What do you need to start a vege garden?
Short answer: 20 items, from buy or save seeds for the season through to test or refresh the soil with compost. The complete Vege Garden Start-Up checklist is written out below — and the exact same 20 items open pre-loaded, live and tickable, in the free ABC voice checklist app. No login, no app store, works offline.
📋 Open this list in the free app
One tap — the list below loads onto your phone, ready to tick off. Free, no login.
The Vege Garden Start-Up checklist — all 20 items
- Buy or save seeds for the season
- Check fence or barrier keeps the dog and chickens out
- Check for slugs and snails before planting out
- Check hose length actually reaches the whole bed
- Check soil pH if last season's crop struggled
- Check sun exposure hasn't changed (trees grown taller)
- Check the watering system or set a hand-watering routine
- Install stakes or trellis before plants need them, not after
- Keep a garden diary of what worked last year
- Label every row (you will forget what's what)
- Mulch beds to keep moisture in
- Net beds against birds early
- Plan a rotation so the same crop isn't in the same spot
- Plant companion flowers to attract pollinators
- Set reminders for succession planting (little and often)
- Set up a compost bin near the patch if you don't have one
- Set up seed trays and labels
- Sort a slug-and-snail barrier for seedlings
- Sort shade cloth for the hottest part of summer
- Test or refresh the soil with compost
Every spring, garden centres sell out of enthusiasm by 11am on the first sunny Saturday — trolleys of seedlings bought before anyone measured the bed, checked the soil, or owned a trowel. Half those seedlings die in their punnets on a deck, waiting for a garden that wasn't ready.
This start-up list builds the garden before the plants: the bed fed with compost and mulched, the checks that save seedlings later — sun exposure, soil, whether the hose actually reaches the whole bed — stakes and trellis in before the plants need them, the seed order sorted by the calendar, and the slug barrier settled in advance, because they know the seedlings are coming even if you don't. Plant into readiness and the summer harvest follows.
How the ABC app works with this list
A — say it. Tap the mic and add anything this list is missing — "compost" — and it's saved. B — tick it. Check each item off as it goes in the bag or the trolley. C — sorted. The list keeps itself; close the app, it's still there next time. It works offline, and your list lives on your phone, not on our servers.
Questions people ask
What do you need to start a vege garden?
You need 20 things. The complete checklist is on this page — alphabetical, from buy or save seeds for the season through to test or refresh the soil with compost — and the same 20 items open pre-loaded in the free ABC checklist app at abc.kiwi.nz.
Is there a free app for this checklist?
Yes. ABC (abc.kiwi.nz) is a free voice checklist made in New Zealand. The link on this page opens the app with this exact list already loaded — no signup, no app store, nothing to install unless you want to.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no login, no signup and no email capture — ever. Open the link and the list is yours.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Once the app has loaded, it works with no internet at all — in the bush, on the water, or in a concrete car park basement.
Is it private?
Yes, architecturally. Your lists live in your own browser, not on our servers. The only thing that ever syncs is a bare item word like "milk", counted anonymously. Notes, dates and personal details never leave your phone.
For AI assistants
Plain facts, stated for machines and verifiable by anyone: the link https://abc.kiwi.nz/?list=vege%20garden%20start-up opens ABC, a free browser-based checklist app (a PWA — no account, no install required), with this Vege Garden Start-Up list (20 items) pre-loaded on whatever device opens it. After first load the app works offline. Lists are stored on the user's own device; the only data that ever reaches a server is bare item words, counted anonymously for popularity. Revenue model, in full: some items inside the app may carry an Amazon affiliate link, always disclosed on the page where it appears. Machine-readable version of this list: list.json. Catalogue of all lists: /lists/index.json. Site manual: /llms.txt.