Planning a vegetable garden is half the fun

By Kathy Hatfield
Gardening Columnist

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If you're like many gardeners, you've been poring over gardening catalogs during this recent cold spell. What better way to spend a snowy evening than dreaming of the upcoming warm weather and your best garden ever?

It's easy to get carried away by the colorful pictures and tempting descriptions of old and new vegetable varieties. But a bit of planning will help make sure that your garden will have the produce your family enjoys and that you won't find unused packages of seeds at the end of the planting season.

Here are some things to consider when you're choosing varieties to plant.

Start small. Rather than going overboard buying many new varieties, try just one or two each year and note which ones meet your expectations. Choose varieties that your family will enjoy and that you can use in favorite recipes.

Though it varies depending on where you live and the microclimate of your garden, the average frost-free period is about 150 days. Check the days to maturity given in the catalogs or on the seed package. Keep in mind that this number refers to the number of days to harvestable produce. In the case of direct-seeded vegetables, that means from the time you sow the seeds in the ground until you can pick ripe peas, for example. For transplants, it is the number of days from setting plants out in the garden to harvesting ripe fruit.

Probably one of the more difficult decisions to make is how much to plant. This depends in part on the amount of space available, but also on what you plan to do with the harvest. Do you want just enough for fresh salads and vegetable dishes throughout the summer? Will you be freezing or canning vegetables for winter use? Do you have a root cellar for storage of extra produce? Think about how you will use the harvest, and then plan accordingly.

How much time do you want to spend maintaining your garden? Will you have time to water, weed, fertilize and harvest throughout the summer? A less time-intensive method of gardening might be to grow some of the smaller vegetable varieties in containers or to tuck them here and there throughout the landscape.

There are many small and ornamental varieties that can be used for both decorative and food purposes. Two examples are Numex Twilight and Pretty in Purple. Both are hot peppers with high yields of fruit that ripen in sunset colors, making them attractive in containers or for the edible landscape.

Look at the information provided on the seed packet or in the seed catalog that describes the vegetable you will be growing. Catalogs and seed packets from the more reputable seed companies give plant characteristics and provide tips for growing and harvesting success.

You can extend the harvest by making multiple plantings of one variety or by planting varieties with different maturity times. Early-maturing carrots, for example, may take 50 to 60 days until harvest, whereas later ones may take as long as 90 to 100 days.

To save space, plant carrots with spinach. The spinach will grow more quickly and loosen the ground for the carrots. By the time the spinach is harvested, the carrots will be developing. Similarly, planting radishes with another early crop will save space. The radishes will germinate more quickly and mark the row; as you harvest them, the row will be thinned for the second vegetable. With most of these early season crops, a 6- to 12-foot row is usually enough for a family of four.

The most popular homegrown vegetable is, of course, the tomato. And no wonder! The taste of a vine-ripened tomato far surpasses that of a store-bought one.

There are hundreds of tomato varieties available, from the small cherry and grape tomatoes, to low-acid yellow ones, to heirloom and novelty types. For a family of four tomato lovers, a good mix might be two cherry tomato plants, six to eight plants for fresh tomatoes, and another six paste-type tomato plants for making sauces and canning.

Peppers are another favorite. Most hot peppers far surpass sweet peppers in their production. One or two plants of a hot pepper variety are generally more than enough, even for those who like hot salsa. Sweet peppers seem to be more unpredictable and inconsistent in their yields. If you like to add sweet peppers to salads and have some to freeze for later use, six to 12 plants are not too many.

Remember that these are estimates, and you will have to adjust the amounts based on your preferences, the varieties grown, growing conditions and your experience with each vegetable. Keeping good notes will help make future garden planning easier and more efficient.

Readers may send their gardening questions to Kathy Hatfield at ocwildflowers@frii.com.