Planning your garden
For the best success, a vegetable garden should be well
planned out in advance. The site location is of the utmost importance. A spot
near the house in full sunlight is the normally the most convenient
spot, however, drainage, soil quality, and shade from buildings or trees may
mean the garden must be located in an area farther from the house.
A good
vegetable garden must have at least six hours of full sun each day in order for
your food crops to mature properly. No amount of fertilizer,
water, or care can replace needed sunshine. The soil should be very fertile and
well draining so that water never puddles after a rain storm. While good air
movement around a garden is important, windy areas should be avoided because
winds can dry out or break plants. Choose a spot close to a water supply for
convenience, and to avoid having to use long lengths of hoses. Planting a
vegetable garden where it can be visited frequently will allow you to monitor
plant pests and the general health of the garden more easily.
Your choice of vegetables will be largely determined by the
likes and dislikes of your family. If you expect to consume large quantities of
a type of vegetable, it is usually more cost effective to start your plants
from seeds indoors. Some types of plants resent transplanting and must be sown
directly into the garden where they are to be grown. In other instances it is
best to purchase bedding plant starts to extend the growing season long enough
to insure the maturity of the crop. As you plan and map out your vegetable
garden, be sure consider the information found in our vegetable garden section
to determine what and where to plant.
In planning your garden, consider what and how much you will
plant. It is better to have a well maintained, small garden than a large one
neglected and full of weeds. Usually, the garden should be surrounded by a
sufficiently high fence with close mesh to keep out dogs, rabbits, and other
animals. A fence also can serve as a trellis for beans, peas, tomatoes, and
other crops that need support.
It is helpful to draw a diagram of your prospective garden,
mapping out each row according to height, plant requirements and other
criteria. The direction of the rows isn't necessarily critical, but often it is
a good idea to have them running east-west, thereby allowing you to plant your
tallest crops on the north end of the plot, and successively shorter crops in
front. This prevents shading of the shorter plants. If you must plant your
garden on a hill, cut your furrows on a contour with the land, so that
the water won't run quickly down the hill, taking with it the valuable topsoil,
and the nutrients needed for your plants.
Perennial vegetables such as rhubarb and asparagus should be planted off to the
side where they won't interfere with future plowing. Early producing crops
(radishes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, onions, etc.) should be grouped
together with extra space for successive plantings. After they are finished for
the season, this will allow you to easily rework the area for later season
crops.
If the same garden plot is used for vegetables for many
years, your crops should be rotated, so that each vegetable is in a different
position during the following season. Each few years, give your garden a year
off, and during that time concentrate on rebuilding the soil to replace the
nutrients that have been depleted.