Other crops, though, like peas, with their small leaves and open structures, can easily become overrun with weeds if you’re not constantly hand-weeding them. Potatoes, too, apart from some digging (which you don’t absolutely have to do) will look after themselves in many cases, with their thick, densely-packed leaves helping to drown out invasive weeds. Rhubarb, for example, will pretty much take care of itself. Some vegetable plants require far more work and effort than others. Once again, use these factors in helping you make decisions about which of your crops are going to grow best in which locations. While some crops like peppers and corn like strong, direct sunshine for as much of the day as possible, other crops such as land cress are happy with partial shade. We’ve mentioned earlier how it’s wise to “know your plot” and have a good understanding of where the sun falls at what time of day, and, even more, so which areas are likely to be shady for at least part of the day. For example, grow small bush tomatoes or – as I am doing – grow the Minipop variety of corn which grows to nowhere near the height of standard corn. Once again, refer to your trusty book and your seed packets to get a better idea of the maximum height your crops are likely to attain, together with the direction of sunshine throughout the day, and consider planning your vegetable plot so that the shorter plants are positioned closer together where they will receive less shade from the taller varieties.Īn alternative solution is to try and buy “dwarf” varities so that they attain a shorter maximum height and thus cast less shade. These shorter plants may well then suffer from stunted growth as a result and smaller, later crops. Depending on where the sun falls on your vegetable plot, you may find that the taller plants absorb most of the available sun, and cast shade on the shorter plants. Some plants, like peas and calabrese, attain only a short adult height while many tomatoes and sweetcorns will grow to be much, much taller. This will gives you a larger patch of available soil sooner and more options for what you can put in the vacant area, rather than trying to work out what crops might fit in the irregular gaps left between longer-living plants. Consider placing your rows of crops in order so that all the longer-lived crops will be at one end of your vegetable plot while those crops that will be harvested sooner are at the other end. It can be mildly frustrating after harvesting fast-growing crops to find out that you don’t have enough space to plant what you want because of slower-growing crops either side of the gap.Īs a result one smart idea is to carefully read the instructions on the back of your seed packets – or take the time to buy and read a decent vegetable gardening book – and then take the “time to harvest” into account when planting out. One mistake I made initially was not taking this factor into account. Contrast this to other crops such as cabbages, purple sprouting brocolli or turnips, which may remain in the ground for 6-12 months depending on when you plant them and the weather in your part of the world. For example, many salad crops like scallions, radishes and lettuces may be picked a matter of weeks after germination. Some vegetable crops are ready to harvest within a matter of months. Today I want to tell you why I made these changes, and highlight a few concepts that you, like me, may not have considered… Length Of Time Till Harvest This year marks my first “serious” attempt at growing my own vegetables and despite trying to absorb as much information as possible over the last few months there are a number of discoveries I’ve made that have forced me to significantly modify the original plan I had for my vegetable patch. It’s funny sometimes how no matter how much planning and research you do on a subject you still discover all sorts of things from your personal experiences along the way.
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