Position Plants According To Size

by Shweta
(Jorhat, India)

My vegetable garden layout is such that the tall crops like peas and beans are planted on the north side so that they don’t shade the rest of the vegetable crops. In the center of the vegetable garden area are medium sized crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, squash and pumpkins. Then at the very southern end of the garden there are low growing crops like radish, carrot, beet, lettuce, onion and other low growing ones. (For the southern hemisphere planting would be in reverse, with tallest crops on the southern side of the vegetable garden.)

As the garden is a small one I avoid some of the space hogs like corn, squash and pumpkin. I choose to grow bush type varieties of pumpkin, such as Hybrid Spirit Bush and Autumn Gold that don't take up much room. I also plant summer squash as it takes up less room than the winter squash. Due to limited space I also grow vegetables such as tomatoes in containers. Plants that climb and vine, such as cucumbers and pole beans, are trained up a trellis so that they take up less room horizontally.

I schedule plantings around the two main growing seasons which vary by region: cool (spring and fall) and warm (summer). Common cool-season vegetables include beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach and turnips. Warm-season crops include beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, melons, peppers, pumpkins, squash and tomatoes. I give priority to those vegetables prized for incredible flavor when eaten fresh from the garden like sweet corn, beans and peas, tomatoes and young spinach.

My vegetable garden is in a small plot in the backyard of my house. This plot of flat ground receives full sun nearly all day. A full day of blazing sunshine is especially important when growing vegetables in the cool weather of early spring, early fall or winter. At regular intervals I break up and turn the soil, adding compost or other organic material to maintain its fertility.

Do you have a vegetable garden? Many people have flower gardens but it is the reverse in the case of finding a vegetable garden. I grow only those vegetables I enjoy eating. As much as I remember, I think my vegetable garden had a very bad start. It had to undergo a lot of changes and my successful vegetable garden is the result of my hard work.