By Emilie Justen
Horticulture Graduate Student
Iowa State University Extenison
In Iowa, the arrival of winter means ice, snow and cold temperatures. A more pleasant aspect of winter is the arrival of seed catalogs in the mail. The colorful photographs of flowers and vegetables gives many of us hope that warm temperatures and spring soon will be here. With many of us staying indoors, winter is the perfect time to plan the vegetable garden for 2009.
Planning a garden can save time, space, work and money. The first thing you need to do is ask yourself how much time you’ll have each week to spend planting, weeding, watering and harvesting. The amount of time you can devote to your garden will help you decide the size of the garden. Another important aspect to planning is to compile a list of vegetables that you and your family like to eat and intend to grow in the garden. If no one likes green beans, there’s no reason to plant them in the garden. High fuel and food costs have many people planting vegetable gardens to save money at the grocery store and reduce fuel consumption.
The success of a garden is largely determined by its location. Vegetable gardens generally need at least six hours of full sunlight, ideally with eight to 10 hours of full sunlight. Be aware that tall trees may shade the garden during the summer. A fertile, well-drained soil is another important garden site requirement. Sites that meet these criteria will help determine the size of the garden. A garden located near the home or water faucets makes it easier to maintain and harvest.
Proper plant spacing (distance between plant rows) is necessary to obtain maximum crop yields. Planting vegetables too close together or too far apart will result in lower crop yields. Allowing plants proper spacing also will act as weed control once the plants have formed a leaf canopy over bare soil. Spacing suggestions can be found on seed packets, catalogs and gardening books.
Once you have a list of vegetables that you would like to grow, the dimensions of your garden space and vegetable spacing suggestions, you can draw it on paper. Drawing your garden will help you with plant spacing, which in turn will help you avoid overcrowding plants. While you are drawing your garden map, remember to place taller vegetables, such as sweet corn, on the north end of the garden so they won’t shade shorter plants. Also, keep in mind that it is possible to grow more than one crop in a given area. This happens with succession planting, or when another crop is planted as soon as the first crop is harvested. For example, green beans, summer squash, and beets can be planted as soon as lettuce, spinach, and peas are harvested in spring.
Drawing your garden on paper also will help you determine approximately how much seed to order. January and February are great months to order seeds. Orders placed early in the year are likely to be promptly filled by the company. Many seeds, such as tomatoes, can be started indoors in the middle of March. If you don’t have a sunny window to place seedlings in, you can supplement the natural light with grow lamps.
As the snow falls and the temperature drops, take advantage of time spent indoors to plan your vegetable garden for 2009. Most seed companies send their catalogs free-of-charge and you can contact them if you’d like to be on their mailing lists. Seed companies also have Web sites that make ordering seeds convenient and easy. Stay warm and happy planning!
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Sidebar:
Here are a few ISU Extension publications that will help you plan your vegetable garden. Visit these links for more information.
ISU Extension Online Store, Yard and Garden Category:
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/store/ListCategories.aspx?TopicID=10
Fresh Vegetable Guide: www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM2034.pdf
Planting a home vegetable garden: www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM819.pdf
Planting and harvesting times for vegetables: www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM534.pdf
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