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Vegetable Garden Layout
So you want to start a vegetable garden layout? Well it is really quite a simple process. And in deciding where the best site for your home vegetable garden is you will need to once and for all rid yourself of the old idea that the garden "patch" is an ugly sight and you should hide it from everybody’s view. But if you plan the best site and layout carefully and keep it tidy, free from weeds, like any other part of your garden, it will be made a beautiful and harmonious feature of your general gardening scheme. It will give your garden a touch of comfortable homeliness that no shrubs, flowering borders, or beds could ever produce. With this planning and care in mind you will not need to hide your vegetable plot out of sight and hidden away. In the average moderate size home garden there usually is not too much choice as to where you can locate your vegetable garden layout. You will probably find it necessary to take what free garden space you have available and then do the very best that you can do with it. But you will probably have a good deal of choice for, exposure and convenience. The best you should aim for is a spot near to your house, especially your kitchen, with easy access. It may seem that a difference of only a few yards will mean nothing, but if you have limited spare time for working in your vegetable patch, attending to the needs of your vegetables, the difference of a few yards can make a lot of difference. And if the weather is wet or cold then the closer the vegetable garden is to your kitchen door then the better it will be and easier it will be for harvesting. Unfortunately its not until you have made a few time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass or when it is raining, to harvest your delicious vegetables, will you realize fully why the closer to your house the better it will be. But what is of most importance to consider in choosing the spot that is to yield you succulent and delicious vegetable garden plants all summer long for many years, is the exposure. Pick out a spot for your vegetable garden layout that slopes a little to the south or east, that seems to catch sunshine early in the morning and holds it until late evening, and that is free of chilling north and northeast winds. You may not be able to achieve all these perfect things but choose the spot that gives you most of them. You can always do other things to improve the situation. You can use a building, an old fence, plant low growing shrubs or a hedge to protect it from the chilling winds. So, the two most important factors you should consider for your vegetable garden layout success is: protection from chilling winds and provide as much sunshine as possible. Get these two factors right and you are sure to succeed. You will be on your way to successful vegetable growing. And don’t forget you will need to water your vegetables regularly so a nearby water supply is crucial, preferably a hose. You don’t want to have to carry heavy watering cans more than a few steps as you will need many watering cans to keep your vegetables well watered. Ok you’ve found the right spot now you need to consider the soil. The chances are that the soil is of poor quality for growing vegetables. But don’t despair. All except the very worst of soils can easily be improved to a very high degree of productiveness, especially such small areas as home vegetable gardens. It is crucial, if you want good quality and abundant vegetables, to improve the soil. Now the ideal garden soil is a “rich, sandy loam“. And the fact cannot be over emphasized that such soils usually are made, not found. You will have to improve your soil. So how do improve your soil? Well, a soil that is “rich” in gardener's terms means, full of plant food and beneficial organisms, just right for healthy vegetable growth. Practically no soil in long inhabited communities remain naturally rich enough to produce big crops. They are made rich, or kept rich, in two ways; first by cultivation, digging, which breaks up the soil allowing water to penetrate down and digging allows air into the soil which is vital for the growth of beneficial microscopic organisms The second way to make soil rich is to add compost, manure or commercially produced plant food. “Sandy” in gardener‘s terms, means a soil containing enough particles of sand so that water will pass through it without leaving it pasty and sticky a few days after a rain; yet light and open enough, as it is called, so that a handful, under ordinary conditions, will crumble and fall apart readily after being pressed in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be sandy in appearance, but it should be friable. “Loam” in gardener’s terms is a rich, friable soil. It is soil in which sand and clay are in proper proportions, so that neither is greatly predominant, and it is usually dark in color, from cultivation and enrichment. Such a soil, even to the untrained eye, just naturally looks as if it would grow things. It is remarkable how quickly the whole physical appearance of a piece of well cultivated ground will change. So to recap: For the best possible vegetable garden layout you should Choose the right spot Improve the soil It does need some work on your part to get the best position and soil, but the rewards far outweigh the effort you put in. You will be rewarded with earlier, bigger, more abundant, disease free and better tasting vegetables, year after year after year.
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