Planting a Vegetable Garden

You may think that planting a vegetable garden is a great idea but have no clue where to start. With a little planning, even a limited space can yield up some wonderful homegrown vegetables.

Tutorial

The first step to planting a vegetable garden is to consider the condition of the place you’re going to be doing the planting. If the ground has been worked recently, you’re already a step ahead of the game. If not, you’re probably facing some serious weed issues and you’ll need to address those in order to have a successful vegetable garden.

Consider your space and decide what you most want to plant. Some times take up lots of room while other vegetables can be grown in a very limited space. You can grow some things on trellises or fences to save space. Cucumbers, climbing beans and even watermelons and cantaloupes can be trained to vines so that you’re using a minimum of your garden space. You’re also dealing with fewer week problems by growing these vines upward instead of allowing them to sprawl out over a significant area.

Most squash plants grow to be fairly large while okra plants remain very skinny but can grow quite tall. Know how big your plants are likely to become so that you can allow ample space for growing.

You also need to consider the correct season for plants, both to get the most out of your planting and to best utilize your space. There are some crops that need to be planted early, such as English (or early) peas, onions, carrots and greens (collard, turnip and spinach). The beauty of some of these crops, such as the early peas, is that they also harvest in time for you to plant other vegetables in their place. Just as there are some early crops, some do well in the fall and you can even have greens planted for winter harvest.

Some plants are easily transplanted and starting those indoors can give you a great head start on the growing season. Tomatoes and peppers are two of the most common, but almost any plant can be started inside a controlled environment and then transferred to the garden when the weather permits. Watermelons, squash and okra are a few of those.