Garden Blog

Next Garden Season: A Plan for Growth

It may seem early, but now is the time that I plan ahead for the next garden season. Right now, in the thick of the growing season, everything is fresh in your mind. At this very moment, you know which insects are pestering you the most. The fruits that which fruits tasted the best still cling to your tongue. Varieties that don’t taste great are being given away to neighbors or fed to the farm animals. The tomatoes that are cracking too often are currently the bane of your existence.

This is the best time to be planning your next garden, when all of these things are at the forefront of your mind.

My favorite tomatoes always get a place in my garden, Sart Roloise. They can have a tendency to crack, however, they heal over quickly unlike other varieties. This is why I keep space for them.

Grocery List for Next Garden Season

One of the most important things is to grow food you will eat. Read How to Decide What to Grow Next to learn more about The Grocery List. For now, let’s just focus on what you ate this season. Make a list of all the things you actually ate in your garden (I bet almost every one of you has something you didn’t get around to eating). For me, it was the Kohlrabi.

Next, make a list of the things that were eaten the most. Let’s narrow this further. Cross out the things on this list that did not do well (e.i. They split, had the most bug damage, diseased, didn’t produce much, etc.).

Now, write what was missing from your garden. What did you have to buy from the store that you did not grow in your garden? What do you wish you had grown that you didn’t?

At this point, you should have a well balanced list of some things you liked and things you wish to try growing next season. I am sure you are likely itching to start some seed shopping. However, there are some more things to think about.

My household loves these Power's Yellow tomatoes, but they just crack to too easily with the rain. This causes them to bust wide open with no hope of saving the fruit. I am going to skip on these next garden season. — My household loves these Power’s Yellow tomatoes, but they just crack to too easily with the rain. This causes them to bust wide open with no hope of saving the fruit. I am going to skip on these next garden season.

Disease and Weather Resistant Varieties

You should always be doing the most to maximize your harvest for the next garden season. One of the ways you can do this is to be sure you are picking weather resistant and disease resistant varieties.

I live in South Central, PA where summers fluctuate a lot between bright sunny days and rain for a week. Thus, lending to an environment where my tomatoes can easily crack. This happens when the water content of a tomato causes the skin to split open. Splitting can result in bug damage as well as bacteria. Because of this, I prefer varieties that are known for being crack-resistant. The less tomatoes that crack, the more harvest I can utilize.

Pests run amok in my garden as well. It is ideal when I can pick varieties that are resistant to insects. Butternut squash is known to be resistant to vine borers for example.

There are also plants that are more disease-resistant than others depending on the climate. Golden Cherry tomatoes are known to be resistant to the mosaic virus as well as fusarium wilt. While Marketmore 76 cucumbers are known to be resistant to powdery mildew.

Does every plant in your garden have to be specifically disease/weather/pest resistant? No. Just know that the more you optimize against such garden woes, the more harvest you will be able to use.

Container gardening is not my strong suit. However, these Wooly Kate tomatoes have done great in a container with no splitting at all.

Container Friendly

Remember those crack-resistant tomatoes we were just talking about? You will want them if you are starting a container garden. Container gardens are notorious for inconsistent watering. They dry out quickly but can also easily become waterlogged with overwatering or rain. A tomato that can expand and contract without damage is your best bet. The two that did best in my garden this year were Wooly Kate and Queen of the Night.

Check the back of your seed packets. They often tell you if a plant will do well in a container.

Take the winter to learn about fertilizing container plants. They will use up the nutrients faster than they would in a raised garden bed or in-ground garden. Knowing what you need ahead of time will help ensure success next garden season.

Be sure to play around with your container positioning for best sun/shade needs per each plant type. This is a huge benefit of a container garden. Being able to pick it up and move it wherever it works best is an invaluable tool. This can be great for your first year before deciding on final placement for permanent garden beds.

As seen in the photo above, I keep a compact garden space. There isn't any bare soil to be seen, and when there is, it has straw over it to hold in moisture and protect from weed seeds. — As seen in the photo above, I keep a compact garden space. There isn’t any bare soil to be seen, and when there is, it has straw over it to hold in moisture and protect from weed seeds.

Space saving

When you are growing food, it is usually so you can offset your food bill, if not replace it entirely. For your next garden season, try utilizing every inch of available growing space that you have. There are a few ways to ensure that you do.

The first goes back to planting what you will eat. Don’t let things take up space if you don’t like them. Speaking of, if you grow a variety that you end up not liking, rip it out. Use that space for succession sowing something that has a 60-day or less harvest.

Next is make sure you have proper trellising in place. My first year, all I had were strings and stakes. This was not efficient and limited my ability to grow vertically. The use of cattle panels has since given me more space for vining plants. On the flip side, make sure you have the space for bush varieties. Zucchini, for example, takes up a lot of space. If you only have room for 1 plant, you might skip it entirely. Instead, plant 4 of something else that you use much more often.

Lastly, try growing in a compact manner. I don’t follow square-foot gardening rules specifically so I won’t go into that here. However, I do grow things much more closely together than the packets suggest. Why? Because it works. Growing plants closely together provides multiple benefits. Tall plants can provide shade for plants that don’t like constant sun. Weeds are less likely to invade if the space is already taken up. You also don’t have to water as frequently because all the foliage is keeping the sun from drying the soil.

Try Something New Next Garden Season

Never forget the opportunity that growing your own food provides you, trying new things. Every year, I try something new in my garden. I always plant a new tomato variety and new pepper variety. I also make it a point to try something I have never had before. This year it was Ayote squash, a winter squash. They are just starting to ripen and I am excited to enjoy them over fall and winter. Moon and Stars Watermelon were also new for me. While they have been very prolific, they likely will not have a home in my garden next season. They have too many seeds to eat around for my liking.

Final Thoughts

As you think about your next garden, make your space and effort count. Pick things that you and your family like. Take out things that just don’t work even if they are tasty. Select new items to try that you might fall in love with. Remember, no two garden seasons are the same. There isn’t any reason why your food has to be. Every garden season is a chance for growth. Happy garden planning!

P.S. if you are drowning in harvest right now, I know you are, go read 7 Ways to Preserve Food From Your Garden Harvest. Enjoy!