Vegetable Gardening 101

Planting your own vegetable garden is one of the most rewarding improvements you can make to your yard. Nothing tastes better and is healthier than vegetables picked fresh from your own garden.

Step 1: Planning

• Your garden needs to be near a water source and should have at least six hours of sun. Avoid any low spots in your yard, these are slow to warm up in spring. Also, avoid a windy location.
  
• What do you want to grow or eat? How do you plan on using the produce from your garden? If you plan to can, freeze or dry any part of your harvest you will need to have enough produce and time for such endeavors.
  
• How much space you have available to allocate for a garden. Start small you can always expand it next year. Some veggies like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onions and most greens can be grown in a small space, while things like squash, cucumbers and melons need more room to roam.
  
• Now put your thoughts on paper. Remember you need to get into the garden to weed, water and harvest. I recommend a center aisle for walking. I also would recommend putting trellised peas or beans on the north side of the garden so they won’t shade the shorter veggies.
  

Step 2: Preparing the soil

• This is the most important step. Plants grow from the ground up, so if you feed the ground the ground will feed your plants.
  
• Start by marking out your garden with a tape measure and string. Then remove the sod, use a spade for this. Once you have removed all of the sod use a soil test kit to check the pH and nutrient levels of the soil. Most vegetables like a pH of around 6.8, this is slightly acidic. If your pH is low you can add lime to raise it. Lime also adds calcium and magnesium. If it is too high you would add sulfur to lower it. Next add a thin layer of organic matter such as composted manure or just plain compost. Work these in with a shovel or a shallow tiller (like a mantis).

Step 3: Planting the garden

• You will start with the early spring crops first. These crops actually like the cold soil and weather. As a general rule I plant my early crops during the last two weeks of April. Then you will move on to your early summer crops after Memorial Day. Last but not least are your mid-summer crops. I plant mine in the middle of July. Refer to When to Plant planning chart.
  
• Staggering the seeding of carrots, greens, beans, cilantro, and dill will provide you with a continuously fresh supply.
  
• Spacing is the biggest question. I plant the following on 18” row centers: beets, carrots, chard, lettuce, onions, radishes and spinach. I plant beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, eggplant and peppers on 24-30” row centers. The following veggies get a three foot square: summer squash and tomatoes. Last is the vine crops such as cucumbers, winter squash, pumpkins and melons, they needs a five foot square.

Step 4: Harvesting

• Pick, eat and enjoy.
  
• Be sure to harvest on a regular basis. Rotting vegetables invites a whole new set of issues.
  
• Excess tomatoes? Blanch in boiling water for a minute, peel them then put in freezer bags for use in soups, stews and sauce over winter.
  
• Remember if you do have harvest aplenty, the food cupboard will gladly take the extra.

Step 5: The fall clean up

• Remove all dead plant debris from your garden. If you had any serious fungus problems remove plants from property or burn.
  
• Add a layer of organic matter such as composted cow manure, good quality compost or shredded leaves. You could also seed the entire garden with a cover crop such as winter rye. You would turn this in spring as soon as the garden is workable.