Crack open your Home Vegetable Gardening Guide from your local Extension office. Get out those aging seeds from the freezer. Peruse your seed catalog if you haven’t already and find new seeds for this year. Get out your graph paper or your favorite software… It’s time to plan your garden!
Think about how many people you are growing for and if you plan to eat fresh only or preserve as well. The following list of veggies to grow per person can be added to if you plan to preserve that crop or if you especially like that veggie. Of course, you don’t have to plant everything– keep it manageable.
| Vegetable | Amount Per Person |
| Asparagus | 5-10 plants |
| Beans | 10-15 plants |
| Beets | 10-25 plants |
| Bok Choy | 1-3 plants |
| Broccoli | 3-5 plants |
| Brussels Sprouts | 2-5 plants |
| Cabbage | 3-5 plants |
| Carrots | 10-25 plants |
| Cauliflower | 2-5 plants |
| Celery | 2-8 plants |
| Corn | 10-20 plants |
| Cucumber | 1 – 2 plants |
| Eggplant | 1-3 plants |
| Kale | 2-7 plants |
| Kohlrabi | 3-5 plants |
| Leafy Greens | 2-7 plants |
| Leeks | 5-15 plants |
| Lettuce, Head | 2-5 plants |
| Lettuce, Leaf | 5-8 feet |
| Melon | 1-3 plants |
| Onion | 10-25 plants |
| Peas | 15-20 plants |
| Peppers, Bell | 3-5 plants |
| Peppers, Chili | 1-3 plants |
| Potato | 5-10 plants |
| Radishes | 10-25 plants |
| Squash, Hard | 1-2 plants |
| Squash, Summer | 1-3 plants |
| Tomatoes | 1-4 plants |
| Zucchini | 1-3 plants |
Zone 6 Planting chart
Companion Planting:
Plan to succession plant in your garden. In our region, we can grow up to 4 seasons with the right equipment. With just a little planning and fabric row cover we can grow three seasons. Look at the companion planting guide as well as the Home Vegetable Guide to make sure you follow good crop rotation practices. Plant from different families when succession planting to avoid building up pests and disease in the soil that crops.
Planning your garden helps to get you ahead of the growing game. Plan for cover crops as well. In the off–season, or when an area is not being grown, grow a cover crop to add back to the soil and keep weeds from growing. Planning in advance allows you to ensure time and space to add back to your soil. Soil is the building block of your whole garden: it is important to nurture it!
Here’s a photo of one of our seed donations from the incredible Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds:
I wish I had more photos to share, but our first Wolfe County Grow Appalachia meeting (Garden Planning, if you couldn’t tell) is tomorrow night! More to come soon.
Once you’ve got your garden planned, Fire up the tiller! That is, if you are using one… I just have to pull back the straw to warm up to soil and do a little vole wrangling before I start planting.
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