A Helpful Guide on What to Plant in a Vegetable Garden
For most people who wish to start their own garden, their very first concern is what to plant in a vegetable garden.
There's no short and single answer to this question.
Choosing the right vegetables to plant would have to depend on a lot of factors which you have to thoroughly consider.
Choosing suitable plants to grow is a step closer to starting a garden.
The success or failure of your garden to produce high quality yield is largely dependent on your choice of vegetable variety as there are plants that would thrive well only in a certain condition.
To guide you with your selection of plants, here's some guidelines for you to go over as well as some examples of vegetables in such instances.
Weather It is common knowledge that there are plants that can thrive well in warm environments but cannot tolerate cold weather.
On the other side of this, there are also vegetables that needs cool environment to grow and cannot thrive when the temperature gets too high.
And of course, there are plants that are more tolerant of both heat and cool weather.
The key to success in gardening is to choose plants that thrives well in your area's weather condition.
This is the idea behind permaculture.
So, as an example, during winter or in areas with naturally cool weather, you might consider growing plants like lettuce, peas, cabbage, spinach and broccoli.
while examples of plants that can withstand hot weather includes eggplant, tomatoes, sweet corn and peppers.
Soil Type The soil type in your area is also one of the factor to consider in choosing the best vegetable to grow in your garden.
Generally speaking, soil are made up of 3 components: silt, sand and clay.
An equal mixture of those three would produce loamy soil which happens to be very ideal for most plants.
Sandy soil which has greater percentage of sand, has large particles and that's why water would easily drain away.
For this reason, sandy soil are considered less fertile than other "heavier" soil type.
However, there are still plants that could grow well even in sandy soil.
Examples include root vegetables like parsnips and carrots.
"Heavier" soil like clay and silt are generally more fertile.
However, water would have a hard time to drain away, thus it has the tendency to become waterlogged.
Also, you have to more care in making sure that the soil of this type doesn't become compacted.
Examples of vegetable that can thrive well in clay or silt are cabbage and broccoli.
Trees like pear tree which has shallow roots would also do well in this kind of area.
Length of Time for Harvest Once you have a tentative idea of which vegetable to plant, you need to know how long it will take for the vegetables to be ready for harvest.
This is extremely helpful if you live in an area where you experience different seasons.
For example, if you happen to live in an area where you experience hot, humid summers and cold, snowy winters, it is best to look for summer crops that doesn't take a long time to harvest.
Or if you happen to experience hot, dry summers and mild winter, heat tolerant crops would be the best in this instance.
There's no short and single answer to this question.
Choosing the right vegetables to plant would have to depend on a lot of factors which you have to thoroughly consider.
Choosing suitable plants to grow is a step closer to starting a garden.
The success or failure of your garden to produce high quality yield is largely dependent on your choice of vegetable variety as there are plants that would thrive well only in a certain condition.
To guide you with your selection of plants, here's some guidelines for you to go over as well as some examples of vegetables in such instances.
Weather It is common knowledge that there are plants that can thrive well in warm environments but cannot tolerate cold weather.
On the other side of this, there are also vegetables that needs cool environment to grow and cannot thrive when the temperature gets too high.
And of course, there are plants that are more tolerant of both heat and cool weather.
The key to success in gardening is to choose plants that thrives well in your area's weather condition.
This is the idea behind permaculture.
So, as an example, during winter or in areas with naturally cool weather, you might consider growing plants like lettuce, peas, cabbage, spinach and broccoli.
while examples of plants that can withstand hot weather includes eggplant, tomatoes, sweet corn and peppers.
Soil Type The soil type in your area is also one of the factor to consider in choosing the best vegetable to grow in your garden.
Generally speaking, soil are made up of 3 components: silt, sand and clay.
An equal mixture of those three would produce loamy soil which happens to be very ideal for most plants.
Sandy soil which has greater percentage of sand, has large particles and that's why water would easily drain away.
For this reason, sandy soil are considered less fertile than other "heavier" soil type.
However, there are still plants that could grow well even in sandy soil.
Examples include root vegetables like parsnips and carrots.
"Heavier" soil like clay and silt are generally more fertile.
However, water would have a hard time to drain away, thus it has the tendency to become waterlogged.
Also, you have to more care in making sure that the soil of this type doesn't become compacted.
Examples of vegetable that can thrive well in clay or silt are cabbage and broccoli.
Trees like pear tree which has shallow roots would also do well in this kind of area.
Length of Time for Harvest Once you have a tentative idea of which vegetable to plant, you need to know how long it will take for the vegetables to be ready for harvest.
This is extremely helpful if you live in an area where you experience different seasons.
For example, if you happen to live in an area where you experience hot, humid summers and cold, snowy winters, it is best to look for summer crops that doesn't take a long time to harvest.
Or if you happen to experience hot, dry summers and mild winter, heat tolerant crops would be the best in this instance.