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Vegetable Garden Planning

Article by Karan Naidoo

You should make sure you eat vegetables each and every day to stay in good health. You can always get these fresh, canned, or frozen from your local store or farmer’s market. However, there is nothing quite as nice or as tasty as the vegetables that you grow in your own garden. Whether you have a lot of space or have to make the most of a little space, there are some things you should keep in mind when you are doing your vegetable garden planning. Without planning, your garden may be a mess by the time fall rolls around.

You should know something about each of the vegetables that you want to plant in your garden. This part of vegetable garden planning is very important. Why is this? It is because all plants grow differently and each yields a different amount of vegetable. If you do not plan this out properly, you may end up with dead plants or plants that did not produce all that they could. You also have to make sure you like each plant that you are planting and that you know when you can expect things to ripen. Some may get ripe as early as June, and your pumpkins may linger until October before they start to turn orange. Each growing season is different, but there are general rules that apply.

An example would be the tomato plant. Most people include these when they are doing their vegetable garden planning. This is because tomatoes are popular and most people eat them at one time or another. You can not plant these from seed outside. You have to start them in your home or buy pre-grown plants to add to your garden. You may also have to stake them when they grow or your tomatoes will be rotting on the ground. You have to take into account how big these will be when you space them as well.

If you want squash, you have to know what type of squash you want. When you add this to your vegetable garden planning, you have to consider that most of the squash plants that you get are going to sprawl out when they grow. They could go anywhere. This also happens with other plants like cucumbers and pumpkins. Each can yield many vegetables so you should never plant more than you can eat unless you can give some away or plan to sell some from your yard or at a farmer’s market.

All of these things go into vegetable garden planning. Do not make it too hard on yourself, but remember to think things through so that you are happy with what you get from your garden. Plants can be hardy and grow when and where you need them too, but not always. With a little planning you can get the most from your plants, enjoy the vegetables that you get, and you can even have some to freeze for the winter months. Remember, frozen or canned vegetables from your own garden are always going to taste better than what you can buy in the stores.

Question by Rhonda T: I live near Baton Rouge, LA and am planning a vegetable garden this year. what seeds should I be sowing Now?
We are in zone 8-9 and our planting season begins around the middle of March. What seeds should I sew early so that they will be plants by the time I plant them? Thank you

Also is there any veggies that aren’t good for this area?

Best answer:

Answer by pondlady
Start seeds inside as we still are not past frost danger. I just put seed potatoes outside (in Slidell), and planted lettuce transplants last week.
Tomatoes do not set fruit in the extreme heat that we have, so get them in early. Use transplants unless you are experienced.
Wax beans do not do well here. I do not plant corn because I am never happy with it.

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