Vegetable gardens should start when temperatures warm in spring.
In springtime, experienced gardeners flock to their gardens to wake perennial fruit and vegetable plants and trees and to plant new spring gardens with fruit-bearing annuals. Inexperienced gardeners, and those starting their first gardens, may not be quite so quick to act. If it is your first time growing vegetables and fruits, keep some basic guidelines in mind to give your edible gardens a good growing foundation. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Plant your spring fruit and vegetable garden just after the last spring frost. This give the soil time to warm and makes sure there is plenty of sun. Gather a handful of soil from your yard and squeeze it together; soil that breaks apart easily is dry enough for planting. Soil that sticks together needs another four to five days of warming time.
2. Find sites for your plantings. Choose a site that that receives full sunshine for eight hours every day, has quick drainage and offers is at least 10 to 20 square feet of space for a vegetable garden. Choose individual sites for fruit trees, where the trees will get full sun for eight hours every day, quick drainage, and 10 to 20 square feet of space each. Keep your fruit trees at least 15 feet from the vegetable garden to make sure they don't shade the area.
3. Amend the soil throughout the vegetable garden and in each tree planting site. Turn over the top 10 inches of soil in the garden, and add 1 inch of quick-draining garden soil and 3 inches of organic compost. This mixture gives the plants good nutrition and loosens the soil for root growth. Add starter or 10-10-10 fertilizer to increase initial root growth. Turn over the top 12 to 14 inches of soil in tree planting sites, and add 2 inches of quick-draining garden soil and 4 inches of organic compost.
4. Plant summertime vegetables such as corn, peppers, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, cabbage, spinach and cauliflower. Give each seedling its recommended space and and place it at its recommended planting depth to ensure successful growth.
5. Plant fruit trees hardy to your growing zone. These trees last for many years, and must survive your winters. Contact your local cooperative extension for recommendations and to learn your growing zone, or check the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map (see Resources). Plant fruit tree seedlings in holes that are as deep and twice as wide as their root balls. Pack soil firmly around the roots to eliminate air pockets.
6. Water each fruit tree seedling with 1/2 gallon of water to settle the soil around the roots and help the seedlings to establish. Water each vegetable plant with 2 to 3 inches of water to accomplish the same goal.
7. Mulch the vegetable garden with 2 inches of organic mulch to keep the soil moist and warm for the new plants, and to discourage weeds. Mulch the fruit seedlings in a 2-foot-diameter circle around each tree, but keep the mulch 2 inches from the tree bases. Put the seedlings and the veggie garden on a schedule of 2 to 3 inches of water every week.
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