If you plant one or two beds in the garden with a few tomatoes and cabbage plants as well as perhaps a row of carrots and a few herbs just for fun, you don't need too much planning in principle. However, if you want to make optimal use of the space and provide yourself and your family with fresh vegetables from your own garden, you have to plan carefully.
How to plan a vegetable garden correctly?
To optimally plan a vegetable garden, first calculate the required area (approx.20-50 m² per person), plan pre- and post-crops, use mixed crops and pay attention to crop rotation. Free planner software on the Internet can be helpful.
How big does the vegetable garden have to be?
Before you think about pre- and post-culture, mixed culture and crop rotation for optimal soil utilization, you must first calculate the garden area required. The size of your vegetable garden obviously depends on the space available, but also on how extensive the future harvest should be. A few sunny square meters for a few tomato or strawberry plants can be found in almost every garden. However, for a “real” vegetable garden to meet your own needs, you should plan at least 20 square meters per person. However, if you want to plant space-intensive vegetables for storage such as potatoes etc. and possibly fruit trees, the required square meter requirement increases to at least 50 square meters - per household member.
Planning plantings and seeds in the vegetable garden
If you want to plant your vegetable garden, you have to plan the use of the beds for optimal use. There are various options for this, as vegetable beds can be cultivated several times during the growing season.
Pre- and post-culture
Every vegetable has its fixed sowing or planting time, which must be strictly adhered to - otherwise there is a risk of growth disturbances and crop failures. These times can differ greatly from each other, which is why a pre- and/or post-culture to the main culture can be worthwhile. Species with a short cultivation period that are ready to harvest after just four to eight weeks are particularly suitable for this. Most lettuces, spinach, radishes, dill and chervil belong to this group. Of course, you can sow such short-lived vegetables and herbs again and again and enjoy them fresh all year round.
Mixed Culture
The gardener understands mixed culture as the cultivation of different types of vegetables at the same time in the same bed, whereby these are then planted in rows next to each other or, alternating, within a row. The best way to do this is to choose neighboring plants that harmonize with each other or even promote each other's growth. Centuries of experience show which vegetables and herbs go best together and which combinations you should stay away from - and this article.
Crop rotation and crop rotation
If you grow certain vegetable plants in the same spot over and over again, they grow increasingly poorly and the harvests become increasingly meager. On the one hand, this is due to the one-sided withdrawal of nutrients, which the gardener can only compensate for through very targeted fertilization. Above all, this type of planting encourages pathogens (often soil fungi), which can become a persistent problem. Only crop rotation or rotation can prevent the negative effects. Basically, this means changing the cultivation area every year and, if possible, only putting the same type of vegetable back in that spot after three to four years. Crop rotation is particularly important for tomatoes: constant cultivation in the same bed can promote the occurrence of late blight, wilt diseases and nematodes.
Tip
By the way, you can download free planning software for the optimal planting of your vegetable garden on the Internet.