Vegetable Planting
A Quick Guide to Vegetable Planting
Many different steps are involved in vegetable planting, from making a garden plan to preparing the seedbed and selecting the seeds. One of the best things to do to start is to take a piece of paper, draw a box, and then decide which vegetables you want to grow and mark where you will put the rows. Once these decisions have been made, you should buy your seeds.
Many people buy their garden seeds in January. Now there are several options when buying seeds--buying them online, through a mail order catalog, or at a gardening store. Wherever you decide to go, the best selection is always going to be available at the first of the year. It is best to buy fresh new seed every year, but if you have a large amount of leftover seeds from the previous year, you can try planting them. A percentage will germinate, but if you choose this method, spread your seeds extra thick to make up for the ones that won’t germinate.
Preparing the seedbed is the next step in vegetable planting. The first time you will probably do this in the spring, but from then on, if you prefer, you can do it in the fall after the harvest. Get rid of all the plant leftovers from the last garden and till the soil to get rid of rock, sticks, and clumps. Seeds all grow their best in well-tilled soil. Plus, this is the only way to get rid of everything that might have any residuals of pests or diseases. The fall is also a good time to get a soil sample so you know what you will need to get for fertilizer to prepare the vegetable beds for the coming year.
It will depend on where you live and current weather conditions as to how early in the spring you can get going on the new garden. Any warm weather vegetables cannot be planted until all danger of frost is past. But there are several kinds of cool weather vegetables whose seeds you can plant earlier. These may include peas, lettuce, and radishes, among others. If the spring is very wet you will have to wait for the soil to dry out or your seeds will rot.
Always follow the instructions on your seed packets when vegetable planting. If you live in a cold region, you may want to start the vegetables with the longest growing seasons inside six to eight weeks before you can transplant them outside. This gives a head start to vegetables, such as winter squash, pumpkins, cucumbers and tomatoes. When sowing seeds directly into the ground, use more than you need to make up for any that don’t germinate. If you have too many, you can always thin them out later.
As far as vegetable planting within the garden, you can use traditional rows, wide rows or beds, square-foot blocks, or hills. If you have very little space, marking off square blocks will allow you to plant more in less space. Also consider vegetables that can grow upwards--for example, planting pole beans instead of bush beans. Container gardens also work well.
No matter what size garden you have, vegetable planting is thoroughly enjoyable and you will be thrilled having your own home-grown fresh vegetables when it’s time for the harvest.