Late fall may signal the end of your summer vegetable garden, but it’s also a great time to begin planning for next year’s crop. And, if you plan ahead now, you’ll be more likely to choose the supplies, plants and seeds that are right for your location, space, gardening skill level and personal preference.
If you’ve already chosen the site for next year’s garden, the next three key factors to keep in mind are soil, sunlight and water. You should be prepared to test and understand the health and composition of your soil when planting season comes, and be ready to amend your soil with what it needs. Ideally, you’ll want a dark, crumbly and rich soil that drains well, has the right pH level, and includes the right mix of organic matter, clay, silt and sand.
Choosing Vegetables
Another very important aspect of garden planning is selecting the fruits and vegetables that you want and that are likely to do well in your garden. Think about what you like to eat and the space you have to work with, too. Then, select the fruit and vegetable plants that are right for your climate by consulting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Once you know your zone, you can choose plants that will do well in that zone. Plant descriptions in seed catalogs and on labels will often include zone information to make things easy.
Part of this process is also considering the amount of sunlight and shade your garden will receive to be sure it aligns with the crops you want. Vegetables or fruits that require full sun will need at least six hours of direct exposure per day, while part-sun or semi-shade plants will do well with periods of both sun and shade. Fast-growing vegetables like tomatoes, beans and cucumbers tend to require full sun, while vegetables such as lettuce, kale and spinach can tolerate partial shade.
Also consider timing, or when you want to plant and harvest your vegetables. Certain vegetables do better at certain times of the year, particularly if you’re opting for cool-season vegetables, warm-season crops or a combination of both.
Cool-season vegetables, such as broccoli, lettuce and kale, can be planted in cooler temperatures – such as the spring or fall – and they can handle light frosts. Meanwhile, warm-season vegetables, such as tomatoes, squash, beans and corn, should not be planted until the soil has warmed. They may need to be started indoors in late winter or early spring, or purchased as seedlings to be transplanted once the ground warms; they may offer a long growing season.
You’ll also want to consider how much produce you expect or would like to harvest. Some options, such as tomatoes, peppers and squash, will continue to provide fruits and vegetables throughout the season, while others, like carrots and corn, can only be harvested once before they need to be replanted.
When selecting edible plants, also consider the specific varieties available, such as “open pollinated” (OP) plants, heirloom varieties and/or hybrids. OP plants are those that come from a parent of the same variety, such as plants you’ve grown previously, while heirloom plants are OP varieties that have been cultivated for decades. Then there are hybrids, which result from cross-bred varieties to create more desirable traits such as disease-resistance or size, but are only intended for use in a single growing season. You’ll want to buy new hybrid varieties each year.
Organizing Your Garden
There are several ways to organize the plants in your garden, and your choice may depend on the space you have to work with and how you’ll plant the vegetables. You might plant vegetables in single-file rows about 18 inches apart, giving you space to walk between them for weeding and tending. Alternately, you can plant vegetables closer together in a wider row – or you can plant a raised bed garden, perhaps divided into sections. Each section will be able to handle anywhere from one to multiple plants, depending on their size at maturity.
Plan out where you’ll plant your vegetables, locating larger or taller plants so that they don’t cast shade over shorter ones, and positioning them north to south for maximum exposure.
Also estimate the size of the variety you choose when it reaches maturity, so that your garden will be able to accommodate the plants’ growth. You may also need to buy supports or cones tall enough to assist plants as they grow, particularly tomatoes.
If you’re a beginning gardener, you may want to select vegetables that will be easier to grow, such as lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, carrots and radishes. You may also want to start small, to keep your time commitment manageable. A manageable plan may be starting out with a few of no more than five types of vegetables.
Follow these simple guidelines to ensure the best success for next year’s garden, and to make it easier for your dream garden to become a reality in the upcoming growing season.
