How to plan a vegetable garden

Table of contents

Correctplanning a vegetable gardenhas an impact on the quality and size of crops and the possibility of maintaining such a vegetable garden. Each vegetable garden must be carefully planned in terms of the location, microclimate in a given region, number and size of beds or distance from the street. Seehow to plan a vegetable gardenso that vegetables grow tasty and he althy, and their cultivation is not problematic.


How to plan a vegetable garden

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Independent vegetable cultivation is becoming more and more popular every year.Hence, more and more people want toplan their own vegetable gardennear the house or on the plot. No wonder, thanks to which we can always enjoy fresh vegetables, grown organically without artificial fertilizers and chemical spraying, and how much we save thanks to it! Besides, there are few satisfying things like growing a small seedling or a grain of your own carrot or lettuce. Nothing affects your well-being as much as the visible and tangible effects of our work. Fresh lettuce or a juicy tomato, still warm from the sun, have no competition with the vegetables you buy. "

How big to plan a vegetable garden

If you want toplan a vegetable gardenit is worth knowing that already 150 m² of space will provide vegetables for a family of four. You only need to turn off the potato beds, which need more space, and growing them on your own is basically unprofitable. With a good layout of the vegetable garden, even a few dozen square meters can bring a really abundant vegetable crop.In one bed you can grow several species of vegetables or even better vegetables and herbs that have a positive effect on each other or help to deter pests. A good example of what vegetables to plant side by side in one row will be, for example, onions and carrots. The smell of onions effectively repels carrot pests.

How to choose a good place for a vegetable garden

When planning a vegetable garden , first of all, you should start by choosing the right place, which should be sunny for a long time. Thanks to this, plants will grow faster, and the vegetables themselves will be tastier and richer in vitamins thanks to the sun. A large shade is not conducive to the growth of vegetables, so I do not recommend a vegetable garden in shaded places. Plants such as leaf lettuce or spinach, which in the shade tend to accumulate nitrates, require a well-sunny bed, as well as all thermophilic vegetables, such as tomatoes or peppers.
Another factor is the quality of the soil in the garden, which usually needs to be fertilized, enriched with organic matter, and often also de-acidified before setting up a vegetable garden (for most vegetables, the best soil pH is in the range of 6.0-7.0).

We must also think about the possibility of watering the vegetable garden, especially when the soil is light and dries quickly. On the other hand, when there is often water standing in the area under the planned vegetable garden, puddles remain after rain for a long time, it is worth building raised vegetable patches.

Vegetable garden and climate

In order to have a goodplanning a vegetable garden , you should also pay attention to the climatic conditions in our region. They have a great influence on the growth and development of vegetables. Where the climate is mild, especially in the west and south-west of our country, you can even plant eggplant (eggplant) and paprika. Where the climate is more harsh, in north-eastern Poland, the list of vegetable species to be grown narrows significantly. In these regions, delicate and sensitive plants, such as tomatoes, are recommended to be planted under covers such as a foil tunnel and a greenhouse.

Fortunately, in some regions you can cheat nature a bit and with a few steps you can modify the microclimate in our favor.A good idea here is to use a hedge that we plant around ourplanned vegetable gardenIt will protect the vegetables from strong and cold winds.
We should also remember not to grow vegetables in too close proximity to busy streets or in industrial areas. It is especially discouraged then to cultivate leaf vegetables, some of which we eat above-ground. They absorb too much harmful substances. In post-industrial areas or in the vicinity of industry, it is worth performing a soil analysis to show if there are no harmful substances in the substrate that could penetrate the vegetables.

How to draw a vegetable garden plan

For a goodplan your vegetable gardenfirst draw all parts of the garden, buildings on a piece of paper and take into account places where buildings or tall trees cast a shadow. Remember that vegetables will compete with fruit trees for nutrients, which will additionally shade the vegetable beds.Therefore, we never plant vegetables directly under fruit trees. It is also worth to clearly separate the decorative part of the garden from the vegetable garden.

Thenthe place for the vegetable gardenshould be divided into patches. I propose to divide the space in this way: the main path, running through the center of the vegetable garden, should be approx. 50 cm wide, then the beds should not exceed 120 cm perpendicularly from it, and the distance between the beds should be approx. 30 cm. In this way, we will obtain enough space to be able to drive, for example, with a wheelbarrow into the center of the vegetable garden, and also to move freely between the fields without the risk of trampling any patches.
Of course, this is only a proposal that you can easily adjust to your own needs. For example, you can reduce the width of the paths and patches, or make square patches. Just remember to always orient the beds in the north-south direction, thanks to which the vegetables will be optimally insolated.We must also have free access to the vegetables growing in the middle of the field to be able to weed them and perform other care work.
An interestingplan of the vegetable gardenis the monastic arrangement. Here, two paths intersecting at right angles in the center of the vegetable garden are paved and at the same time define four symmetrical beds. In the middle of the paths you can place, for example, a practical water pump, a well or a garden sundial for decoration.

Katarzyna Matuszak

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