How to Plant Vegetable Garden Crops
Planting vegetable garden crops to ensure a bountiful harvest means spending some time planning before sowing. Get to know your seeds, soil, tools and garden spaces before digging in. Once planting is underway, keep a close eye on your plots to ensure that each vegetable is getting enough sun, food and water. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Vegetable seeds or seedlings Assorted garden tools Mulch, shredded newspapers or straw Notebook and pen Measuring tape Garden posts Compost or well-rotted manure
Instructions
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How to Plant Vegetable Garden Crops
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Determine how much tillable land you have available and what you can reasonably expect to manage. If you're a beginner at vegetable gardening, or have a full-time job, smaller is better. You can always add container plants and late-season crops if you find you have more time available.
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Buy heirloom seeds whenever possible. Unlike hybrid seed, the seeds from harvested heirloom vegetables can be collected and saved to be used again and again, often for many years. Unlike hybrid seeds, heirloom seeds will reproduce vegetables of the same flavor as the original.
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Learn how much space and depth each plant of each vegetable requires. While lettuce seed can be planted densely and later thinned, planting tomato seeds side-by-side promises a planting disaster. Plus, crops that are planted too densely won't have the needed room to grow down, in the critical roots, or up, into the sunlight and rain. Too many plantings in a single area also rob the soil, and each other, of the nutrients they need to produce strong, healthy vegetables.
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Walk your garden area with a notebook, pencil, measuring tape and marker posts. Sketch out a garden plan that considers how much space each plant will need and how much sunlight each garden space provides. Remember to account for plants that will grow taller and could block the sunlight from nearby plants by mid-summer. You can avoid shading problems by planting in rows that are oriented north to south.
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Check your tools. Remove all rust, replace missing tines, tighten loose screws. Clean up your garden cart or wheelbarrow. Make sure you have an ample supply of garden gloves, weed baskets and water bottles.
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Consider succession planting opportunities in your garden plan and seed purchases. In succession planting, you put in an early crop, harvest it, then immediately plant a late-season crop in the same plot to maximize the sunlight available during the growing season.
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Understand how crop rotation applies to your vegetable garden plan. Certain common vegetables, such as beans, onions, potatoes and tomatoes, need to be rotated out of their plots every year and replaced with other specific kinds of crops in order to avoid depleting the soil of nutrients, especially nitrogen.
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Check your soil's health to make sure it contains the nutrients your vegetables need. Add compost and well-rotted manure when necessary. Keep the soil well-drained and have a water source, such as a hose or a sprinkler, nearby.
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Know your USDA planting zone, as this determines when it's considered safe enough (far enough away from the last typical frost) to plant vegetables. The soil may be worked as soon as it's not frozen and has drained away the winter's snow and wet.
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Plant your vegetables, either seeds or seedlings, in well-tilled soil in rows or furrows. Plant your seeds or seedlings to the appropriate depth required for each specific plant, then gently but firmly cover the seed or roots with fresh soil. Immediately add a little water, so that the seed or seedling can begin its work right away.
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Design your vegetable garden with paths and untilled areas that make it easy for you to weed, hoe, water and harvest throughout the season.
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Once your seedlings pop into view, add mulch, such as straw, hay or newspapers, to help keep weeds away from your plants. Mulch also helps retain moisture in the soil and can prevent your soil from drying out too quickly in hot weather.
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Keep the planted area clear of weeds that could steal nutrients and moisture from your vegetables.
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Tips & Warnings
Grow what you like to eat. Plan for extra plants of those vegetables you want to preserve to enjoy all winter. Make your own vegetable plant food by making your own compost.
Be on the lookout for late-night wildlife that may sneak into your garden and eat your crops while you sleep. If you suspect midnight visitors, fence your plot all around.
