Garden planning: deciding on plantings, choosing seeds

Recommendation points

• We decide on the assortment and quantity of required vegetables
• Determine the planting time of various crops
• We buy seeds and check their quality

So, in the previous article we decided that in order to obtain optimal yields when growing vegetables, it is necessary to accurately find out the mechanical and chemical composition of the soil on the site and choose the right place for organizing the beds, the “design” of which will depend on your desires and capabilities. There is no doubt that a properly organized fruit change and knowledge of the compatibility of various crops help to significantly increase the quality and quantity of the future harvest..

In order not to waste time and money, you need to answer a few more important questions:

1. What crops, and in what quantities to plant?
2. What is the best time to plant certain vegetables?
3. Where to get good seeds and how to check their quality?

Let’s try to understand each of them..

We decide on the assortment and quantity of required vegetables

After the composition of the soil has been determined and the most suitable place for organizing the beds has been selected, it is necessary to decide which vegetables and in what quantity you want to grow. It is extremely important to carefully approach this issue so as not to waste extra energy, time and money. You can, for example, plant several tomato bushes of a high-yielding variety, take care of them correctly and get the same amount of harvest that will grow on an unkempt one and a half to two hundred parts.

The choice of the required assortment and the number of vegetable crops will naturally depend on the preferences of each of your family members. However, many years of cultivation practice allows us to make a rough calculation of how many bushes of the main vegetable crops can satisfy the needs of a family of four..

Four to six bushes of self-pollinating cucumbers will be enough to feed the family in season and make the necessary preparations for the winter.

You can plant 6-8 tomato bushes of any high-yielding variety. With proper care, 25-30 kg are obtained from each bush, such a harvest will fully provide you with this tasty and healthy product.

Eggplants will be enough 4-5 bushes, the same amount of pepper, zucchini and squash. The number of plants for cabbage, carrots, potatoes, beets and other vegetables can also be calculated individually. It should be noted that this calculation was made subject to the application of the correct cultivation agrotechnology, which allows to obtain an optimal yield.

Determine the planting time of various crops

The optimal timing of planting certain plants in the garden directly depends on the climate of the area in which you live. In vegetable growing, the period between the last spring and the first autumn frosts is considered to be a vegetation period. These two dates indicate the beginning and end of the period when you can grow vegetables outdoors..

Unfortunately, in our time the weather is not particularly stable, and night frosts can occur even in mid-May and early September. Therefore, when planning the planting time, you need to try to find out the long-term weather forecast and be able to protect the plants from unplanned low temperatures. We talked about how to protect the garden at this time in the article “How to protect plants from spring frosts”.

Planting can be planned based on the susceptibility of various vegetable crops to cold. All garden plants can be divided into frost-resistant and those that can die from low temperatures. Frost-resistant ones can be safely attributed to: carrots, radishes, Chinese cabbage, beets, lettuce, cabbage, onions, celery. These species are planted three to four weeks earlier than average..

They have a negative attitude to cold weather: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons (pumpkins, melons, watermelons), eggplants, beans. These plants must be planted in open ground when the weather is stable, since they can die from exposure to low temperatures..

When planning planting, it is necessary to take into account the fact that some plants, such as lettuce or radishes, prefer a cool temperature, and if too hot, they can go into arrows and not give a harvest. They must be grown in such a way that they are ripe before the onset of heat.

The ideal temperature for growing heat-loving vegetables is considered to be from 24 to 32 degrees. Therefore, planting tomatoes, peppers and eggplants should also not be delayed. These crops are distinguished by rather long ripening periods and if the autumn is cold, then you risk losing a significant part of the harvest, since most plants practically stop growing at a temperature of 10 degrees and below.

We buy seeds and check their quality

To obtain a high-quality maximum yield, in addition to observing the necessary rules of agricultural technology, one should be very careful in choosing seeds. Quality seed material, as practice shows, is the key to success when growing by 50-60 percent.

Today, the abundance of varieties and hybrids on offer can confuse even an experienced farmer. Firms making colorful bags that promise incredible yields are in the hundreds. New varieties, hybrids, newfangled modified plants – such anarchy only confuses and interferes with making the right choice, forcing many gardeners to switch to their own seed production.

The main criterion when buying seed is its quality. Having picked up a bag, you need to carefully examine it and pay special attention to the year of the seed harvest, the terms of maximum storage and germination. Of course, one should not completely trust the printed figures. If you notice smeared or worn spots on the packaging with seeds, this means that the production date has been changed to a more suitable one, that is, the seeds are expired. Not only will you not get a harvest from them, but you will hardly see the seedlings. In this case, it is a pity not so much money and effort as lost time.

Before going to the store, you need to ask your friends gardeners or neighbors, the seeds of which firms they were satisfied with. In addition, special attention should be paid to local producers, since their seed material has a great advantage over the rest – it is zoning and remarkable adaptability to the local soil composition and weather conditions. And they cost, in most cases, much cheaper..

You should categorically not buy seeds from grandmothers selling on the market, since in this case none of the necessary parameters (varietal qualities, conditions and shelf life) may be observed. You can buy high-quality seed material only in specialized stores that work directly with the manufacturer, benefitting not from retail wrap, but from the total turnover.

Stay away from various new products, especially those that are mailed in prepaid mode and with a self-addressed envelope.

Today, a large number of bags with the F1 marking, that is, a hybrid, have appeared on the seed market. What is a hybrid, how it differs from a variety, what is best suited for growing in the conditions of your area, you can read in the article “How to collect and store seeds to get a good harvest”.

After purchasing seeds, they must be checked for germination. Anyone can do this, even an inexperienced gardener. To do this, you need to take a plate or saucer, on the bottom of which are placed circles of wet gauze or other cotton cloth. Next, take several seeds from the bag, put them in a saucer on a moistened cloth and place them in a warm place. It is best to cover the container with seeds with glass so that they do not dry out. Seeds are inspected every day, the number of germinated is recorded and removed. It should be borne in mind that the seeds of different crops differ in different germination times: radishes can hatch the next day, and carrots in a week and a half or two. Approximate data on germination time looks like this:

• cabbage, radish, cucumber, melons, peas, beans – two days;
• carrots, dill – six days;
• tomato, parsley – from 7 to 10 days;
• pepper – 10-12 days.

Thus, by the spring, by the time of sowing, you will be able to find out which seeds have normal germination, and which ones are poor (in this case, the seeding rate must be increased).

And, perhaps most importantly, the land does not accept work on it without desire. If this is not observed in you, then it is better not to think about it, but to go straight to the market for vegetables. But if there is a desire, then following all of the above, you will receive from growing plants not only a rich harvest, but also real pleasure..