Planting your very first vegetable garden takes lots of hard work, sunshine and water, but the end result can yield a meal filled with healthy vegetables grown with special care and attention.

But don't let the thought of toiling for hours in a garden put you off. Once you've got the essentials to make a go at it, all it takes is a couple of hours spent in the garden every month. The key to successful vegetable garden is planning and keeping to this plan throughout the year.

Stand your ground

Pick the piece of ground where you plan on planting your seeds — Neil Moran, a horticulture trades instructor and author of 'North Country Gardening: Simple Secrets To Successful Gardening', writes that you should start off with land no bigger than 8m x 10m. This enables you to maintain and control what happens on a regular basis.

If you really don't trust your instincts on what to plant and where, consult with your local garden nursery salesperson or consult 'Gardening With Keith Kirsten', which covers all aspects of gardening from landscaping and garden maintenance to when and what to plant where.

Choose a location that receives lots of sunlight and has a steady supply of water. And test the soil to check the consistency and pH balance.

The best kind of soil to grow vegetables in is the sandy loam type. You can distinguish between this and other types by giving it the squeeze test. Take a handful of earth and squeeze it in a ball. If it crumbles when you let go, it's sandy loam soil.

If you've got a sandy or clay soil, you can amend its properties by adding some topsoil or compost, which should include any biodegradable substance made from livestock manure. This should be applied at least once in the spring and once in autumn.

Once you've picked out your desired land, draw up a plan, including what plants go where and make allowances for pathways and borders.

Choose your weed

Write down a list of your preferred vegetables you want — take into consideration the season, how long it takes to grow, and how much attention the plant will need.

Do your homework and find out from friends who have been planting their own vegetables for years, which vegetables harvest the best, and what the best seed types are.

Here's a rough guide to start with:

Spring
• Beans (August to March)
• Pumpkins (August to October)

Summer
• Peas (February to July)
• Lettuce (February to August)
• Onions (February to April)
• Potatoes (January and February)

Autumn
• Carrots (March to August)
• Spinach (March to August)

Winter
• Turnips (April to September)
• Beetroot (April to September)
• Potatoes (June and July)

All year
• Tomatoes
• Cabbage

Easy-to-grow crops include onions, peas and beetroot, which can be planted before all the other seeds. Moran adds that tomatoes and peppers need to be started from seed indoors about eight weeks before planting them outside.

Cabbage and cauliflowers usually grow in corresponding height and can be planted side by side.

Reaping what you sow

When planting seeds, make sure that the land has been raked and you have sufficient topsoil. A distance of half a metre between rows is enough to let the vegetables grow without interference from one another, but do not let root crops crowd each other in the row.

If you're unsure of how far to space the crops, read the instructions on the seed packet.

The University of the Western Cape's Botany Department says that when planting seeds, it's best to make shallow furrows in the soil with your finger or a stick. Make the rows run across the bed, not lengthwise.

Take into consideration when planting new seeds that they must be watered regularly for the first ten days and then two to three times a week thereafter.

Dealing with pests

Besides keeping a hand on your vegetable patch with water and weeding, pests are always a problem. Take care of insect infestation as soon as you detect a problem.

Looks for signs of insect munching, like chewing marks on plants. Try to identify the type of insect causing the harm and go with an insecticide that targets the specific insect.

Proper spacing between rows, weeding and fertilising is a good way to prevent disease and insect infestation, without resorting to harmful insecticides.

The right fertiliser

When using a fertiliser, go for one that's granular or water-soluble. A 15-15 or 20-20 fertiliser is a good all-round one, which will provide your plants with the necessary parts of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.

Also, a good time to apply granular fertiliser is a couple of days before planting, working it into the first few layers of the topsoil.

To discourage weeds, cover the vegetable bed with a thin layer of dry grass or dry leaves. This is called mulch — it conserves water and feeds the soil.

Remember to always harvest your vegetables only when they're ripe and don’t overcook them as they lose all their nutrients and become limp if left to boil for too long.