What Should You Grow?

Besides growing what you enjoy eating, other factors such as where you live and the gardening method you’ve chosen will also help determine what you grow. Let’s take a look at these considerations.

Determine Your Growing Zone

Knowing your growing zone will help you understand your general growing climate and which plants will likely thrive there. Divided into 11 categories, growing zones are calculated based on the average annual minimum temperature in each location. (See the map to find your zone.)
Growing zones were created to help gardeners understand which perennial plants will survive the winter in a particular location. Because annual plants complete their life cycle in one season and do not survive the winter, growing zones technically do not apply to them.
Although your zone won’t matter for most vegetables and herbs you grow, knowing it can help you understand which plants grow best in certain seasons, which plant varieties may grow better, and which plants may not grow at all.
For example, gardeners in the cooler zones 1 to 4 might grow cool-weather crops all summer, but their season isn’t long enough to support heat-loving crops such as okra and large melons. Gardeners in warmer zones 7 to 11 usually can’t grow cool-weather crops such as lettuce in the summer, but they can grow them in fall and winter.
Seed packets, seed catalogs, and plant tags are great resources. They specify if a plant can grow in your zone.

Identifying Microclimates

In addition to knowing your growing zone, it’s important to consider factors unique to your yard. The nuances of your specific location, or microclimate , alter your growing conditions and can also affect when you get frosts. Frost dates are key to knowing when and what to plant.
Microclimates can occur around structures, mountains, bodies of water, slopes, and more. Gardens planted next to a south-facing wall, for example, may have higher heat that prevents tomato fruit from forming in warmer zones, but creates a greater yield of peppers in cooler zones.
Gardens in the shadow of a mountain, in a valley, or at the bottom of a slope may get frosts later in the spring and earlier in the fall than surrounding higher elevations. This type of microclimate may require a gardener to delay summer planting or to cover frost-prone plants.
These are just a few examples of microclimate variations, and you should pay attention to how your plants respond to your microclimate. Make note of your area’s average last- and first-frost dates and compare them to what you actually experience from year to year. If your conditions vary from what is considered average for your area, you can adjust your crops and the timing of your plantings accordingly.

Consider Your Garden Type and Space

Most plants are happy to grow in containers, raised beds, or the ground. However, some are better suited to one form or another.
Some herbs (e.g., mint, lemon balm, and oregano) spread aggressively, which makes them ideal for a container. If you plant them in a raised or in-ground bed, they will take over and smother other plants.
Some crops are considered “heavy feeders,” which means they need more nutrients than others.
Therefore, although heavy feeders such as tomatoes, squash, cabbage, and broccoli grow well in containers, they enjoy the moisture-holding capacity of raised beds, and the greater access to soil nutrients reduces the need for regular supplemental fertilizer. Raised beds are also ideal for crops that require more plants for a plentiful harvest, such as beans, peas, and okra.
Some plants also need more space than others. If you’re looking to maximize the yield of your garden, a container full of greens that can feed you for months may be a better choice than a container with one cabbage plant that will give you one head.

Pick Plants That Get Along

Vegetables and herbs benefit from companion planting. Scientific research on the topic remains scarce, but we do know that the more diverse your vegetables, herbs, and flowers are, the healthier your garden will be. Some plants do seem to offer a measure of pest control to nearby plants. For example, icicle radishes may repel squash bugs and cucumber beetles.
Conversely, some plants negatively affect others when planted in close proximity. Broccoli and tomatoes, for example, both uptake high levels of calcium. Planting them together could result in smaller broccoli heads and blossom-end rot in tomatoes. Also beware that plants in the same families (e.g., cabbage and cauliflower) often are visited by the same pests, are afflicted by the same diseases, and take up similar nutrients from the soil. (Plants that share similar characteristics, such as appearance, general growth habits, and seed and seedling presentation, are grouped into plant families.)
In addition to pest control and nutrient needs, there are other benefits to companion planting.
Vegetables with varying growth habits and nutrient needs benefit each other (such as planting cooler- weather crops in the shade of heat-loving ones). This is also an excellent way to maximize a small space.
Although some companion planting combinations may benefit your garden, don’t dive too deeply into it now. Start with these suggestions and experiment with other combinations later.

References

Bradley, Fern Marshall, Barbara W. Ellis, and Deborah Martin. The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control. New York: Rodale, Inc., 2009.

Bradley, Fern Marshall, Barbara W. Ellis, and Ellen Phillips. Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. New York: Rodale, Inc., 2009.

Bradley, Fern Marshall, and Jane Courtier. Vegetable Gardening. White Plains, NY: Toucan Books, 2006.

Cool Springs Press. Gardening Complete. Minneapolis: Cool Springs Press, 2018.

Damrosch, Barbara. The Garden Primer . New York: Workman Publishing, Inc., 2008.

Harrington, J. F. “Soil Temperature Conditions for Vegetable Seed Germination.” University of California at Davis. Accessed October 18, 2019.

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/12281/soiltemps.pdf .

McCrate, Colin, and Brad Halm. High-Yield Vegetable Gardening . North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2015.

Reich, Lee. Weedless Gardening . New York: Workman Publishing Co., Inc., 2001.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (blog). “The Major Plant Families in a Vegetable Garden.” Accessed October 22, 2019. http://www.southernexposure.com/the-major-plant-families-in-a-vegetable-garden-ezp-190.html .