GARDEN PLANS-PART FOUR

PLANTING VEGETABLE GARDENS

WEB SITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN

This is part four of Planting a Vegetable garden, specifically warm weather vegetables.
Planning a vegetable garden can be a daunting task but does not have to be.  Whether you have a raised bed vegetable garden, container vegetable garden, small vegetable garden or large vegetable garden, I think the best way, is to lay out a garden is on paper.
Organic gardening is the same whether it is in a pot, in a raised bed or just tilled up ground.  Soil and plant health are key.  We have already covered the first 5 points below.

In general terms the following information is needed:

1. Type of vegetable you want to grow (Garden Plan)
   
2. How much space does is take (it’s footprint)(Garden Plan, Garden Plans)
   
3. How much time to maturity(Garden Plan)
   
4. What is the best time to plant (cold weather crop or warm weather crop)
5. What and when do I plant cover crops
6. What are the companion plants
7. What does the soil require for the plant

 Here is a good planting chart by vegetable: at Veseys 
 WARM WEATHER OR SUMMER VEGETABLES:
TOMATOES               PEPPERS        BEANS           CORN             SQUASHES   
BROCCOLI    OKRA             EGG PLANT               MELONS
Planting warm weather vegetables is done after the ground is warm, the days of sunshine is longer and ALL danger of frost has past.
I plant nearly all my warm weather plants inside and replant as seedlings.  By starting inside you are eliminating about 6 weeks from the growing time, getting your vegetables faster and sooner in the growing season.  By starting my plants myself I am assured that I am planting organic plants, the soil is organic and that NO artificial fertilizer has been used to start my plants. This is NOT a practical or economical solution for most people.  Starting plants on your own take up space you may not have, requires lighting you may not have and the soil and containers can get costly if you are doing it on a small scale. 

For those of you the want to buy your plants I recommend buying from an organic nursery when possible.  Most large retailer do not make sure they are buying organic and most of the employees won't be able to answer that question.  However, most nurseries should be able to answer that question.  Some retailers will sell one plant of a type.  In that case the container is often times marked that it is grown organically.  One pot vegetable plants is becomeing more and more available as most small gardeners don't want or need 6 beefsteak tomatoes or 6 cayenne peppers, they only want one.

As I said in Vegetable Garden, I have cover crops where I am going to be planting my warm weather crops.  In most cases I can just mow these cover crops down, dig holes for my warm vegetables.  I will mark each row with a string to keep it straight and plant underneath my string to keep my row straight.  The cover crop should provide enough cover to keep the weeds down but it it doesn't then I will add more mulch around each plant and down the rows. 

I will be adding a video of cover cropping and how to plant warm vegetable as I plant my garden then year.