Vegetable_Garden_Encyclopedia_-_Consumer_guide(Book4You)

Vegetable Gardening Encyclopedia
by Consumer Guide
PDF
Any gardener will tell you that gardening is one
of the most absorbing and rewarding
occupations you can undertake. Any gardener will
also tell you — probably loudly and at length — that
gardening requires patience, resilience, hard work,
and a lot of planning. Paperwork is probably the last
thing you have in mind when you think about
growing your own vegetables. More likely you see
yourself leaning contently on your spade as all sorts
of lush, healthy plants shoot up in front of your eyes.
The fact of the matter, though, is that gardening
begins not with seeds and a spade but with paper and a
pencil.
A successful vegetable garden begins with a well-
organized plan of your garden space. Drawing a plan
may not sound as exciting as getting outdoors and
planting things. But if you don't spend the necessary
time planning what to grow in your garden and
when and where to plant it, you may spend the rest of
the growing season correcting the mistakes you
made because you didn't have a plan. It's a lot easier to
erase a bed when it's a few lines on a piece of paper
than when it's an expanse of soil and plants.
Your plan should include not only the types and
quantities of vegetables you're going to grow and how
they'll be positioned in your garden, but also
planting dates and approximate dates of harvest.
Making a plan may seem like a lot of work to get
done before you even start gardening, but careful
planning will help you make the best use of your
time and available space and will result in bigger,
higher-quality crops.
This chapter discusses all the questions you need
to take into account when you're planning your
garden — the hows, whats, whys, whens, and
wherefores. The specific cultural requirements of
each vegetable are given in detail in Part 2.