Planning A Home Garden

The home garden should be near the house and away from trees. If the garden isn't fairly close to the house, it will not be as well looked after, nor will you get the most use from the vegetables grown. If your vegetable garden is planted near trees it wont get full sunshine; even more important, tree roots will rob plants of water and fertilizer they need to grow their best.

If you can, move the home garden spot every 10 years or so to help keep down diseases. Without moving the garden spot it will become so full of various disease spores and nematodes that you cannot grow a good crop of many vegetables without use of special soil fumigants.

Soil should always be well drained. A sandy loam with a clay subsoil is best. Heavy clay soils may be made suitable by adding heavy quantities of compost or stable manure, or by turning under cover crops, preferably legumes such as vetch, clover soybeans.

Since the best quality and quantity of vegetables cannot be grown on anything but a fertile soil, do whatever is needed to make it fertile.

Requirements for growth.

• Proper degree of heat
• Moisture
• Oxygen is essential for seed germination and good growth.

English peas, for example, will sprout when soil temperature is only a few degrees above freezing, while seed such as tomatoes will not germinate at all.

Artificial heat is a must if you want to start these tender vegetables for early crops. Otherwise, for early crops, buy plants from local growers who produce them with artificial heat.

Tender vegetables such as cucumbers, melons, cantaloupes, and squash, should not be planted outdoors until soil has warmed up. These may, be started earlier in small pots in a hotbed.

To get the best results out of your gardening efforts, take time to do some planning. Also keep a record of whether you had too much or too little of certain vegetables at any time during the season for a continuous supply. Don't trust it all to memory.

Things to consider when planting your home garden.

Which varieties are best to plant.

When to plant for continuous supply.

Which pesticides are best for control of diseases and insects .

Supplies needed such as, sprayers, tools, dusters, fertilizer, or mulching material.

How much of each vegetable you should grow to supply your family needs.

Which vegetables are most needed for good health.

How much extra to plant for storage

Jotting this down on paper, plus any notes made during the season about special pest problems or how a new variety or practice turned out, will be valuable the next season when planning and planting time roll around.