Planning Vegetable Gardens

Planning Vegetable Gardens Subtitle Chrissa Carlson - xx@umd.edu

A vegetable garden is the highest maintenance type of garden there is! • Almost all annuals • Focus on productivity • We want to eat early and often

What we need here is a plan… A garden plan includes: • Knowing your goals! • Locating and designing garden beds • Deciding what you want to grow • Creating a timeline • Laying out plantings in beds

Outline • Planning to meet your goals • Goals of community/schoolyard gardens versus home production • Relationship building • Timing • Planting calendar • Succession and Relay planting • Spatial layout • Plant layout (structural needs, height considerations, spacing (rows versus wide beds) • Companions/interplanting • Space x Time • Rotation • A word about organic gardening • FSNE gardens

Planning to meet your goals • Yield/Production • Biointensive: timing, space efficiency • Education • Crop choice, timing • Positive experience • Attractive space, starting small, keeping it manageable

Planning to meet your goals When working with a school or community to plan a vegetable garden… Relationships are everything! Learning from mistakes Providing expertise

Now for the plan…

1. Timing • Planting calendar! (see handout)

1. Timing • Planting calendar! • Direct seed versus transplants • Transplants: • Plants with a long time to maturity (cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers) • Optional for earlier harvest (melons, squash, lettuce) • Direct seed: • Root crops • Tall skinny crops: beans, peas, corn, okra • Plants with a short season (lettuce, spinach, arugula)

1. Timing • Planting calendar! • Direct seed versus transplants • Identify short season versus long season • Quick!: radishes, lettuce, peas • Shortish: other leafy green things, carrots, turnips, cucumbers, beans • Long: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes

1. Timing • Planting calendar! • Direct seed versus transplants • Identify short season versus long season • Consider planting in 2 weeks successions for continuous harvest

2. Spatial Layout: Plant characteristics • Learn about your chosen crops • Growth form: trellis tomatoes, pole beans, peas…cucumbers? Small melons? • Height: tall stuff in the north of the garden • Family: group ‘em! (more on this later)

2. Spatial Layout: Designate areas for different crops • Place long season summer crops first • Place shortish/ cool season crops next –plant twice! • Place shortish/summer season crops next • Where can I tuck in quick crops?

2. Spatial Layout • Place long season summer crops first (tall stuff in the north of the garden) • Place shortish/ cool season crops next –plant twice! • Place shortish/summer season crops next • Where can I tuck in quick/cool season crops? • Radishes • Toms and Peppers • Peas • Beans • Kale and Lettuce • Kale and Lettuce • Beets and Spinach • Carrots and Chard • Lettuce • Sweet Potatoes • Turnips • Pumpkins N

2. Spatial Layout: Placement of individual plants • Row planting: Refer to seed packets for seed depth, spacing between rows, and between plants • Raised beds (also referred to as wide beds) • Ditch the space between rows!—no need for footpaths

2. Spatial Layout: Typical row garden 24 plants 6” 12”

2. Spatial Layout: Equidistant planting in wide bed 56 plants! 133% more food—plus soil shading 6” 6” 56 Plants in a 4 ft. by 8 ft. bed 133% more food

2. Spatial Layout: Placement of individual plants • Raised beds • Transplants: plant equidistantly • Direct seed: scatter seeds or make closely spaced furrows

4. Space x Time=Rotation • Crops in the same family: • Need the same growing conditions • Are planted at the same time • Need the same soil nutrients • Are bothered by the same pests • Growing families repeated in the same space: • Depletes soil of specific nutrients • Allows pests and diseases to become persistent

4. Space x Time=Rotation • Rotation avoids soil nutrient depletion and helps keep overwintered pest populations in check • Group plants by families! • Three rules: • Light feeders follow heavy feeders • Deep-rooted follow shallow rooted • 3 years between planting the same family in the same bed

4. Space x Time=Rotation • If space is limited • Two separate rotations (one for tall, one for short) to keep from moving tall plants to the south side of the garden • Rotate in time rather than space Tomatoes Corn Squash Pole beans Shorter nightshades Brassicas Beets Carrots N

Organic gardening… • Twin cornerstones: • build soil health (feeding the soil food web and recycling nutrients) • increase biological diversity above and below ground- plants, insects, microbial life • Organic doesn’t mean simply substituting purchased organic pesticides and fertilizers for synthetic products

Sustainable gardening… • Sustains itself through reliance on inherent resources; mimics natural eco-system. • Needs a minimum of purchased “inputs” and relies on locally-available materials. • Does not pollute; strengthens the community eco-system. • Requires knowledge, planning, and timing.

Sustainable soil building Sources of organic matter: • Composted farmyard manure • Compost • Shredded leaves and grass clippings • Organic mulches • Plant roots • Cover crops Diverse sources=diverse nutrients Consider how to generate fertility from local sources… Large amounts of organic matter may be needed for several years. Thereafter, 1 inch of compost will help maintain high yields.

Resources Grow it! Eat it!- http://extension.umd.edu/growit Access to valuable and practical gardening tips and information. Share your experiences in our blog. Maryland Master Gardener Program- http://extension.umd.edu/mg Consider becoming a MG volunteer Home and Garden Information Center-http://extenstion.umd.edu/hgic Can answer your gardening questions… Call the “hotline” Mon-Fri, 8am-1pm. 1-800-342-2507 Send questions and photos 24/7 through this web site for a quick and thorough answer.

This program was brought to you by Maryland Master Gardener Program Howard County University of Maryland Extension

Planning Vegetable Gardens