Vegetable Gardening
Where to Plant your Garden
Put your home vegetable garden in a place that has well-drained soil and is convenient to the house. The garden should not be shaded by buildings, trees or shrubs - vegetables need full sunlight throughout the day to grow well. Trees and shrubs close by also compete with garden plants for moisture and fertilizer.
If space is limited, select crops for your garden that use little space - such as bush and pole snap beans, beet, cabbage, carrot, chard, lettuce, onion, parsley, pepper, radish, spinach and tomato. Avoid large or vining crops such as pumpkin, squash and sweet corn. These vegetables do not produce as much for the amount of space they occupy.
Preparing the Soil
Use smaller, rotary-type power tillers to prepare soil in a small garden. For very small gardens, use a spade or spading fork and a rake.
Prepare soil early when it is moderately moist. Loosen to a depth of 6 to 8 inches, then disc, drag or rake to a moderately fine texture. Level the soil, but do not pack.
Watering the Vegetable Garden
It's best to water your garden early in the day - this helps reduce evaporation which usually occurs during the high midday temperatures, and your plants will have less disease problems because you "put them to bed dry." This means their foliage should be dry at sunset.
Vegetable plants need about 1 inch of water each week. Add 1 inch per week unless rainfall makes this unnecessary. Watering all at one time is a better method than frequent, short waterings.
When possible, use a garden hose, a sprinkler or a soaker hose to water evenly. When water pressure is not available, pour water into trenches between rows or around plants. Avoid injuring plant roots when making the trenches, and pull dry soil into the trenches as soon as the water has soaked in.
Weed Control
Controlling weeds successfully is largely a matter of proper timing and persistence. Weeds are easiest to control if you cultivate just as seeds are germinating, before young seedlings become established. At this stage, stirring the top 1 or 2 inches of soil so that it dries out rapidly generally gives good weed control. Repeat this shallow cultivation at least once each week before weeds get started and as soon as the soil is dry enough to work after each rain.
Excerpted with permission from the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
