When you taste a cucumber or tomato picked fresh off the vine, you instantly understand one of the benefits of eating food that is truly fresh, taste.

Growing your own vegetables, which ensures they are fresh and tasty, is a straightforward process.

You do not need a lot of equipment, pair of gardening gloves, rake, shovel, watering system and a place to put the garden.

What you do need is a place with at least six hours of sunshine each day, a source of water, soil & compost, seeds or seedlings, and a few basic tools.

How big will the garden be? The answer is related to how much time you have to garden.

To be an organic garden all that is necessary is for the gardener not to use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Buy heritage seeds when you can, these seeds will bred true to the parent which is most helpful when you are saving seeds.

Once you know how big the garden will be, decide what you will grow. It is important to select vegetables that will mature during the gardening season where you live, so find out your gardening zone; or at least determine when the last frost and first frosts generally take place.

Talk with people you know who grow vegetables and ask them what works for them. Most importantly grow what you will eat.

Okay, you have the site selected, the tools you need and know what you are going to grow, so build yourself a garden bed.

A rectangle is a basic garden shape. Do not make the bed any wider than four feet across so that you can reach into the garden from any position without stepping on the soil. This way you do not compact the soil and make it harder to work. Soil health is paramount to a thriving garden.

You can either grow your vegetables in containers or you can create a vegetable garden bed. The choice is up to you and depends upon a number of factors, space and time being two.

Whichever way you go be sure to add compost to the mix. If you do not have your own composter, then buy organic compost. This you can work into the new garden bed. I do suggest you start you own compost pile, though.

For container gardening, you may need to buy soil as the soil in your backyard is too heavy for the plants when grown in containers. A talk with the manager of your local garden centre can yield the product you need, an organic potting soil. Be sure to explain what you are doping and take advantage of their knowledge.

Watering is important; if you can use a drip irrigation system as this will direct the water to the plants’ roots which is where you want it to grow. Ideally, water in the early morning before the day gets too hot, if not after supper will do.

You can grow your own food, if you want to.