When And How To Start Your Spring Garden Explained

Your gardens soil is very important and you will want to prepare your gardens soil for planting your seeds and plants in. I have what I call a kitchen garden and it consists of a 12 foot wide by 36 foot long bed of soil surrounded by old cross ties. When I first started preparing this garden a few years ago I measured the space off and I removed the soil that was there down to about two foot deep. I then went to a local farm center and bought sacks of top soil and cow manure. I mixed the bags of top soil in my wheel barrow. I mixed three bags of top soil with a bag of cow manure and I filled the hole I had dug out with this mixture. Then I went and bought cross ties and put them around the bed and then I filled the bed the rest of the way with my soil/manure mixture.

With the bed prepared this way I had a perfect size kitchen garden and the first thing I planted in it was radishes. I bought about five different varieties of radishes and mixed them together. Then I planted my bed with the radishes and wet the bed down. I used a block of wood on the end of a stick to pack the soil and push the radish seeds down into the soft soil of my bed. The first time I planted it was on Valentines Day 2009 and it snowed 10 inches the next day and turned really cold. I was afraid none of my radishes would be coming up.

But about the first week in March it turned warm and before I knew it my radishes were popping up all over my bed. That first year I planted them to thick and had to do a lot of thinning but I ended up with a bumper crop of five varieties of delicious radishes. I had all the radishes I could use and I know I gave a lot of them away and even sold some.

It was one of the best beds of radishes that I ever grew. After the radishes had all been harvested I cleaned the bed off and after I was sure the danger of frost was over I planted the bed with a heirloom purple tomato that produces tomatoes that are so deep dark purple that they look black. I bought 32 tomato plants and 32 tomato cages and I ended up with a huge crop of the Cherokee Purple Tomatoes. And they were oh so delicious. I know for a fact that these tomatoes make the best tomato sandwiches in the world.

Over the years I have grown all kinds of wonderful vegetables in that little kitchen garden and it produces some of the best vegetables I have ever tasted. Earlier this winter I cleaned the bed off again and I plan to plant it this time with 10 varieties of radishes probably in the next week or two and I will let everyone know here how it turns out. Let me give you a little tip here. Get your self a bucket and to each packet of radish seeds add one quart of soil and mix well. Now you can plant your radish bed and your plants won't come up to thick. For 10 packs of seeds you will need 10 quarts of soil and you want to mix the radish seeds and the soil together very well. Then just spread the soil over the top of your prepared bed and pack your soil down so the seeds will get pushed down under the soil and come up. You will end up with a huge crop of radishes if you prepare your soil right. With the loose soil your radishes will grow bigger and you should end up with a huge crop of radishes. Every three to four years you'll want to mix a few more bags of cow manure into your bed to keep all your plants growing well.

When To Plant Your Spring Garden

You can plant things like radishes, lettuce, and onions very early. If you want your plants to come up faster and grow spread loose straw over your bed once your plants are up. You will find that many other plants like English Peas, Cabbage, and Broccoli are all frost hardy and you can plant these as soon as the soil can be worked. Packman is a great variety of Broccoli to plant and it will mature faster than almost any other variety of Broccoli. Other vegetables that you can plant are.

1. Asparagus
2. Collards
3. Endive
4. Kale
5. Kohlrabi
6. Lettuce
7. Mustard
8. Onion (from seed and sets)
9. Peas
10. Potatoes
11. Rhubarb
12. Rutabaga
13. Spinach
14. Turnip

Plus there are a few more vegetables that you can plant. If you want the vegetables to grow faster and mature early spread straw over the young plants as soon as you can see the plants.

You can if you wish cover especially a small bed with a frame covered by plastic and extend your growing season even further. You can also grow vegetables faster this way. You'll end up with mature ripe vegetables before anyone else. You can purchase and keep blankets, or old sleeping bags to spread over tender plants on really cold nights. Just be sure to remove the blankets or covering in the morning as soon as the sun is up.

I purchase and save five gallon buckets and I start my tomatoes earlier than anyone this way. You need a plastic bucket to cover each tomato or pepper plant with and you need to remove the bucket from over the plant in the morning as soon as the sun is up.

You can do all these things and more to be able to start your spring vegetable garden earlier and to harvest delicious spring vegetables before anyone else in your neighborhood does.

I hope these tips will help anyone planting a spring garden and if you have any questions I will be back to give you a answer. Thanks for taking the time to read my Hub Page on, " When And How To Start Your Spring Garden ".