What Vegetables to Plant in a Vegetable Garden!

Planting your own vegetable garden is very satisfying and provides healthy and delicious food for the family. The fact is, anyone can successfully plant vegetables for personal consumption as long as you have some basic equipment and essential information. 

For some useful tips for a bountiful and successful garden read: Things you Should Know Before Starting Your First Garden.

I’m personally a very keen gardener. I recently installed a pond from Oase which has helped inspire me to focus on the other natural wonders. I then progressed to growing a variety of vegetables.

These days it is common to plant vegetables in raised beds rather than in long rows. This is a more economical and efficient way of planting vegetables as you can control the soil composition better. The soil temperature in the bed is usually higher so this keeps the plants warm during fall and winter. Raised beds are usually around 4 feet wide and between 6 to 15 inches high. You can make it as long as is practical for you depending on how much space you have. So, what would you plant in your vegetable garden?

There are basically two options:

The first option is doing mixed cultivation where you plant a variety of vegetables that help each other grow. Some vegetables help other vegetables ward of insect pests, while some provide shade. Thus, mixed cultivation produces a bigger harvest than if the vegetables were planted separately.

Here are some common mixed cultivation combination’s:

• Lettuce, peas, kohlrabi and red radishes
• Cabbage and dwarf (French) beans
• Cabbage, tomatoes and celery
• Carrots, leeks and onions
• Tomatoes, lettuce, red radishes, onions, celery and carrots

However, there are some combinations of vegetables that inhibit each other’s growth.

Some of these are:

• Potatoes, tomatoes and squash
• Carrots and dill
• Broccoli and tomatoes
• Beans and onions

The other option of what to plant in your raised bed vegetable garden is to do rotation planting. This is where you rotate your vegetables among your beds after each season. In this method, you plant your vegetables in the beds according to vegetable families.

Most vegetables belong to different families:

• Alliums – for example, onions, leeks, garlic, shallots and scallions
• Brassicas – broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale
• Crucifers – turnips, rutabaga, radishes and collards
• Cucurbits – cucumbers, squashes (pumpkins and zucchinis) and melons
• Mescluns – swiss chard, arugula, chicory, endive, escarole and radiccio
• Solanaceae – tomatoes, eggplants and pepper
• Legumes – beans and peas

Each family occupies one bed and they should be rotated each year such that they are not planted in the same bed for another four years. This is so that the soil is replenished because each family of vegetables uses up the same types of nutrients and is subject to the same type of pests.

Besides the above, there are the perennials such as:

• Rhubarb
• Artichoke
• Asparagus

These should be planted separately without rotation. So, if you have five raised beds, you can plant one family of vegetables in each bed and the perennials in the last one. For some more useful tips please read: How to Create a DIY Garden Bed.

You might also like: How To Grow The Best Roses In Your Garden.

If you live in an apartment, you can still have a garden by planting the vegetables in containers. This is called container vegetable gardening. All the options above are still applicable except in a smaller scale according to the size of your containers. For some helpful tips to successful container gardening read:  Quick tips to Successful or Patio Apartment Garden. 

Now that you know what to plant, you can take your first steps towards starting your own successful vegetable garden.

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About the author

Marla

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Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog! I believe in living green, organically, and natural in every aspect of our lives. My mission is to help educate you on how to live green, help save our environment and to help you and your family live a happier, healthier life!