[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-405220-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-405220-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","preparing-a-vegetable-garden-site-basics","Preparing a Vegetable Garden Site - Basics","","Vegetable garden fact sheet for Granite State communities, guiding readers through the essentials of starting a new in-ground vegetable garden. Covers choosing an appropriate sunny location, avoiding low areas and potential lead-paint soil risk, selecting raised-bed versus in-ground formats, and testing soil pH before planting. Explains liming or wood-ash amendments, timing soil testing, and preparing lawn or sod through repeated tilling and effective mulching techniques to suppress perennial weeds.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/preparing-a-vegetable-garden-site-basics/405220/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/preparing-a-vegetable-garden-site-basics/405220.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"McQueen","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-28",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What factors matter most when selecting a vegetable garden site?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Pick a sunny location with over 8 hours of direct light, avoid low-lying spots where water accumulates, and avoid the perimeter of older houses built prior to 1978 due to potential lead paint soil contamination. Choose a location that is convenient and has easy irrigation access.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What soil pH is ideal for most vegetable crops and how is it adjusted?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Vegetable crops grow best at a pH of 6.5–6.8. Since native New Hampshire soils are often more acidic, add lime to raise and maintain pH (slow-acting) or wood ash (faster, often applied in spring).",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How can gardeners reduce perennial weeds and prepare sod for a new garden?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Start early: remove or suppress grasses and perennial weeds before they begin to regrow. Use repeated tilling (at least three times, about every 2–3 weeks) and/or mulching that blocks light completely for several weeks or months. Heavy UV-stabilized black plastic can be used, or organic materials such as newspaper, leaves, and straw.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},405220,1791101729,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":107,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":33,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":123,"preview_page_count":4},5909890329169,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Bringing information and education into the communities of the Granite State  \nPreparing a Vegetable Garden Site Becky Sideman, UNH Cooperative Extension Professor & Specialist  \nThis fact sheet will provide the basics of how to make a new vegetable garden, starting with site selection, and then covering soil testing, preparing the ground, cover cropping, and making a plan for fertilizing, weeding, and irrigating your new garden.  \nSite selection. The first major decision is where to put the vegetable garden.  \n• Choose a sunny spot. Most vegetables do best in full sun, over 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. If you don’t have this much sun, consider sticking with crops that are more likely to tolerate some shade, such as herbs, and greens, like lettuce and spinach.  \n• Avoid low-lying areas. Plant roots need oxygen, and vegetables are particularly sensitive to being submerged. Avoid putting a vegetable garden in a spot where the water accumulates after a rainstorm.  \n• Avoid the perimeter of old houses. Any house built prior to 1978 is likely to have been painted with lead paint that has subsequently chipped and fallen onto the soil around the house. As a result, lead levels in the soil may be high enough that growing edible produce isnot recommended. If in doubt, test your soil –standard soil tests screen for lead levels, and alert you if the lead levels may pose a concern.  \n• Consider convenience. If you have many spots to choose from, consider a location that is easy for you to get to, and one with easy access to irrigation water.  \nChoose your garden format. Raised-bed gardens use elevated frames that define a small, manageable space for the garden. While they involve more up-front labor and expense, they work well when the existing soil is not suitable for gardening. In-ground gardens work well when the soil is suitable for a garden, are less expensive to get started, and are easily moved to another location if needed. The rest ofthis fact sheet focuses on getting started with in-ground gardens.  \nTest the soil. Vegetable crops grow best in soils with a pH of 6.5-6.8. Our native NH soils are usually much more acidic than this (4.5-4.8), and lime or wood ash are added to raise and maintain a high pH, as well as to supply calcium and magnesium. Lime works slowly, so  \n✓  \nA vegetable garden can be productive and beautiful all summer long.  \nDid You K now?  \nVegetable crops grow best in soils with a pH of 6.5-6.8.  \nThis impatient gardener limed the garden site and is tilling in the sod about 6 weeks before the garden will be planted.  \nTilling the ground a single time is a good start to the process of killing grasses, but they are still alive and will re-grow. Plan to till at least three times, once every 2-3 weeks, to fully prepare this soil.  \nshould be applied in the fall if possible. Wood ash acts more quickly, and can be applied in the spring before planting. If the garden site is still grass, you can apply the lime or wood ash on top of the grass. If your garden site is already tilled and prepared, incorporating or mixing the lime or wood ash into the top 4-6 inches of soil will help it work sooner.  \nWe recommend that gardeners test their soil at least six months before planting to determine the amount of lime needed. Soil testing can be done through a number of private and public labs. UNH Cooperative Extension offers this service. Forms and instructions are available on our website: [https://extension.unh.edu/programs/soil-testing-services](https://extension.unh.edu/programs/soil-testing-services), or you can call our Info Line at 1-877-EXT-GROW (1-877-398-4769) .  \nMost new vegetable gardens start out as lawns or a combination of perennial weeds that need to be removed. Two easy and effective ways to kill perennial weeds in a garden setting are tillage and mulching, or a combination of these. Regardless of the method you use, perennial grasses are most easily killed in the very early spring before they beginto ","cbCaiu0aYqlgeK6E","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiu0aYqlgeK6E","pdf",719298,"English","# Site selection\n## Choose a sunny spot\n## Avoid low-lying areas\n## Avoid old-house perimeters\n# Choose your garden format\n# Test the soil\n## Soil pH and amendments\n# Prepare the ground for planting\n## Tillage\n## Mulching","[{\"question\":\"What factors matter most when selecting a vegetable garden site?\",\"answer\":\"Pick a sunny location with over 8 hours of direct light, avoid low-lying spots where water accumulates, and avoid the perimeter of older houses built prior to 1978 due to potential lead paint soil contamination. Choose a location that is convenient and has easy irrigation access.\"},{\"question\":\"What soil pH is ideal for most vegetable crops and how is it adjusted?\",\"answer\":\"Vegetable crops grow best at a pH of 6.5–6.8. Since native New Hampshire soils are often more acidic, add lime to raise and maintain pH (slow-acting) or wood ash (faster, often applied in spring).\"},{\"question\":\"How can gardeners reduce perennial weeds and prepare sod for a new garden?\",\"answer\":\"Start early: remove or suppress grasses and perennial weeds before they begin to regrow. Use repeated tilling (at least three times, about every 2–3 weeks) and/or mulching that blocks light completely for several weeks or months. Heavy UV-stabilized black plastic can be used, or organic materials such as newspaper, leaves, and straw.\"}]","Preparing a Vegetable Garden Site - Basics | PDF",1790555411]