Successful Vegetable Gardening

Placing your garden in the sunniest part of your yard is ideal. Your garden should be in an area that receives at least 6 hours of sunlight every day. Vegetables like tomatoes, green beans, and squash grow best in sunny areas and the more the better. Spinach, lettuce, and peas cope more easily in less sunny situations. Put them in the area of the garden that gets more shade.

Depending on where you live, you and your garden will complain about too much or too little water. Supplemental water will be required during dry spells so placement of your garden near a water source is essential. If you don't have an area near a hose, I recommend a rainwater barrel to keep water near your garden.

Adequate drainage in your garden can mean the difference between a bountiful harvest or having your plants' roots suffocating in the retained water in the soil. Don't put your garden in a low part of your yard for this reason. Having a garden on a gentle slope is good because the extra water will run off. Also consider using a raised bed to ensure adequate drainage.

Your garden will produce abundantly or fail depending on your soil. The type of soil you have influences growth rate, disease/pest resistance, and the size of your veggies. Loam is the best soil you can hope for. It is not too sandy nor too claylike. Loam retains essential nutrients and water and allows excesses to drain off.

To test what type of soil you have, roll a handful of soil into a ball in your hand about golf ball size. If the ball breaks apart easiy your soil is too sandy. lf it hold together under pressure you have clay soil. Loam is somewhere between the two. To improve sandy soil, add chunky well-rotted compost or farmyard manure and dig it in. For clay, add gritty sand and dig in. Adding compost or manure will help prevent the "cracked earth" look that clay gets when dried out and helps sandy soil hold water and nutrients.

The pH of your soil factors in to your garden's potential, too. Vegetables grow best in slightly acidic soil (5.5-7.5) Lime is used to make your soil more alkaline (raise the pH) and iron sulphate to make it more acidic (lower the pH). There are many commercially available pH test kits.

To get maximum yields out of your garden, you need a good planting guide. By setting out a plan and using a good guide, you will be well on your way to a plentiful harvest.

Before planting, you will need to prepare the soil for your plants. It is best to start 6-8 weeks prior to setting your first plants. For best results, add plenty of organic matter like manure or compost. Don't forget the blood and bone, lime (if needed), and rock dust to the soil. Dig in or use a tiller if you have one. Leave it for at least 6 weeks, then re-dig. Your garden is ready for planting.

Planting early crops will allow you to harvest early. You can sow early "cool season" crops like lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and onions immediately after preparing your garden. These vegetables love cooler weather and will tolerate the frost. These plants can be replanted again at the beginning of fall as these cool season vegetables take less time to mature.

Warm season crops take longer to mature and you need to wait until the last frost has passed or start the seeds indoors to be transplanted later. Seedlings are a great way to start your garden. They give you a headstart over seeds. You can buy the seedlings at your local nursery or start your own. Starting your garden with seeds is very rewarding because you get to watch them germinate and grow into seedlings. Vegetables like peas, beans, carrots, and potatoes grow very well planted directly in the soil.