I am a first-time gardener. I will be planting mainly vegetables in a pre-plotted area from the previous owners. (Just bought the house!) Problem is, the area is large enough but it is oddly shaped, sort of like a big kidney bean. Rows don't seem very natural, and I wanted some advice on "grouping" my vegetables and any other tips that might help! Also, anyone got advice on when I should think about planting? Hard to tell when it will be warm enough. Thanks!

Hi Nancy.. here are some groupings you can do .. it is called companion planting..Tomatoes you can plant with basil, marigolds, cabbage, carrots, celery, onion and mint herbs.Lettuce plant with bush beans, pole beans, carrots cucumbers, onion radish strawberries. Melons go with corn, radishes.Peppers plant with onions. Spinach plant with celery, eggplant, cauliflower. Squash goes with corn, onion radish...Beets go with bush beans, cabbage, onion ,sage. Peas and beans go well together, Corn I plant with more beans[usually my pole beans], melons, peas squash. Just about everything can be planted with onions or beans as you can see.. lots of variety. I always plant marigolds around my tomatoes and carrots as it prevents the carrot rust fly and repels other bugs such as the tomato horn worm and aphids... dont have any problems since i did that and it has been years!!!! Lettuce and peas are cold season veggies.. can plant as soon as you can work the soil... they can take a light frost as well. here's another tip.. I am in the same zone as you and by April 1st i plant my peas, but first i put the seeds in the house on a plate in a wet paper towel, after 2 days you can see they have germinated then i plant.. if you put them in the soil without doing this, the soil is too cold yet for them to germinate but this works everytime.. i saw it years ago ona gardening show and do it every year.. carrots also can go in quite early... definetly by the first week in May my garden is seeded. hope this helps.

Hi again Nancy... this might make it easier: I will name a veggie and next to it is what NOT to plant with it [ bad companions]... BUSH BEANS: Onion POLE BEANS: Beets, Onions CABBAGE FAMILY: Strawberries CARROTS: Dill CORN: Tomato CUCUMBERS: no strong herbs ONION: beans, peas PEAS: onion RADISH: Hyssop STRAWBERRY: cabbage TOMATO: Corn, fennel This might be easier, anything else goes!!! Have fun

Hello Michelle - thank you so much for the information. I think this is really going to come in handy. It is a little scary just starting out and I always feel like I'm going to mess something up. But this sounds pretty safe! :)

Thanks again.