Plant your summer vegetable garden — Enjoy healthy veggies at home

by garden expert and Goat Hill Giving Garden volunteer Cristina Del Alma

Garden Plan Essentials: location, soil, seed varieties and good cultural practices.

Select a good location

Your site will need at least 6 hours of sunshine.  Pay attention to where shadows fall from surrounding trees in each season. As leaves fill in during spring, they may cast shadows on your garden.  Gardening in containers adds the advantage of a moveable garden.

Sunlight Requirements of Some Vegetables

• Partial Sun, 4-6 hours — Beets, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Onion, Parsley, Peas, Radishes, Spinach
• Full Sun, 6 hours + — Beans, Corn, Eggplant, Melons, Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers

Build Good Garden Soil:  As simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Add organic matter.   At least 1-2 inches every year.
2. Add organic fertilizers.  Organic fertilizers release slowly and provide other important nutrients.  Most soils in the Seattle area are acid but most vegetables like a neutral soil.  Adding dolomite lime sweetens the soil and contains two other important minerals, calcium and magnesium.
3. Make raised beds.  “Fluffing up” the soil into raised beds improves drainage and helps to warm up your soil.

Choose Vegetable Seed Varieties

When planning, be sure to choose varieties that grow well in the Northwest. For a summer garden, select varieties that mature quickly with a maximum of 90 days to maturity.  For container gardens, select dwarf or bush varieties. The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide and Territorial Seed Catalog are good resources for varieties successfully grown west of the cascades.

Succeed with Good Cultural Practices

Plant Spacing

• Vegetables grown on raised beds can be planted close together, shading out weeds and self mulching as they grow.  Trellising plants that vine helps to use garden space to the maximum.
• Many vegetable plants can be grown in containers.  Smaller vegetable plants can get away with containers 6 inches deep like lettuces, spinach, other greens and herbs but larger plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and bush type squashes need at least a 5 gallon container.

Providing Protection and Additional Warmth

We are blessed to have a mild climate in the Pacific Northwest. With a little protection from excessive rain and short cold spells, you can extend your gardening season from winter to winter and even grow great tasting tomatoes.

Cloches provide protection and warmth and can be easily made of anything that transmits light.

• Small cloches can be made out of plastic milk jugs or large soda containers with the bottoms cut out.
• Recycled windows can be leaned together to make a larger cloche.
• You can wrap plastic over and around stakes and anchor the edges.

With a little more time and money, you can build larger cloches, cold frames or even mini greenhouses to cover your entire garden bed.

Other warming techniques

• Floating Row Cover.  This protects from frost and provides earlier yields. It allows sunlight, air and water to pass freely. It also works as an insect screen. No hoops or structure is required; simply lie on top of transplants or seeded rows allowing enough room for expansion as plant develops.
• Plastic mulches.  This warms the soil and retains moisture. Black mulch can also be a weed barrier. 

Watering

Seeds that are directly sown into the garden will require even moisture.  A cloche, cold frame or floating row cover can help keep the soil moist by decreasing evaporation.  Once your seedlings are up and growing, water regularly:

• Water deeply as plants are being established to encourage deep root growth.
• The easiest way to determine if watering is needed is dig down 4-6 inches into the bed. If soil is dry at that depth, your plants need water.

Take good care of your plants, and they can take care of you.  Home grown veggies are a great source of nutrients and can be less expensive than buying produce at the store.  Plus, you’ll enjoy them that much more knowing what went into their growth.

Wishing you a healthy harvest.