Simple Tips to get Ready to Plant Your Vegetable Garden
It seems to be taking awhile for spring to (really!) stick around, but once it does, it will be time to plant your vegetable garden. We love vegetables at Avant Gardening and Landscaping! And though growing your own food may mean more work– especially during mosquito season– it can also save you money, increase your physical activity, and give you more control over the food you are growing.
Avant’s Owner and President Liza Lightfoot says gardening has cut her costs considerably. “Over the past several years I have been able to save about 40% of my annual grocery budget by growing my own vegetables, compared to the years when I did not grow my own food,” Lightfoot says.
Gardening also adds to your exercise routine. A day in the garden can burn a lot of calories, and spring can require more of your time, especially if you ran out days for any fall bed preparations. Fortunately, extra work outside often corresponds with the time of year when we all need a boost to get us out of our winter slump!
Growing your own food will give you more control over how it is grown, and what you are eating– so you can choose to only plant what you really love! And with a little careful planning, you can even provide enough vegetables for your family to enjoy throughout the next winter.
Ideally, you should plan your garden in the fall or winter, prior to planting in spring. But if you are just getting your plans in order, we suggest listing every vegetable you like to eat, then divide what you’ve written down, into plant families. You will need a good reference book or you can go online to find the information. Our team likes Eliot Coleman’s book The New Organic Grower. You can read and learn about crop rotation, cultural needs of specific plants, green manures, and so much more. Coleman also offers great tips and guidelines, including this great idea: lay out your garden beds on paper, create at least 8 plots so you can rotate your vegetables yearly, and by plant family. Easy and smart.
We recommend choosing a wide variety of veggies planted in smaller 30” by 10’ plots. Some staples like onions, carrots, and potatoes should be grown in plots of about 10’ x 15’ and planted in rows for easier maintenance. Keep a few plots open to plant greens, radishes, peas, and beans in two week successions. Again, you will have enough food to enjoy throughout the season, and well into the next winter.
We’ll take you beyond the planning stage in our next post, with suggestions on which plants to buy and grow together, why a compost pile is important, and how to make garden maintenance easy, and fun.
Of course, you can always join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, and get a wonderful box of seasonal organically grown veggies delivered each week! You’ll find more information on it, here.