It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of planting your first vegetable garden without giving it adequate thought. This may cause your garden to be a disappointment and produce fewer vegetables. By following the tips in this article you can have a bountiful harvest your very first summer.
The first step in creating your garden is to draw a garden plan on graph paper to scale. Be sure to use a measuring tape to ensure that your measurements are accurate. By doing this, you will be able to make changes without having to dig up plants. There is also computer software available to design your garden plan if you are computer savvy enough to use it.
There are things you need to take into consideration when determining what plants to buy for your garden. Once you have chosen the type of plants you want to have, you will need to determine how many of each to plant. Each vegetable requires a different amount of space. For example, a pumpkin plant takes up more ground space than a tomato plant as it vines across the ground. You also need to keep the height of the mature plants into consideration as you don’t want taller plants such as corn to shade your smaller plants such as lettuce. Plant your taller plants at the northern side of your garden. If you plant sweet corn you also need to remember to plant the plants close enough to each other to allow for cross pollination.
When preparing the soil for a garden the first time, it is very important to determine the type of soil you have? Is it clay, sand or silt? Ideally your soil should be about 40 percent silt, 40 percent clay and 20 percent sand. It may be necessary to add a combination of peat moss, topsoil and compost. You can buy a commercially prepared product that has the proper combination of these. If your soil is very poor it may be necessary to use landscape timbers to make a raised garden. Finally, you have to choose between hand-digging your garden using a rototiller. If your garden is going to be large, a rototiller is highly recommended.
You can greatly increase the amount of vegetables your garden can produce in a limited area by planting crops that have different growing seasons. Some vegetables can be harvested early allowing for planting of vegetables that are usually harvested in the fall. Some examples of vegetables that can be harvested early in the growing season are peas, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, green onions and cabbage. You can plant such vegetables as turnips, sweet corn, beets, beans and late lettuce. This will allow you to double your harvest from a limited garden space. Also, rotating your crops helps to maintain the proper balance of nutrients in the soil and reduces the possibility of harmful microorganisms becoming a problem in your garden soil.
By carefully planning your garden in advance, you can have an abundant harvest your very first year. This article should provide you with the information you need to be a successful gardener.