Planning your Vegetable Garden
By Jodi Torpey
When thinking about your vegetable garden, planning counts because placing and spacing of plants are two of the keys to gardening success. Good planning can make the difference between a healthy, productive garden and one that makes you wonder why you planted a garden in the first place.
Site the vegetable garden where plants will get between 6-8 hours of direct sun each day. Some vegetables, like lettuce and spinach, can grow in less sunlight; but tomatoes, peppers and eggplants need a lot of sun and heat.
Amend the soil with organic matter, like compost and well-aged manure, to make a medium-rich fluffy soil that will give plants a good start. Dig in deeply and remove any clods, rocks, roots or other debris.
Be sure to plant tall vegetables on the north side of your garden. That way the taller plants won’t be shading the shorter ones as vegetables grow. Check plant labels or seed packets to make sure you’re planting short vegetables and herbs in front and the taller ones in back.
Research shows planting in blocks of vegetables makes the most of your garden space, instead of planting in rows. Plan to space plants by their mature size and give them enough room to grow and air to circulate around them to keep them healthier.
Plant root vegetables, like beets and carrots, and spinach and lettuces in smaller blocks. That way you can keep seeding plants successively every week or 10 days. It’s more fun to be harvesting some plants while the next crop is growing than to have to eat an entire summer’s worth of spinach all at once. After you harvest the smaller section, replant for a continuous crop all summer.
Be sure to plant herbs and flowers in your vegetable garden, too. Some crops, like squash and tomatoes, need help from pollinators to set fruit. Flowers help attract bees and other pollinators to your garden so they can get to work.
Now’s the time to plan cool-season crops. Keep track of your planting dates and when crops should be ready to harvest. Before you know it, you’ll be harvesting some homegrown greens in just a few weeks’ time:
Arugula
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Chard
Kale
Lettuce and other greens
Onion sets
Peas
spinach
potatoes
radishes
Once the weather warms to a consistent 50-55 degrees of night-time temperatures, it’s time to plant your warm-season crops:
Beans
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Herbs
Peppers
Pumpkins
Squashes
Tomatoes
You can also plan for a fall garden starting in the middle of summer. Count back from the average day of the first frost for your area. For example, in Denver the first frost can be the second week of October or a month earlier or later. Once you have a general idea of that first frost date, plant another round of cool-season crops that will mature in fall.
