Garden Area Before Preparing Soil

This is what the garden area looked like before we started any work.

This year I’m trying to be more organized about my planting. You see, there are certain vegetables that you don’t want to plant in the same place every year, because of soil born disease and pests. The most prominent of these are: tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers.

Last year I experienced early blight with my tomatoes. So, this year I want to be sure to plant them in a different location, so that if any of the blight bacteria lived in the soil over the winter I won’t have to deal with it again this year.

So, when planning a garden you need to know what soil born pests and diseases are common in your area. Of course, as I’ve said many, many times, the best place to get this information is your local extension office.

New Gardens Year 2

Here's a shot of the aded garden area in the first year.

Plant rotation is important for other reasons. Certain plants will be heavy feeders on particular nutrients. If you plant them in the same place over and over, then you’ll deplete the soil in that area of that nutrient. Corn for instance is a very heavy feeders, so moving it from one location to another for several years will give you the opportunity to rebuild the fertility of the soil before you plant it there again.

I have one garden I’m going to try and get in before I do any spring planting outside. Last year all my garden space was taken up with spring crops when it was time to put out the summer crops. This year I’m going to start a new location for the spring crops. It’s on the more northerly facing portion of the house, so it will go into shade earlier in the day when the weather starts to warm up. That way I’ll have space for my summer crops, and I won’t have to tear out my spring crops before they are finished producing, like I had to last year. Also, I’m hoping to extend my spring season some by keeping them cooler as the weather warms up.

You need a three-year crop rotation chart, which is what I’m going to work on this year. Now that my garden space is stabilizing I’ll be better able to do that.  Each year I was adding a lot of new space so it was hard to make up any charts. I have three more gardens I want to put in the area where I plant vegetables. I don’t think I’ll get them in for this planting season, but I can show them in my chart and add them in for next year. Hopefully I’ll get them in this year, so that by fall or at least next spring I’ll be able to use them.

So, as your little seedlings are starting to sprout (for early spring crops) you can be planning your gardens for the rest of the season. Take the time to do up a three year rotation to ensure you’ll have healthy, heavily producing plants for optimum harvest and the best tasting, most nutritious produce around.