Planting
Techniques
Random Sowing
Leafy vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage seeds can be simply
sprinkled over the soil and then covered with adequate soil to
cover the seeds up. Water carefully at first however, preferably
with a sprayer or small watering can . Excessive watering prior to
germination will flood them out of their bed.
Furrow Planting
Usually, growers will use a hoe to create a straight furrow in
the soil, plant a couple of seeds every couple of inches along the
furrow and then use the hoe to re-cover the furrow with soil. Plants
are easier to weed and to thin out when they're in a straight line,
assuming you leave a couple feet between the rows to walk.
Seed Strips
You can buy the tiny seeds of certain vegetables like radishes
and carrots on paper seed strips. Then you stretch the tape out, lay
it in the furrow and cover it up. That's a lot faster than dealing
with the tiny seeds. The paper will decompose as the seeds sprout.
Transplants
These are vegetables started from seed indoors, separated into
small containers and then brought outside for planting in the
garden. They're most commonly used in colder climates with shorter
growing seasons, and they're planted by removing them from their
containers, setting them in a small hole and covering their
rootballs with soil.
Planting Cool Season Vegetables
Your outdoor planting season should start with the heartiest seeds
and / or transplants, known as the cool season vegetables. Common
Cool Season Vegetables include carrots, lettuce, beets, onions. They
are the least susceptible to sudden frosts and can actually go in a
few weeks before the date of the average last frost in your area
Planting Warm Season Vegetables
Vegetables that are susceptible to cold, such as Corn, beans,
squash, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers.... shouldn't go in
till after the date of the average last frost. Plan on leaving
space in the garden and planting these later in the spring.
Succession
Planting
With fast growing plants such as lettuce, radishes and broccoli, you
can squeeze several crops out of the same part of your vegetable
garden by succession planting. Just monitor the growth of your first
crop and harvest that as soon as its mature.
Remove the debris from that planting and then re-plant new seeds in
the same area, watering as needed.
Leafy vegetables such as lettuce do not do well in summer heat , but
it grows fast. So after harvesting one or two lettuce crops, you can
plant a quick-growing, warm season vegetable in its space.
Companion
Planting
Companion planting is a
system of planting various plants in proximity to each other that
will compliment each others growth and health, as well as avoiding
planting in proximity to plants that do not get along well together.
Crop rotation can also be considered a facet of companion
planting. This is a complex issue that can not be adequately
addressed in the limited space of this page , See "Companion
Planting" for detailed crop by crop information.
Maintaining Vegetables
If your garden gets enough sun, then about all you really need to do
is make sure your veggies get about an inch of water every week,
supplementing rainfall with watering as needed.
To keep the soil relatively moist and cool and to keep down weeds,
mulching is recommended between plant rows .
Each individual crop has its own needs and i heartily recommend
you visit the planting guides for specific crops listed at the
bottom of this page.
Harvesting
Vegetables
Harvesting a large garden can easily become a nightmare if you
don't monitor the process carefully.
It's a good idea, starting at planting time to set up an anticipated harvest
schedule based on each vegetable's expected maturation date
Generally, this information can be found on
the seed package.
Then make it a point to get into the garden at the proper times and
remove the ripe vegetables. Over ripe fruits and vegetables rot
rapidly
in the summer heat.
Don't be surprised if you're bringing out a basketful of fresh
fruits and vegetables daily for months. You may also want to
look into methods for preserving some of your harvest for the winter
months ahead. {See :
Preserving The Harvest}
Preparing
for Winter
After a summer of toil in the garden, it's tempting to let any
garden cleanup go till spring. But the following steps will save you
work in the long run:
Remove all vegetation.
Turn the soil over with a shovel.
Add organic amendments.
Add fertilizer to replenish soil as directed on package.
Roto-till to mix the elements and aerate the soil.
Rake the soil smooth.