, when, and what happened.

Not a joke, and not a product. Next February that note is worth more than any book or app on this page.

Where to get seed

All of these ship across the US and publish germination rates and days-to-harvest properly.

Your local seed library Free

Many public libraries lend seed for free, the way they lend books. Search your library's site for 'seed library'.

Free, and the varieties on offer are usually ones that already do well in your area.

Johnny's Selected Seeds

Employee-owned supplier used by market growers. Detailed growing information on every variety.

The variety notes are more useful than most gardening books, and free to read whether or not you buy.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Very large heirloom and open-pollinated catalogue.

Where to look once you want varieties no garden centre stocks. Heirlooms can be less disease-resistant, so mix in a modern variety in year one.

Botanical Interests

Packets printed with sowing instructions inside and out.

The packets themselves teach you. Good choice for a genuine beginner.

Learning more

Your state extension's vegetable guide Free

Nearly every extension service publishes a free regional vegetable growing guide as a PDF.

Written for your climate by people paid to be accurate, not to sell you anything. Start here before buying a book.

Our glossary Free

Plain-English definitions of the terms seed packets and guides assume you know.

If a guide loses you at 'harden off before setting out transplants', start here.

The starter tool kit

What you actually need in year one, and what to skip. Prices are 2026 US retail estimates and vary a lot by region.

The five you actually need

Hand trowel $8 - $15

For planting seedlings and digging small holes.

What to look for: Get one forged from a single piece of steel. The failure point on cheap trowels is where the blade meets the handle.

Garden fork or spade $25 - $45

For loosening the top 8 to 12 inches of soil and turning in compost.

What to look for: A fork beats a spade in most soils and is far less work in clay. Check the handle is wood or fibreglass, not hollow tube.

Watering can or hose wand $10 - $35

For watering the soil without blasting seedlings out of it.

What to look for: A rose or wand head matters more than the vessel. A bare hose end will wash out a row of carrot seed.

Gloves $8 - $18

For weeding, handling compost and anything thorny.

What to look for: Nitrile-coated fabric gloves fit closely enough to handle seed. Leather is overkill for vegetables.

Pruning snips $12 - $25

For harvesting, thinning at soil level and cutting twine.

What to look for: Bypass snips, not anvil. Anvil blades crush stems instead of cutting them.

Nice to have, not year one

Soil thermometer $8 - $15

For knowing when soil is actually warm enough to sow.

What to look for: The cheapest one is fine. This is the tool that answers 'why did my beans never come up' before it happens.

Tomato cages or stakes $5 - $20 each

Support for tomatoes, installed at planting time.

What to look for: Buy sturdier than looks necessary. The flimsy conical cages sold everywhere collapse under an indeterminate tomato by August.

Garden twine $4 - $8

For tying plants to supports and marking straight rows.

What to look for: Jute or hemp so it can go on the compost heap at the end of the season.

What to skip

Nobody needs these in a first year, whatever the garden centre display suggests.

Tillers and cultivators — a garden fork does the job on a 4x8 bed
Kneeling stools, tool belts and aprons — nice, not needed
Seed-starting kits with domes and heat mats, unless you are growing peppers
Anything sold as a complete 'garden starter set' — usually four times the component cost with thin steel

Borrow before you buy. A Buy Nothing group, a neighbour, or a community garden shed will cover most of this for nothing, and you will find out what you actually reach for before spending anything.

Know a resource we have missed? Send it over. We are especially interested in free and local things — seed libraries, tool lending, community plots.