#12. Establishing Your Own Vegetable Garden
Establishing your own vegetable garden will help you cut costs and bring a variety of fresh, healthy vegetables to the table. There is a wide variety of perennial and seasonal vegetables to choose from. Establish the garden, prepare the soil, fertilize it and then buy either vegetable seeds or seedlings of the plants of interest.
The excitement of deciding what to grow is actually one of the best parts of the vegetable growing process. However, you need to exercise caution not to get carried away and plant unreasonable vegetables. Stick with the vegetables you like best and look for varieties so that you can stagger the harvest. This helps to make sure you've got your supply lined up all through the growing season.
Vegetables are broadly classified into four groups and you need to choose your favorites from each group.
• First group – beetroots, parsnips, salsify, chicory, carrots, artichokes and potatoes
• Second group – cauliflower, cabbage, kale, broccoli, swedes, turnips and Brussels sprouts
• Third group – all varieties of beans and peas
• Fourth group – salad crops and all other vegetables not mentioned above
Make your selections from the four groups, then move to the next step which is to divide your garden into four sections. You will grow the vegetables according to their groupings in four separate beds. By following this system you are actually practicing crop rotation. Growing the same vegetable in the same bed every season makes it susceptible to pests, diseases and exhausts the nutrients from the soil.
By dividing the vegetable garden into four sections, you will move the plants from one section to the next to consistently rotate your crops. For example, assuming you put group one vegetables in plot one and so on for the first season, in the second season you will move group one vegetables to plot two and so on.
Always plan your beds with sufficient room between the beds for you to navigate the plants comfortably. You also need to plan sufficient space between vegetable plants or else growth becomes stunted. To do this effectively, you need to know what plants need plenty of space to spread themselves, and which ones don't. Corn for example needs a lot of room. Beans grow on a vine and you can grow them vertically if space is short.
Growing your own vegetables can be one of life's greatest pleasures. But to be a successful vegetable grower, you need to learn all there is to know about vegetables, soil, planting times and harvesting.