Vegetable gardening reminders
For the majority of vegetable gardeners, the time to directly plant seed into garden spots or plant those summer producing transplants is quickly approaching. I remind once again to not fall prey to planting your garden too soon.
Soils are still damp and soil temperatures can be too cool. Those plants placed in the ground too soon can be stunted or have root type issues. In years past, I would say that April 15th is the last chance of frost historically, but if you remember we did experience hard frost on April 21st and 22nd just a few years ago. Most experienced vegetable gardeners will not consider planting until the end of April or even first of May.
Today, I will be sharing some simple vegetable gardening reminders in preparation for vegetable gardening growing season 2023 by way of UGA staff, Bob Westerfield and David Linvill.
Ideally, you should have conducted a soil test months ago on your garden area to obtain pH and nutrient status of your garden soil. We normally are lower in soil pH or more acidic in Northwest Georgia so you will need to add lime by the rate established by the soil report. Lime can interact with the soil profile slowly so applying the lime in the correct amount early can have you on a path to a more adequate 6.0 to 6.5 pH range. If the soil pH is too low, it can hinder the efficient use of your fertilizer when applied. In addition, a soil test can simply take out the guesswork in adding lime and fertilizer to your soil.
With higher prices these days, why do you want to guess on what needs to be applied in regards to lime and fertilizer? Not only can improper liming and fertilizing cost money, it can be costing in production. Currently, we are shipping soil samples to the UGA Soil Test Lab multiple times per week. We also have soil probes that can be checked out to aid your collection efforts and even advise you on how to collect the soil. A soil test for one garden spot is only $9. I may should have covered this point first, but where you choose to have your garden site is very important.
You need an area that will provide 8 to 10 hours of sunlight per day. Ideally, the garden area will be close to a house where you can easily obtain clean water for irrigation needs. If possible choose an area that has limited issues with weeds especially more problematic weeds such as nutsedge and bermuda grass. I know bermuda is a preferred lawn grass of many. My lawn is bermuda sod, but in a garden area, bermuda can be a problem. I will add, many times gardeners will decide to start a new garden in a portion of a hayfield or pasture. In these situations, you must be fully aware of any herbicide application practices on that ground for the last several years. You do not want to run into herbicide damage issues with your vegetable plants because of herbicide residue. I will add one more point. If you use manures in your gardens, make sure of the source. If the animals consumed hay or grazed fields that were herbicide treated, you can have residue in the manure. These mistakes happen all the time and could end your gardening season early. Since we are not planting those spring/summer gardens just yet, you still have time to plan. It is recommended to plan your garden on paper before ordering seed. If you are limited on space and will have a small garden, select garden items that are your favorite. You may even want to consider growing dwarf compact varieties that will give you enough production on a limited number of plants. You may even want to plant another in season crop soon after the last harvest is completed on the first plants.
A rule-of-thumb is to plant tall growing plants together on the north or west side of your garden so these plants will not shade lower growing plants. Keep records of where you plant items in the garden and use that information for future crop rotation decisions. When you do plant, be mindful of recommended spacing between plants in the row and even spacing between the actual rows.
You do need to keep in mind that vegetable gardening can be a fun and rewarding process. It can also be a healthy activity by getting you outside and activity. Depending on your garden size, it can though be work. You need to be prepared to cultivate or hoe the garden in order to control weeds and grasses.
My grandfather, A.D. Bowman, was a wonderful vegetable gardener. His gardeners were basically weed free because it seemed he would hoe his garden daily. Try not to cultivate or hoe too deeply because of potential plant root injury. Do remember that if you cultivate too often, you can end up with too dry of a garden soil. Note that mulch can aid in a garden spot in many ways. Mulch can help conserve soil moisture, help control weeds and even reduce the need to cultivate. Apply enough mulch to have 2 to 4 inches of a mulch layer after the mulch has settled. Newspaper can even act as a mulch if applied 2 to 3 layers thick around plants and then you apply 3 inches of straw or compost on top of the paper.