Long before a single seed, corm, root or anything else hits the soil, there are some steps that must be taken and are very necessary to ensure the success of your plants and, to make sure you don’t waste precious time and money later in the process.
If you do the proper preparations and research before you plant, you will be rewarded with some of the most gratifying food you’ve ever eaten!
The perfect time for these first steps starts the year BEFORE you want to plant your garden. I know, you’re probably saying “Are you nuts?” Once you know your sun patterns, you will have much more fun doing the plant research through the winter hours. If you only check your sun patterns in the winter, you won’t get a true idea of the pattern in the summer unless you know how to adapt for the angle of the sun from summer to winter. This research and thought time is perfect for those dark, raw, cold winter nights when we dream of springtime! It also gives you the time to correct any deficits in your soil (which you will find out is critical to any garden) because the amendments can be applied over the winter and will have tremendous benefits to your soil by spring planting time.
Let’s get right to the steps you need to take:
Step #1
Determining WHAT to grow
You’re probably asking, “Why do I need to do that first?” The answer is because you will need to know what conditions those plants will need to give you the best yield, such as sun/shade, acid/alkaline soil, wet/dry conditions, etc.
First, think about what you or your families like to eat. Will those plants grow in your area? You need to check the USDA growing charts to determine that. Every type of plant has a certain growing area in the country where it can grow normally. Go to the page USDA Growing Zone Map to check if the plants you want to grow will live in your area. In areas outside that area, there may be some special conditions you can use to grow it in your area anyway but we’ll get to those special situations later. For right now, just concentrate on getting started small. As you gain experience you can increase your garden’s size and tackle special situations that will challenge you. Please be warned, gardening can become addictive, frustrating and absolutely a blast to do!
Now that you’ve determined what you want to plant, think about how much of that food you want to provide for you or your family. Visit the page Plant yields for a chart of how much each plant produces on an average each season. Use that chart to determine how many of each plant you want to grow. The spacing of each plant will tell you how big your garden must be to accommodate all those plants, too.
In a nutshell, folks, KNOW YOUR PLANTS first. Also be aware that if you produce more than you can use fresh, you will need to have some type of preserving method for them. Only plant what you think you can handle the first season! This site also contains information on different preservation methods for your future reference.
Step #2
Choosing the site
Why is this so important? Because if you plant something where it won’t get the required minimum sunlight per day or where it gets too much sunlight, you won’t get any good results and will be turned off to gardening before you even get started. Also, if you plant where it’s too wet or too dry, it will also affect the plants. Most plants don’t like wet feet but can tolerate a bit of dryness from time to time. Making sure it’s close to a water supply is also a very good idea unless you don’t mind carrying water jug after water jug to keep them alive. A good soaker hose or drip lines are a very good investment, too, but require a water source, so keep the garden close if you can.
If you plan waaay ahead, you can watch your yard over the course of a year and note where the sun rises and sets and the changing patterns throughout the day. While that would be ideal, I know most people won’t do that. If you take a look around your yard and note where the sun comes up and sets, you can determine the sunniest spot in your yard. It’s ok if it gets shade during the hottest part of the late afternoons. Most plants will appreciate that because most of them prefer early morning sun.
Step #3
Soil
Extremely important!
This step will have an enormous effect on the plants and will play a major role in their success or failure. Now you have an idea of what you want to plant and where to plant it, so it’s time to find out what your soil is really like. If you don’t have the soil right, you will NOT get a good yield from your plants.
Your local extension offices can tell you where to get soil sample kits, how much they are and where to send them. They normally cost anywhere from $10 or $15 on up, depending on what tests are requested.
There are two easy tests you can do yourself to see what your soil is composed of and how much organic matter is in it. For the instructions for a simple ribbon test to check your soil’s major components, visit the page Soil Ribbon Test. For the instructions for a simple organic matter test, go to the Simple Organics test page. These two tests should NOT replace having a professional soil sample test done. The professional test can tell you what elements are in your soil and what you need to add to make it right for what you want to plant.
It’s ok if some of your plants require acid soil and some alkaline. They usually have a wide enough range where most of them can be planted in the same basic area but you would use the proper fertilizer for each type of plant. For example: a tomato plant requires more acidic soil than a watermelon so you wouldn’t plant a tomato right next to a watermelon. You would also use a higher acid fertilizer for tomatoes but not on watermelons. Again, KNOW YOUR PLANTS.
Step #4
Determining planting order
When determining the planting order, things to consider are: height of the mature plants, spread of the mature plants, and companion planting. You don’t have to use companion planting but it sure helps in keeping the bad bugs and problems from your garden. Visit my page Companion Planting: Annuals or Companion Planting: Perennials/Biennials for a list of some companion planting suggestions.
Try not to put tall things like pole beans in front of lettuce or something short like it. Keep in mind the sun/shade needs of each type of plant. A tall, sun-loving plant can shade a smaller one if the smaller one needs some shade later in the day, so give this part some long, hard thought before finally deciding where to plant each type of plant. I sit with a tablet and pencil and try many layouts on paper before I try to plant anything in the ground--perfect to do on those cold, raw, dark winter nights!
I hope these steps will help you have many, many hours of enjoyable gardening and healthy, happy eating for your families. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. Enjoy your happy gardening!
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