Planning Your Veg Garden Part 6 – Putting Your Plan into Action

Posted on 10. Apr, 2010 by Tracey in Veg Plan

So you’ve made your plan look pretty and colourful (I know I have! – See Part 5 – My Vegetable Plan & Seed List), now is the time to take this image to your plot and conjure up some growing magic in your vegetable garden this year.

Months To Start Seed Sowing

The best time of the year in the UK to start sowing vegetables is Spring which is the months of Late March, April and May. Of course your action plan can be put into motion at anytime of the year as there are always vegetables you can start sowing.

For more details on which months to sow what vegetables,
please see my Vegetable Seeds To Sow By Month Series.

Putting Your Vegetable Plan into Action

You will need:

1. Motivation
   Once you’ve taken that first step in sowing some seeds, you’ll have the motivation to carry on especially when you see your first seedlings appear and harvest your first vegetables,
2. The strength to succeed in case of crop failure
   Remember regardless of the issue (and you will encounter a problem at some point) like pests, diseases, human error, the best thing you can do is try again!
3. Willingness to Learn
   Growing vegetables is definitely a fun learning curve, its great to share tips as you grow,
4. Courage to try different things
   Expand your horizons by trying different germination methods like soaking seeds to growing in different pots or growing different types of vegetable.
5. Experimentation
   Things like spacing in raised beds is an experiment to me, I don’t follow any books or seed packets as I know I can sow small and leafy vegetables quite close together to save space.

In return by growing your own vegetables, you will receive:

• Growing Skills – seed sowing and growing tips, learning skills to share with others,
• Enjoyment – seeing your first seedling or harvesting your first vegetable – what can I say, its addictive,
• Frustration – when dealing with pests and diseases,
• Knowledge – overcoming pest problems, growing organically, trying different things next season,
• Achievement – you have sown the seed that produces a harvest for you, your family and friends,
• Satisfaction – sowing seeds, caring for your growing vegetables until harvest in the know that growing your own vegetables is worth every bite.

How to Transfer your Plan on Paper or Online to Your Vegetable Plot or Raised Bed.

1. If you are adding organic fertiliser, you will need to do this 2 to 4 weeks before sowing your first seeds,
2. If you’ve forgotten to add fertiliser, just add a whole bag of multi-purpose compost and rake the surface level,
3. Whilst adding new compost, add a top dressing around plants already in your beds to give them a soil boost, (my broad beans love this)
4. Refer to your vegetable garden plan and calculate the number of rows you can put in your plot, this is where you may have to adjust your plan by increasing/reducing the number of rows you are sowing,


Plan your rows around other plants

5. Mark your rows onto your raised beds with a trowel or bamboo cane, working round any plants already in your plot
6. Check the depth of your markings with your seed packet instructions
7. Give your rows a good watering before sowing your seeds
8. Important: Label your rows with plant labels (you can buy large T Labels from Ebay) and make sure you note down how many rows of each vegetable type you have sowed, where on your plan and date sown.

Now your ready to Sow your Seeds!

If you have missed any of the Parts in my Planning Your Vegetable Garden Series, please see below:

• Part 1 – Grouping Vegetable Types and Crop Rotation,
• Part 2 – What Can I Grow?
• Part 3a – Drawing a Plan
• Part 3b – Creating a Plan Online
• Part 4 – Choosing your Seeds
• Part 5 – My Vegetable Plan and Seed List
• Part 6 – Putting Your Plan into Action
• Part 7 – Growing Winter Vegetables
• For Free PDF’s and Templates to accompany the series, please view my Free Resources.

Share

Tags: dealing with crop failure, exoerimentation vegetables, growing achievements, growing skills, Growing Vegetables, growing your own vegetable garden, months to start seed sowing, Pest Control, pest frustrations, planning vegetable garden, put your vegetable plan into action, sowing vegetable seeds, transferring your plan to your plot, vegetable growing motivation, willingness to learn about growing