Vegetable gardening can provide value through fresh produce, health benefits, exercise and attracting wildlife. Successful planning includes considering location, size, layout, crop selection based on climate and characteristics, and techniques like intercropping, succession planting, and companion planting. Ongoing cultivation requires regular watering, fertilizing, weed control, pest management, and plant support to optimize space and produce a bountiful harvest.

1. Vegetable Gardening Home vegetable gardening
• Produce value of $14 billion per year
(U.S.)
• 40% of families have vegetable
gardens
Why grow vegetables? Planning a garden
• Taste • Location
• Saves money – Water supply
• Health – Full sun
– Can be chemical-free – Well drained loam,
pH 6-6.5
– Exercise
– Away from trees
• Attracts wildlife
– Away from slopes
Planning a garden Garden layout
• Rows oriented east to
• Size
west
– Start small (25’ x 25’ or less)
• Taller & trellised
– Most seed packs plant a 15’ row plants on north side
• Shorter plants
towards south side
• Plant perennials
together
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2. Block (bed) gardening
Vegetable garden design
• Rows
• Beds
• Mixed beds (flowers/vegetables)
• Containers
– Window boxes
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3. Planning a vegetable Planning a vegetable
garden garden
• What uses? • Vegetable characteristics
– Fresh, canning, freezing (p. 500) – Days to maturity
• Climate assessment – Warm season vs. cool season
– Dates of avg. spring & fall killing frosts • Warm season – restricted to frost free
• Frost free period = # days from last spring period
frost to first fall frost (ranges from 60-250 • Cool season – can tolerate light frost
days) – Start indoors & transplant for Spring crop
– Plant as seed for late fall crop
Planning a vegetable
garden
• Vegetable characteristics
– Harvested crop and light requirements
• Fruit > 8 hours
• Root > 6 hours
• Leaf > 4 hours
– Harvested crop and nutrient
requirements
• Leaf crops – high N
• Root crops – High K, lower N
Intercropping
Planning a vegetable garden
• Intercropping
• Succession planting (double
cropping)
• Relay planting
• Crop rotation
• Companion planting
• Row to row distance
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4. Succession planting
Relay planting Crop rotation
• Planting at intervals for continuous,
extended harvest
– Beans, sweet corn, lettuce
– Sow when previous crop has emerged
(germinated)
Companion planting
• Some plants do better next
to certain types of plants
– Some plants have insect
repellant properties
– Some plants attract
beneficial insects
– Example: corn/squash
canopy disorients squash
vine borer
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5. Companion planting for
pest control
Beneficial
Poor plant combinations
insects
• Plant antagonism – some plants
secrete growth-suppressing
chemicals
– Beans do not follow onions well
– Tomato/potato do not follow Brassicas
well
Planting a vegetable
Plant spacing
garden
• Can determine final size of plants • Seed
– Viability & storage
• Equal access to water, nutrients, light
– Direct vs. indirect sowing
• Canopy can suppress weeds – Prepared seed types
• Seed tapes, primed, pelleted,
treated
– Pre-germinating seed (p.
493)
– Thinning
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6. Growing vegetables from Vegetable garden
indirect seeding cultivation
• Warm for germination
• Watering
– Seedlings in good light, lower temp.
• Fertilizing
• Hardening off
• Weed control
• Transplanting at proper depth
• Mulching
• Pests
Garden watering
Garden fertilizing
• Heavy & occasionally
– Germinating seeds, seedlings, • Vegetable plants vary in N-P-K needs
transplants – frequent & light • Annual application of compost (5-
• Critical watering periods 11lbs./sq. yd.) or manure (12lb./sq. yd.)
• Water in evening • Green manure crops (legumes, rye)
• Soaker, drip irrigation overwinter or intercropped
• Granular N-fertilizers applied in Spring
(one month before planting)
Weed control
Vegetable garden pests (p. 498)
• Hand weeding
• Hoe weeding • Animals
– Birds, rabbits, deer, voles, insects
• Mulch • Insects
– Plastic, organic, newspaper – Sucking insects, chewing insects
• Proper plant spacing – Moths/caterpillars; beetles/grubs
• Microorganisms
– Bacteria, fungi, viruses
• Virginia Tech – Insect pests of vegetables
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7. Training plants
• Optimize use of space
• Lessen contact of fruit with soil
Training plants
Cages
Home gardening resources
• NCSU Information leaflets
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