For those of you with tingling green thumbs, you may know that two of the most important aspects of gardening are knowing when to plant and what to plant in your garden. But sometimes, it’s not always that simple. It can be difficult to know the exact time to begin planting in order for your garden to fully flourish throughout the seasons.
Fortunately, the country’s biodiversity is rich and desirable for planting fruit, veg, and flowers. Because of these perfect conditions, cannabis plants, and cannabis seeds in South Africa grow really quickly. Whether you live on the salty seaside coasts or the heated provinces of the north, the help of a veg planting calendar will increase your chances of having a thriving garden.
When is Vegetable Planting Season?
As we’ve mentioned earlier, a planting calendar is a great help when it comes to figuring this kind of information out. But, what is a planting calendar? Simply put, it is a veg growing guide that tells you when the optimal time to plant is. Planting calendars are designed to calculate the best time to sow seeds, how much water they need, and when to harvest.
According to many South African farmers, most of the country’s seasonal rainfall occurs during the warmer summer months, from October to March. As a result, October is an important period for farmers to begin planning when to sow crops for the growing season.
For at-home produce, you can sow seeds in March. The coolness of the Autumn days makes working in the garden a breeze.
Vegetable Planting Guide
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Unsure about when the best time to plant South African vegetables is? Or what types of vegetables tend to do better where you live? A planting and growing calendar is the first place you should look. However, you can plant and enjoy almost any vegetable across the country.
It can be tempting to surge ahead and get seeds or plants in the ground straight away, but planning is the key to good harvests. You still do have to be mindful of when to put seeds in the ground in your area, so consult your local nurseries for advice on this.
Here is a basic vegetable seed planting guide to ensure a thriving and successful vegetable garden.
Select the Right Location
Observation of your garden is key. Identify which areas get the most sun and which are shadier. Most crops, and particularly tender crops like tomatoes, prefer plenty of sun. Whereas leafy greens like lettuce and spinach will grow in partial shade. Remember that the amount of sun and shade your garden receives will change throughout the year.
One of the most common errors that some gardeners make is planting too much too soon. It is better to start small and be proud of a smaller lush garden than be overwhelmed or frustrated by a large one.
The Type of Soil Matters
Good soil will make or break the success of your vegetables’ growth. Does water pool on the surface after rain? Or does the soil become parched and cracked when the weather heats up? Consider those factors before planting seeds or adding fertilizers.
Although various fertilizers and mineral nutrients should be added periodically to your garden, the most useful substance for building and maintaining healthy, well-balanced soil is organic matter. You can add organic matter to your soil in many different ways, such as compost, shredded leaves, animal manures or cover crops.
Consider Which Produce Will Grow Best
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Making the decision to grow half a dozen different types of vegetables might be an interesting experiment to help you learn a lot about growing plants. But, you’ll most likely become completely overwhelmed and end up producing waste. So, start with fail-safe crops and in the next year use what you’ve learned to add a few more crops to your garden.
Easy vegetables that are productive and don’t require much maintenance are tomatoes, beans, chillies and leafy greens. Also, don’t be afraid to mix in some flower seeds in between in your veggies – this can discourage pests.
Use high-quality seeds. Seed packets are less expensive than individual plants, but if seeds don’t germinate, your money and time are wasted. A few extra cents spent in the planting season will pay off for you and your family at harvest time.
Maintenance: Watering & Weeding Out
This is probably the trickiest part of the whole vegetable seeds planting guide. This step requires a lot of attention and consistency. Vegetables like tomatoes and zucchinis grow rapidly and are strongest in the middle of the summer. If you’re going away for part of the season, you’ll need someone to look after the crops or they will suffer.
When watering your seeds, do so sparingly. Watering during the day, at the suns’ peak, can potentially destroy the vegetable plants.
Make sure to rid the garden of any weeds. The vegetables and weeds will compete for space, sun and nutrients. Remember, always remove weeds by hand and not chemicals. The chemical solutions cannot differentiate between the weed and the vegetable plant and will kill both.
Final Thoughts on Vegetable Planting Timetables
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One nugget of advice we hope you’ll take is to pay close attention to how your plants grow, and note your successes and failures in a notebook or sow chart. Over time this kind of careful observation and record-keeping will probably teach you more about growing vegetables than any authority. This will reflect what works best for you in the unique conditions of your garden.
Taking control of your food supply by growing vegetables is a smart move if you want to become more self-reliant. Plus, there are the added benefits of eating more organically grown vegetables and it’s easy on the pocket, come grocery time. Above all, growing your produce is both fun and rewarding. And remember, with all hobbies and pursuits, the art of vegetable gardening requires practice and patience.