7 mistakes to avoid in a new vegetable garden
Most first vegetable gardens fail in one of seven ways, and none of them are about talent. They are all decisions made in the first fortnight that you do not find out were wrong until months later, which is what makes them so discouraging. So here they are, with what to do instead.
1. Planting straight into whatever soil is there
A veggie patch takes a lot out of the ground, and most suburban soil has been compacted by a house being built on it and then had grass on it for 30 years. Planting into that and hoping is the commonest reason a patch just sits there doing nothing.
Test it, dig compost or aged manure through it, and get the drainage right before anything goes in. Everything else on this list matters less than this one.
2. Planting everything at once
You stand in the garden centre, it all looks good, and you go home with five kinds of tomato and a flat of seedlings. Then it all needs attention in the same week, and it all crops in the same fortnight.
Start with a few things you will actually eat, and add rather than starting big. A small patch you keep on top of beats a big one that gets away from you, and the big one is how people decide gardening is not for them.
3. Planting too close together
The spacing on the seed packet looks absurd when you are holding a seedling the size of your thumb, so nearly everybody halves it. Then the plants compete for light, water and nutrients, the air cannot move between them, and you get mildew and stunted growth.
Follow the packet. A marked stick or a bit of timber with notches in it is all you need to get it right, and it stops you eyeballing it.
4. Not watching where the sun goes
Most vegetables want 6 to 8 hours of direct sun. A spot that looks sunny at 10am can be in shade from the fence by 2pm, and you will not know unless you actually look at it a few times across a day.
Watch it before you dig. If the only spot you have is part shade, grow leafy greens there, because they will cope and a tomato will not.
5. Getting the water wrong in either direction
Too much and the roots have no air and rot. Too little and the plant stalls. What you want is soil that stays evenly damp, and the word doing the work there is evenly, because it is the swinging between wet and dry that causes split tomatoes and blossom end rot.
Water deeply and less often so the roots go down. Early morning. And mulch, which is the single highest return thing in this whole list. Sugar cane mulch is what I use, and a bale goes a long way.
6. Not looking for pests until there is damage
Snails and caterpillars can strip a row of seedlings in one night. By the time the damage is obvious the population is established.
Turn a few leaves over whenever you walk past. Go out with a torch after rain and collect snails, which works better than anything you can buy. Marigolds among the tomatoes are worth planting, and a garlic spray handles soft bodied pests without taking the beneficial insects with it.
7. Ignoring the season
Nothing grows all year. Putting a tomato in too early is the classic, and it sits there sulking in cold soil for six weeks while one planted a month later catches up and passes it.
Spinach, carrots, peas and the leafy crops want the cooler months. Cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini and tomatoes want real warmth. Write down what you planted and when, and by the second year you have a calendar for your own block rather than a generic one.
None of this is talent
Every one of these is a decision rather than a skill, which is the good news, because a decision you can just make differently next time. Nobody gets all seven right in their first year and the people with good gardens are mostly people who have had a few bad ones.
Shop related products
- Martins Organic Sugar Cane Bale 11kg. Mistake 5, and the one thing I would buy first.
- Manutec Soil pH Test Kit. Mistake 1, before you plant rather than after.
- Neutrog Rapid Raiser 20kg. Pelletised organic fertiliser for getting a new bed up to scratch.
- Brunnings Seed Raising Mix 5L. For starting seed so you can stagger the planting.
- D.T. Brown Lettuce All Year, 750 seeds. A forgiving crop to start on while you work the rest out.
The garden centre carries seeds, mixes, mulch, fertilisers and pest control, and the seedling benches change every couple of weeks, so ring us on (08) 8536 4333 to see what is in. Online there is garden products, D.T. Brown seeds and pest control.
More on growing food
- 7 habits that make a vegetable garden work
- How to grow your own salad greens at home
- The tools a new gardener actually needs
I have made every one of these, several more than once, and number 7 catches me most years.
Cheers,
Candeece
