Gardening is an art and when it comes to growing crops and other vegetables as well as making sure that your garden is always filled with crops during every season and period of the year, good planning is required.
Knowing when to plant your crop, the right time to add manure, compost, and fertilizers is of great importance and having an idea of what to do at the right time and making sure that nothing meets us too late is necessary to have a healthy and productive garden.
Although most gardeners love to plant as they deem fit but having a garden planner which can guide you at all time and serve as a reminder of what to expect at a specific period of time will go a long way in meeting your need of having a garden that is in high production.
There are certain things that can be put in place even before the production of certain crops begin and with the help of a detailed guide (garden planner), we can always achieve the best from our garden.
In this article, we will take you through how you can create your own garden planner and ensure that all activities being carried out on your are well planned.
If you are a new gardener and have never had the experience of growing vegetable crops without having a detailed plan, then you may find it hard to understand why this vegetable garden planner is required, however, you will love this more.
Gardeners want to get the best out of their garden at all time and having a clear sight of when planting should be carried out and when harvesting should be expected in our garden is an addition. Want to learn more? Then you should read further to know more and understand better.
Tips on how to make a vegetable garden planner
As a gardener who wants to have a healthy and productive garden throughout the year, below are tips on how to carefully make a simple garden planner that will be of great help to you. These tips are as follow:
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Site selection for a new garden
This is the first step in every garden. Whenever you are planning a new vegetable garden, it is very important to select a site that will support the growth and development of the crops you desire to plant.
Vegetable gardens require a minimum sunlight exposure of 8 hours daily, so you must choose a place that is well exposed to the sun for your garden setup.
Though some vegetables will do well in situations that have less light, it is important to know your plant well and properly site them in your garden.
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Design your vegetable garden
The design of your garden will determine the amount of time and the level of attention that must be given to your plant.
Make sure that your garden is well-designed in accordance to the level of attention you are willing to give to your garden at all time. Below are some things you should pay attention to when designing your garden:
Make use of raised beds:
Raised beds are much better ways to grow plants in garden as it tends to reduce the level of maintenance needed.
This also ensures that you can grow your vegetable plants in a much lesser space and it makes weed actions lower (just make sure that the weed does not seed in the bed).
Watch out for the bed size:
The size of the bed chosen to be used in the garden can have a big effect on your garden’s potential. When designing the raised bed to use, make sure that the size is kept as small as possible so as to ensure that activities such as planting, weeding, and harvesting can be carried out without having to step on the soil.
The length of the bed can be about 8 – 10 feet but make sure that the width is not too much i.e. must be one which is very convenient for you to use.
You should also watch out for the height of the raised beds when designing it, for those who love convenience, you can make it high to the level in which you can properly sit and attend to your garden.
Leave space for working:
Leaving spaces where other working activities can be carried out while on the garden is necessity and this must be given much consideration.
A main space of about 3 – 4 feet with an addition of a secondary space not more than 2 feet will be efficient. Just make sure you leave a space that will support convenience while working in the garden. Don’t get tempted to fill up your garden with raised beds.
Know the annual growing seasons:
Having an understanding of the growing seasons in the year will give you a chance of knowing what to do at the right time and to understand the plants that will thrive at these periods.
There are three main growing seasons of the year : cool, warm, and cold seasons. Below is a brief explanation of each season:
Cool season:
This is the period of the year when leafy vegetables thrive well. This season do occur twice in the year during spring and fall and this is usually characterized by an environmental condition in which the temperature is between 5 and 20 degrees centigrade. Example of vegetables for this season includes cabbage, carrots, and broccoli.
Warm season:
This growing season ranges between the spring and fall frost dates. Vegetables grown during this period are sun-loving and they are not frost-resistant and requires a lot of heat to produce well.
Plants that can be grown between this season includes cucumbers, pepper, and tomatoes. Addition of materials like black plastics, and season extenders can improve the productivity of the warm season vegetables.
Cold season:
This is a very long period or season and this also extends to the time of frosts and freeze. Most of the plants grown during this season are usually seeded or transplanted during mid to late summer and there are season extenders are usually put in place to ensure that the plant thrive well during the cold season. Examples of cold seasons plants include kale, carrot, scallions, etc.
Make a vegetable garden planting plan:
During the time when you have less work to do during the cold season, making the essential plans of a suitable and efficient vegetable garden is important.
During this time there is a need for you to put in place everything needed and below are things to pay attention to when planning your garden:
Choose plants that interests you: you should look into your garden catalogues and choose vegetables that interests you. Make a list of vegetables in similar families and ensure that they are well arranged. Also select varieties that you will love to have in your garden.
Choose new plants: apart from the standard plants that you always love to grow, you can grow some other new vegetables. Choose vegetables that are new to you to experiment on and you can be amazed on how it will turnout.
Grow “resistant” varieties: there are plant varieties that have been developed and made resistant to pests and diseases. If there are certain pests and diseases that your crops are usually prone to, you can always prevent them by growing resistant varieties.
Determine the frost dates:
One of the aim of making a garden planner is to be able to understand the frost dates for seeding and transplanting is quite important.
Frost dates will help you know when certain operations are to be carried out on the farm, before sowing your seed or transplanting as well as determining the time that harvesting will be carried out, make sure you know your average spring and fall frost dates.
Make sure that plants that are not resistant to frost are not planted before the spring frost pass so that they can grow to their possible potentials.
Soil preparation:
Making sure that your garden is healthy and you can get the best yield from the garden is an important aim of the garden planner.
You need to watch the health of the soil and ensure that the necessary things are put in place. Soil amendment materials like composts, manure, organic fertilizers, etc. can be added to the soil to improve its health.
The required pH level for proper vegetable garden is between 6.0 and 7.0 and you must make sure that the soil is neither too acidic nor alkaline. Before planting, make sure that your garden soil is in a good shape at all time.
Crop rotation:
This can help to prevent the problem of pest infestation and their activities. You should prepare the garden ahead and make sure that the crops grown are rotated throughout the season.
Putting this in mind will ensure plants of similar family are not affected by similar diseases and pests over the years.
A three to four year rotation will prevent pest infestation in the garden of the plants are well rotated. Just make sure that plants that belong to the same family are not planted consecutively in a single garden.
Succession planting:
When preparing your vegetable garden plan, you need to make sure that the plan is detailed. You need to know what will be planted in your garden after the completion of each growing season.
You must know what you want to have in your garden and must prepare ahead for them and the purchase of the seeds at once will save you cost and resources.
Prepare for pest and diseases:
In situations in which you have common pests and diseases in you garden, you must make sure that you grow plant varieties that won’t be prone to these diseases and pests and will still produce well. Make sure that structures that will prevent the pests from the garden is put in place.
Conclusion
Having a good vegetable garden planner that will ensure that your vegetables develops well and will be able to achieve a healthy and productive garden throughout all seasons of the year. Do not hesitate to put everything in place at the right time.
On behalf of the author, thank you so much for taking the time to read this article !
