In this section, you’re going to discover how to plan the timing of your plantings, start seeds indoors, plant directly in the garden, properly space your vegetables, and plan for crop rotation.
Figure Out Your Frost Date
Perhaps even more important than your garden zone, your average last- and first-frost dates are crucial to your planting decisions.
In the spring, you plant each crop a specified number of weeks before or after your average last- frost date, depending on the plant. The same goes for crops you plant for a fall harvest, relative to your average first-frost date in the fall.
You can find these dates by calling your local cooperative extension service or by visiting a website that will tell you your frost dates by zip code. Remember, these dates are averages, which means frost can occur within 2 weeks on either side of these dates for any given year. In addition, your microclimate may affect these average frost dates.
Starting Seeds vs. Sowing Directly
Many first-time gardeners choose to plant only transplants from the local nursery or garden center. But for others, the idea of planting seeds excites them, not to mention that many plants (beans, for example) do not transplant well and are best planted from seed. In addition, seeds are comparatively inexpensive.
If you do choose to plant seeds, you need to decide whether to start seeds indoors or direct sow them into the garden.
Tomatoes and peppers are the most obvious choices to start from seed indoors. Their long growing time requires an earlier start in most seasons, and because they don’t grow well in cool conditions, a controlled indoor environment is best. If you don’t want to start these seeds indoors, purchasing transplants is recommended.
Other plants are best suited for direct sowing. Beans, squash, zucchini, peas, corn, carrots, spinach, and beets prefer being grown from seeds planted directly in the garden. Soil temperature is key for proper germination, and I strongly recommend purchasing an inexpensive soil thermometer to ensure the soil is warm enough for sowing.
Each plant you plan to grow will require different planting times and soil temperatures. If you’re pressed for time and want to ease into your first garden, feel free to skip starting your seeds indoors. Many beginning gardeners purchase young plants and transplant them. In addition, some vegetable seeds germinate and grow better when planted directly into the ground.
Spacing
How do you figure out how far apart to space seeds or transplants?
Proper spacing is important. If vegetables grow too close together, they compete for nutrients and water, reducing total yield. On the other hand, if they grow too far apart, weeds fill the vacant space.
Seed packets, generally direct you to “overseed,” which means planting more seeds than will ultimately grow. After the seeds germinate, you remove extra seedlings by cutting them at soil level, in order to arrive at the final spacing. When using the profiles in this book as a guide, I recommend planting twice as many seeds and removing every other sprout if they all germinate.
Bear in mind that the recommended spacing on seed packets refers to rows of plants in a traditional in-ground garden. There are no pathways in containers and raised beds, so you won’t need to leave as much room between rows. Instead, use the plant spacing recommendations for seeding, and plant in all directions. For example, you may be advised to plant bush bean seeds 3 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart, thinning after germination to a final spacing of 6 inches apart. In a raised bed or container, you can plant the seeds 3 inches apart in all directions, then thin to half the number of beans planted.
Of course, plant spacing guidelines are general guidelines. Try to get close, but don’t worry about taking a ruler to the garden . . . unless you really want to.
Succession Planting
You can get twice the harvest from the same space by succession planting, which means planting a second crop after production ends from a first crop. An example of this is planting summer squash after you harvest and pull up bush beans.
Relay planting offers even more options. In relay planting, you plant a second crop next to a crop that is nearing its end of production. The two crops grow side by side until the first crop comes out. I use relay planting when I place bell pepper seedlings between mature spinach or lettuce plants. As the summer heats up, these cool-weather leafy plants bolt. I pull them up and the bell peppers take over.
To get the most out of succession planting, it helps to know whether a crop harvests all at once, all season long, or until heat or cold stops its production. Root crops harvest all at once and fall into the “one harvest” category, whereas bush beans and peas harvest over only a couple of weeks and fall into the “quick burst” category. Pole beans provide an “all season” harvest, producing until frost, and many greens are “weather dependent,” meaning they keep producing until heat makes them bolt.
Here are some examples of harvest categories in relation to succession planting: Bush beans and determinate tomatoes, such as Roma, are quick-burst crops; you pick them over the course of a few weeks and then they’re done. Once you pull these plants out, you can plant another round of the same crop or something else, perhaps summer squash or an early fall crop. On the other hand, pole beans and indeterminate tomatoes (most slicing tomatoes) produce all season, so you would not plan a succession crop for them.
As long as you follow the plant’s natural preference for growing conditions and have a basic understanding of each plant’s harvest period, the combinations for succession and relay planting are as plentiful as your imagination.
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