Start Planning a Vegetable Garden

Light Requirements

Vegetables, like many flowers, need lots of sunlight to thrive and produce tasty vegetables. Most vegetables need full sunlight, which gardeners define as six or more hours of sunlight per day. This direct sunlight stimulates the plant’s cells to produce the food it needs through photosynthesis to build a strong root system and produce fruit.

Many people are confused about what type of light they have in the garden. Try this simple test. Pick a day when you’re home and can observe the garden. Take a look at the garden area you want to grow vegetables in first thing in the morning, and write down whether or not the sun is actually touching the ground. Look for full, bright sun, not dappled sunlight filtering through tree leaves. Now set a kitchen timer or alarm clock and return to your observation once an hour or once every two hours until dinnertime, marking down how much light the spot in the garden receives. Then, add up all the times you saw direct light. This will give you an idea of whether you’re working with full sun, partial sun or shade.

While you can grow some vegetables in partial sun, most will struggle. If the entire yard gets only partial sun or shade due to immovable objects like garages, homes, or trees in neighbors’ yards, look for a place that gets bright direct sunlight and grow vegetables in pots instead.

Lovely Peach and Plum

The homeowners would like to add more variety in their garden and have chosen to plant a peach tree. The peach tree Dawson chose is a self-fruiting variety, so it doesn’t need another tree for cross-pollination. Peach trees can be planted in Zones 5 and warmer. Plum trees are equally hardy to Zone 5. Check with your local nursery to find the best varieties for your area.

Dawson is planting a bareroot tree, which is harder to find than container trees. However, bareroot trees begin to arrive in nurseries in January and are significantly less expensive, often offering a greater variety of choice. They need to be planted while in their dormant stage–from December through February. Container trees can be planted anytime the soil is workable, except in extreme heat.

A healthy tree has fresh, plump, flexible roots. Try to plant the tree within two days of purchase. Soak the roots in a bucket of water for a few hours before planting and trim any broken or damaged roots. If you can’t plant within two days, keep the roots moist in damp soil and protected from frost until planting time.