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.

Raspberries Season

For a raspberry trellis, you need less height and more depth. There are several ways to create the structure–placing one post in the middle with a cross arm or placing two posts about three feet apart (figure I). Raspberries are semi-erect, which means that as they get taller, they need support. Ingels uses four six-foot posts to form a six-foot-long rectangle. Lengthwise, each post is strung together with wire through the turnbuckle (figure J) so that the berries can neatly grow taller and wider. Black raspberries are another variety that’s gaining popularity; their growth habit is almost identical to the blackberry types that feature long, trailing shoots.

Planting

Once your trellis structure is built, you’re ready to plant. Generally, berries love organic matter mixed into the soil, but if you have only so-so soil, blackberries are your best bet. Remember to avoid planting too deep in the soil. Make sure you have a mound of soil so you’re planting on a slightly raised area. This way, water can drain away from the plant. “It’s really important that water doesn’t sit in a hole around your plants because they’ll rot,” warns Ingels. When planting, space raspberries about 2-1/2 to three feet apart.