How to Plan an Idaho Vegetable Garden
Vegetable prices soar when there are drastic climate changes that affect the entire world's supply of produce, according to Hein Deprez of Univeg, as reported on the Fresh Plaza website. Home gardeners in Idaho can make a difference in their food budget by growing vegetables at home. There are two types of vegetables you can grow: cool and warm season vegetables. Regardless of the amount of space in the yard, many Idaho gardeners have found ways to grow a vegetable garden either through container growing or by constructing a trellis. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Pencil
- Paper
- Jar
- Water
- Sphagnum moss
- Builder's sand
- Compost
- Soil test
- Shovel
- Lime
- Sulfur
- Tiller
Instructions
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Draw a diagram of the yard to create a base plan. The University of Idaho Extension suggests Including immovable objects such as driveways, pathways, swimming pools, trees and shrubbery. Examine the yard and figure out which areas receive full sunlight. Vegetables need at least six to eight hours a day of sun. Indicate on the diagram which areas will accommodate the growing requirements of vegetables.
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Check your soil type to see if you have well draining soil in the yard. Threebear soil is the official Idaho soil, which consists of silty sediments and thick metal from volcanic ash. Oftentimes, yards are made up of many different types of soils. Fill a jar 2/3 with water. Pour 2 cups of soil in the jar and shake. Allow the sentiment to settle for 24 hours. The bottom layer is sand, middle is loam and top is clay. If the majority is sand, you have dry soil and need to amend the soil with sphagnum moss. A jar filled with a majority of clay must be amended with 6 inches of both compost and builder's sand spread over the planting area. If the middle layer makes up most of the jar, you have adequate drainage from loam soil.
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Make a list of the cool and warm vegetable crops you would like to grow. Potatoes and wheat are the most popular crops in Idaho. However, this state also is the leading producer of Australian winter peas. Decide what kind of cool season crop you would like to grow, such as lettuce, cabbage, turnips, beets and carrots. Warm season crops include corn, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.
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Locate an Idaho Cooperative Extension office near you (see Resources). Purchase a soil testing kit. Follow the directions on the kit and mail the soil samples to the laboratory's address indicated on the kit. Wait for the results. If the pH range of your lawn is off, then vegetable plants will not be able to absorb the soil's nutrients. Amend the soil with lime for acidic soil and sulfur for alkaline soil.
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Remove all vegetation and weeds from the planting area. Till the soil to break up any clumps of soil that are larger than a half-dollar coin.
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Tips & Warnings
Follow the hole depth and spacing information on the vegetable seed packages when planting your vegetable beds.
Avoid using an herbicide on the planting area to kill any of the vegetation, because the chemicals can still be in the soil at the time of planting.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit salad and vegetable plants growing in allotment image by scalesy from Fotolia.com
