Thursday, April 14, 2011

Getting Started with Vegetable Garden Planting

While flowers are certainly nice to have in your garden, vegetable garden planting is a more practical way of using all that available space in your backyard.  If you and your family are new to vegetable garden planting, then this article will help in getting you started.
vegetable garden plantingThe main purpose of vegetable garden planting is to allow your family to enjoy fresh produce.  It therefore makes sense to plant only those vegetables that the family enjoys eating.  Make a point of choosing vegetables that taste incredibly good when eaten within a few hours from being harvested from the garden such as vine-ripened tomatoes and sweet corn, to name a few.
There are two main growing seasons for vegetable garden planting: cool and warm.  The cool season covers spring and fall while summer is naturally the warm season.  Some cool season vegetables are turnips, spinach, lettuce, peas, potatoes, radishes, cabbage, carrots and broccoli; beans, corn, melons, peppers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and eggplant are all summer vegetables.  Flat ground that gets a full day of sunlight is ideal for vegetable garden planting.  Vegetables that are grown during cooler weather such as early spring or early fall will certainly benefit from the warmth of the sun.

Vegetable Garden Planting


If you only have limited space for vegetable garden planting, choose your crops carefully.  Certain varieties can even be planted in containers, such as patio tomatoes.  Lettuce can be grown in pots as well.  Plants that climb up on trellises, such as cucumbers and pole beans, also take up less room.  Make sure that your vegetable garden planting is on a scale appropriate to the space you have.  Do not cramp vegetables in limited space since it will only hamper their growth.  Some spacing guidelines you need to know:  tomatoes need to be spaced about two feet apart, while pumpkins need about 4 feet of growing room.  Check seed packets for growing requirements.
If you are planting from seedlings rather than starting from seeds, prepare your soil for vegetable garden planting before you go shopping for seedlings.  Choose seedlings that are upright and stocky, with no yellowing leaves or bug holes.  Keep them moist and replant them within three days of taking them home.
And of course, it helps to get the children involved in vegetable garden planting.  Children are bound to enjoy eating vegetables they have helped grow.  Also, it can be an educational experience for them to see how vegetables develop from tiny seeds to full-grown plants.  Summer vegetable garden planting is a wholesome family activity that ought to keep boredom at bay.

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