Planting a vegetable garden takes some planning and should be seriously thought out before proceeding. If this is your first garden you may want to consult your local farm bureau corporation or the local branch of the Department of Agriculture to find out what grows best in your region of the world. Here are some tips to help you decide what to plant.
Vegetables that are Available Locally
Fresh vegetables are available in almost every grocery store in the U.S. Before you begin your garden, consider what you can obtain from the grocer and what is unavailable in your area. For instance, many groceries do not carry fresh Italian green beans. The best you can achieve is to purchase them frozen or in the can. If you like these style of green beans, consider growing them. If it will save you money growing the vegetables yourself, then do so.
Space Availability is a Concern
If you have a limited amount of space to plant your garden, consider the seed or plant spacing of your vegetables. For instance if you only have 100 square foot of garden area which would be a ten foot by ten foot garden, then you wouldn’t want to plant pumpkins, cantaloupes or watermelons because they take up too much ground space. Choose something that is going to give you the most plants for the amount of space your have. Do not prepare your garden until you have decided what you are actually going to plant and how much room you will need to do it.
Preserving your Vegetables or Fresh
Another aspect you will want to consider is whether you will be canning or preserving the vegetables you grow or eating them fresh off the plants. There are a number of vegetables that are perfect for off-the-vine eating while others are ideal for canning. Choosing the right vegetables will make your family happy now, or can make them happy all year long. For instance green beans or snaps as the deep south calls them can be blanched and canned which will allow you to enjoy them all year long while most tomatoes should be eaten straight off the vine.
Your Final Decision
Once you have determined all of this, write out a list of the vegetables you want to grow. Since most vegetables continue to produce fruit throughout the summer months, you will not need as much as you think you will so cut your list in half. Green beans produce a massive amount of produce for your family and so do tomato plants so if you have decided to plant 3 rows of them, only plant two. You will have produce for months with just the two rows of green beans and only one row of tomatoes. Remember to consider spacing and figure up the space required for each plant before proceeding. If you don’t like something you planted this year, you can always try something different next year. After all, it is a good idea to rotate your crops each year to give the soil time to recover.
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