Starting a Veggie Garden

Starting a veggie garden can seem a daunting task. But if you’ve been building up your veggie game, a potted tomato here a window garden there, it may be time to graduate to a larger patch of land. Location will be critical to your success as a farmer and you will need to have a space that receives sun for 6 to ideally 8 hours of sunshine per day. In my personal opinion it should also be designed in a location where it becomes an aesthetic part of your landscape so that it blends in seamlessly. Building a raised bed or adding floral plantings around the edges can help disguise this utility based garden venture. However, be careful not to plant any large shrubs or trees near your veggies or vice versa as the resulting (or future resulting) shade will certainly cause duress. Planning is so important as shorter plants can be interspersed with taller plants to maximize garden space.

These things, amongst other factors can dramatically vary success. One of the most important is a topic of great interest, proper garden structure. People often ask about the amount of space individual plants need to thrive. It’s very tempting when plants are little to shove a bunch into a small bed in order for it to look full. This will look like it’s working until it falls apart like of house of cards. Plants grow until they begin to choke each other out and the crowded plants produce less fruit because they are competing for sunlight. Trapped moisture can lead to different types of rot and disease that spreads quickly in these stressed conditions. So, what is the right distance for plants? Browsing online the other day we came across an outstanding chart that easily explains the distancing an planting requirements of some of our favourite veggie varieties. Remember, you should choose plants that your family is likely to eat. If the kids hate peppers and are unlikely to eat them try a lettuce blend instead, no point growing things no one wants.

Vegetable	Spacing in row
	Seed to sow per foot	Distance between plants when thinned or transplanted	Distance between rows	Planting depth
		inches	inches	inches
Asparagus	(2 years to yield)	12-18	36-60	6-8
Bean, bush, lima	3-4	Do not thin	18-30	1-2
Bean, bush, snap	6	Do not thin	18-24	1-2
Beet	10	2-4	12-18	½-1
Broccoli	Start from seed indoors	18-24	30-36	(d)
Cabbage	Start from seed indoors	9-18	18-30	(d)
Carrot	15-20	1-3	12-18	½
Cauliflower	Start from seed indoors	18-24	24-36	(d)
Chard	8-10	4-8	18-24	½-1
Corn, sweet	1-2 in row 4-6 per hill	9-12, single plants 36, hills (3 plants per hill)	24-48	1-2
Cucumber	3 in row 4-5 per hill	12, single plants 36, hills (3 plants per hill)	48-72	1
Eggplant	Start	18-24	30-36	(d)
Endive	4-6	9-12	18-24	½
Garlic, from cloves	Plant as bulb in fall	3	12-18	1½
Kale	4-6	8-12	18-24	½
Kohlrabi	6-8	3-6	18-24	½
Lettuce, leaf	10	2-4	12-18	½
Muskmelon	3 in row 4-5 per hill	12,single plants 36, hills (3 plants per hill)	48-72	1
Mustard	20	1-2	12-18	½
New Zealand spinach	4-6	12	24-30	1
Okra	3	12-15	36	1
Onion, from seed	10-15	2-4	12-18	½-1
Onion, from plants or sets	Plant as bulb	1-4	12-18	1-4
Parsley	10-15	4-6	12-18	½
Peas	10-12	Do not thin	18-24	2
Pepper	Start from seed indoors	18-24	18-24	(d)
Potato	1	10-12	24-36	4
Pumpkin	1-2 in row 4-5 per hill	24-36, single plants 72, hills (3 plants per hill)	84-120	1
Radish, spring	10-15	1	12-18	½
Radish, winter	10-15	2-4	12-18	½
Rhubarb	Plant from crown	24-36	36-48	(d)
Rutabaga	4-6	6-8	18-24	½
Spinach	12-15	2-4	12-18	½
Squash, summer	2-3 in row 4-5 per hill	18-24, single plants 48, hills (3 plants per hill)	36-48	1
Squash, winter	1-2 in row 4-5 per hill	24-36, single plants 72, hills (3 plants per hill)	84-120	1
Sweet potato	Grown from “slip”	12-18	36-48	(d)
Tomato	Start from seed indoors	18-36	36-60	(d)
Turnips	6-8 15-20 (greens)	2-4	12-18	½
Watermelons	1-2 in row 4-5 per hill	24-36, single plants 72, hills (3 plants per hill)	84-120	1