Planting the Vegetable Garden

The care taken when planting a vegetable garden can make all the difference in growing a successful vegetable garden that harkens back to the era of the WWI and WWII Victory Gardens. Before you plant a single seedling or starter plant, be sure to prepare your soil and let the freshly amended soil settle for about 2 weeks. It’s the single most critical step to growing a healthy, productive vegetable garden. When it comes time to actually plant, these are our key recommendations: prevent weeds, rotate crops, space plants, plant in mounds, feed, and water. Scroll for details on all!

If you plant in the same garden space every year, be sure to rotate the placement of your plants to ensure you don’t grow the same plants in the same spot two years in a row. This helps replenish soil nutrients and interrupts any unseen pest/disease cycles that may be present – especially in the case of tomatoes! Even a quarter-turn can make a positive impact.

Like with any annual plant, we recommend following the steps outlined in Angelo Petitti’s Six Steps for Success Planting Guide. Special for vegetables, we suggest mounding soil up in “hills” 6-8” high and planting in those hills. This practice ensures good drainage for young vegetable plant root systems, and allows water and rainwater to flow into the troughs, which is ideal for vegetable gardens. If you’re a big fan of growing tomatoes (most Northeast Ohio gardeners are!), here are some extra tips for growing tomatoes successfully.

Once May 15 hits, the average Last-Frost or Frost-Free date for Northeast Ohio, gardeners are eager to plant up their in-ground gardens, raised bed gardens, and container gardens with annual, heat-loving vegetables, herbs, and fruiting plants. Just be sure to incorporate the above practices when planting up the garden, so you can enjoy your best yield yet! See how some of these planting practices play out in real life on our Raised Bed Gardening page.