How do I start a vegetable garden in Indianapolis, IN?

It's nice to hear that you are getting started in gardening. Once you have a good crop, you'll be hooked!

If you spread blood meal around your plants, animals that are vegetarians (squirrels, rabbits, deer) will stay away. You do have to do it again, if it rains. But it is effective at keeping the critters away!

I found this article that you might find interesting. Make sure you watch the video..

The squirrels shouldn't be a problem. You can get a rabbit fence or just put up some chicken wire around your garden to keep out the rabbits.

You'll need to get an idea of how big you'll want your garden to be, which will depend on what you want to grow. Once you get that settled, sketch out a plan and start digging up the yard. You'll need to dig up the grass and they run a tiller over the soil to break it up good. Then you can start planting your veggies. You can also grow lots of things in containers, and that may be the best route for you to get started. In Indy, you'll probably want to plant sometime next month, after all danger of frost has passed.

The following link has lots of great info about garden planning, soil prep, creating a veggie garden from scratch, container gardening, etc..., along with detailed info about planting, watering, fertilizing and harvesting a wide variety of veggies. Good luck!

http://www.backyard-vegetable-gardening.com/

Small raised beds are a great way to start. You could outline a level area in your back yard, say 3-4 ft wide by 4-8 ft long. Build up the sides with wood, concrete blocks, or landscape timbers until they are at least 18 in high. Line the entire inside with water-permeable weed barrier. Then fill in with "garden dirt" (not top soil). There are several "garden dirt" mixes out there. Ask a local nursery about which mix would work best in your area. You could do this all in one day. Then have fun going out to pick and plant seedlings the next day. Almost an instant garden!

I recommend a few books to any beginning gardener or garden who is working with small spaces: Square Foot Gardening (http://www.squarefootgardening.com),/ and Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte, which does not have a website but is available to purchase all over the web, such as: http://www.overstock.com/Books-Movies-Music-Games/...

You need a good recipe for squirrel gravy and rabbit stew so you can enjoy your garden labors after if the critters eat your plants. LOL

Actually no, you won't need anything special for the squirrels. Very little grown in a garden is squirrel food. Most likely they will dig up your garden because the soft dirt will be an easy place to hide nuts and seeds for the winter.

Rabbits will eat lots of things grown in your garden. Purchase 24 inch high "Chicken Mesh Wire" and some stakes at the local farm store. Place it around your garden to keep Rabbits out and protect your plants.

First sit down and figure out what you need for space. Vining Squash and Pumpkins need about 5 ft. or planted on the edge of the garden so they can run off somewhere out of the garden to spread out. If you want Tomato's, figure 3 ft. circle for each Tomato Plant. For plants like peppers, cabbage, head lettuce or egg plant, 12 inches between plants in a row. For onions, leaf lettuce, bush beans, about 4 inches between each plant in a row.

Don't forget to leave space to walk between the rows.

Once you have the size of the garden you want, dig up the sod and weeds, pile it in a pile in one corner of the garden, cover with newspaper and lastly cover the news papers with lawn clippings or straw. Plant your Pumpkin or Squash on top of the pile, it will love the decomposing sod and grass clippings. The rest of the garden, till until the dirt is loose and easy to work with. Make your rows, plant your plants and seeds, and you will be a gardener.

Depending on where you live, deer and raccoons may be more of a problem than rabbits.

You can get gardening advice from the Marion County Master Gardeners.

Master Gardener volunteers answer gardening questions from the public in the Master Gardener Answerline Phone Center. Call (317) 275-9292 or e-mail: marionmg@purdue.edu