The best conditions for your vegetable garden

Former Kenyan international boxer Athanas Nzau tends vegetables on his farm at Malaa in Machakos county on August 22, 2020. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

The first step in establishing a vegetable garden is having a good plan. The plan should include the planting location, the types of vegetables to grow, and a crop husbandry plan. For purposes of planning, these are the points to consider.

Growing location

Most vegetables thrive in areas with full sunlight. However, vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage and radishes prefer cool weather. Fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper and squash thrive best in sites with full sunlight of about eight hours.

Select few types

It is tempting to want to grow everything in your garden. It is advisable to pick a maximum of five types of vegetables and grow them well. Congesting the garden will result in poor quality vegetables that may not attract good market prices. But, you can increase the types by succession planting. This is where you plant next crops immediately after harvesting the initial crop. For example, follow lettuce with beans. Succession planting allows you to stretch your harvest season for the longest possible time.

Soils

Choose areas with healthy and rich soil if planting in an open field. In the case of containers, source soil from a fertile place. If possible, do a soil test that gives you an idea of the existing soil fertility and pH. The results of a soil test would hep establish the types of fertilisers to use or other amendments that would support plant growth. It is advisable to incorporate compost or animal manure in the soil.

Manure must decompose for at least six months before applying it because fresh manure contains weed seeds, can harbour disease and may ‘burn’ plants due to its very high nitrogen content. It is advisable to grow the vegetables on raised beds. Raised beds refer to having the soil you are growing in being higher than ground level by six or more inches. Raised beds allow you to control the soil in the planting area. It doesn't get stepped on and compacted, thereby drains well.

Convenience

The vegetable garden should be close to your house. This will ensure that you keep an eye on the garden regularly. The design should ensure that you are able to move in and around the plants while harvesting and scouting pests and diseases. The garden should also be near a source of water. If not, instal containers to store water for easy watering. Vegetables will need regular watering. Irregular watering results in the cracking of fruits, failure to set fruits and blossom end rot in tomatoes. Most plants need an average of one to two inches or 2cm to 5cm of water a week. You’ll probably need to water more as it gets warmer, but this depends on rainfall. It’s better to water heavily once a week than a little every day.

Control weeds

Having weeds in the vegetable garden means that they will compete with your plants for moisture and nutrients. Remove weeds as soon as you see them so they don’t have a chance to produce seeds and spread. Hoeing is quick and easy, and severed weeds may be left where they fall to wither in the sun. Keep the blade edge sharp and close to the surface to prevent damaging crop roots. Hand-weed where the hoe can’t reach. You may also mulch the garden to suppress weeds and to improve your soil gradually. Some vegetables must be picked regularly to keep the harvests coming. For example, picking beans, zucchini and tomatoes will encourage even more pods and fruits to follow.

Keep records

Farmers make lots of mistakes but they learn from them. By keeping track of when, where and what you grew, and noting any pests, diseases or failures, you can build up a record of what works best for your garden.


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