Growing and Caring for Your Vegetable Garden

Caring for your vegetable garden allows you to grow healthy plants that produce abundant, high-quality vegetables. You will need to consider and manage watering, weeding, soil health, weeds, diseases, and insect pests, among other things.

drip irrigation on tomatoes By diyanadimitrova AdobeStock — A variety of factors needs to be considered to care for your vegetable garden well ⁽¹⁾

With regular care, growing and caring for your vegetable garden can be a rewarding endeavor that produces bountiful results.

Soil

Good soil is the base of a good vegetable garden. Soil is a complex living system made up of minerals, organic materials, water, and air. It provides water and nutrients for plant growth. Soil texture (soil particle size) and structure (how particles are held together) influence water and air movement, affecting plant growth.

Vegetables grow best in fertile, well-drained soils. While many Iowa soils are suitable, they may have specific issues that require correction. Gardeners take steps each year (whether the soils are ideal or not) to build and maintain quality soil for their vegetable gardens.

Taking a soil sample By Microgen AdobeStock — Soil testing is a great idea when establishing a new vegetable garden ⁽²⁾

Soil Testing

One of the most beneficial first steps when establishing a new vegetable garden is to perform a soil test. A soil test will give you information on basic fertility, pH, and organic matter percentage. They typically also include recommendations on how to improve it.

Factors to Consider

Soil pH, which affects nutrient availability, typically ranges from 5.5 to 7.5 in Iowa, with many areas of the state trending toward the higher end of that range. The ideal pH for most plants is 6.0 to 7.0. Adjustments can be made with soil amendments before planting.

Organic matter, such as compost, increases the organic matter content of the soil, improving soil structure and increasing its water-holding capacity and productive ability. Composted manure applied in the fall can also provide fertility and improve soil structure.

Poorly drained soil holds excess water, displacing oxygen and harming plant roots. Low organic matter or high clay content often leads to drainage issues, but these can be tested and improved.

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Soil Preparation

Once a soil test has been conducted, garden soils can be improved by adding amendments, like organic matter. Soils also need to be prepared for planting by removing weeds, turning the soil to loosen, and creating good conditions for planting and sowing seeds.

Turning Vegetable Garden soil By Luca Pape AdobeStock — Soil preparation can take on many forms from traditional tilling, to minor disturbance, to no-till methods. ⁽³⁾

Never Work in Wet Soil

Never work in soil when it's too wet, as it can harden and restrict root growth, leading to unproductive plants. Avoid tilling, planting, and even walking on overly wet soils. If soil forms a ball that retains its shape, wait a few days to allow it to dry out. If it crumbles when pressed, it's ready for tilling and planting.

Tilling

Turning or tilling the soil has benefits and drawbacks. Advantages include:

aerates the soil
breaks up compaction
helps incorporate compost and other amendments
creates a nice seed bed for sowing
allows roots (especially large roots, bulbs, tubers) to more easily grow and expand
helps warm the soil faster.

Disadvantages to tilling include:

increases erosion potential
brings weed seeds to the surface for germination
breaks apart soil aggregates, changing the water and air-holding capacity
speeds the loss of organic material
promotes crusting.

In the home garden, fall tilling is the most beneficial. It removes and destroys diseased plant debris helping reduce disease severity, reduces pests by eliminating over-wintering sites, and helps the garden dry out and warm up sooner in spring.

While tillers and other power equipment can be used to turn the soil deeply, light tilling is all that is typically needed in the home vegetable garden. Simply turn soil with a fork, shovel, hoe, or rake. This only minimally disturbs the soil allowing you many of the advantages of tilling, without many of the disadvantages.

No-Till

Soils in the home vegetable garden can also be managed without disturbing the soil at all. Instead of using tillers, forks, or shovels, this method of soil management utilizes the layering of organic materials to build healthy soils and create a suitable seeding/planting bed. These layers can be created using any combination of mulch, compost, composted manures, straw, dried leaves, and grass clipping, among other things.

Cover crops are also an important and beneficial component. Select crops that can be terminated without tilling. Those that winter kill are the best option. This includes crops like buckwheat, field peas, cowpea, oats, and oilseed radish, among others.

Mulches

Organic mulches benefit vegetable gardens by controlling weeds, conserving moisture, reducing disease severity, and moderating soil temperatures. Effective options include grass clippings, shredded leaves, coco hulls, and weed-free straw.

Apply several inches of mulch in early June after the soil has warmed; applying it too early can slow plant growth. These materials decompose quickly and can be tilled into the soil in fall or spring.

straw mulch in vegetable garden By bepsphoto AdobeStock — Straw is an excellent mulch for the vegetable garden ⁽⁴⁾

Biodegradable materials like newspaper, cardboard, and planter paper can also be used. While wood chips and shredded bark can serve as mulch, they take years to decompose, making them more challenging to manage in the vegetable garden, especially as it relates to cultivation and planting in future years.

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Watering

For productive, healthy vegetable gardens, irrigation is typically needed during the growing season. Dry soils reduce yields and produce quality. Most vegetable gardens will need to be irrigated at some point during the growing season to be the most productive. Situate vegetable gardens near a water source to make watering easier.

Methods of Watering

You can water vegetable gardens in many ways, including sprinklers, hand watering, and drip or trickle irrigation systems. They all have advantages and disadvantages, although hand watering is more inefficient than the other options. Whenever possible, avoid wetting areas outside the plants' root zone to help reduce the germination and growth of weeds.

Amount of Water Needed

A vegetable garden typically requires a weekly moisture supply equivalent to one inch of rain per week to maintain vegetative growth and good production. Both Mother Nature and the gardener can supply this water. Install a rain gauge near your garden to know how much water is provided by rain.

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Fertilizing

Vegetables require regular fertilizer applications for high-quality vegetables and good yields. Some crops require relatively high amounts of fertilizer (sweet corn, garlic, etc.). Other crops produce well with fewer fertilizer applications (lettuce, herbs, etc.).

granular fertilizer in vegetable garden By encierro AdobeStock — Granular fertilizers can be incorporated before or during planting ⁽⁵⁾

Types of Fertilizers

There are several types of fertilizers, from synthetic to organic, granular to liquid, and water-soluble to slow-release. Which you choose depends on what you are growing, when you are applying, how much is needed, soil type, and gardener preference, among other things.

General, all-purpose fertilizers are often complete (containing nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and other macro- and micronutrients). They are suitable for a wide range of plants, including vegetables, making them a good choice for vegetable gardens. The label directions will give information on the application rates appropriate for vegetables.

Many gardeners use compost along with organic and/or synthetic fertilizers incorporated into the soil before planting (and for some vegetables, during the growing season as well). Specific fertilizer requirements for each vegetable crop can be found in the Vegetable Growing Guides.

Learn more in this article: Fertilizing in the Home Garden.

Weeds

Control of weeds in the vegetable garden is essential. These unwanted plants are strong competitors for available water, nutrients, and sunlight and can reduce yields when uncontrolled. Reduced air circulation created by tall weeds encourages the development and spread of foliage diseases and a weedy garden often has more insect problems.

Keeping ahead of weeds and controlling them when they are small is essential for good weed management. This requires persistence throughout the entire growing season - from planting until after frost.

Cultivation, hand pulling, mulches, good cultural practices, and herbicides, among other techniques, are the primary means to control weeds in the home vegetable garden. In most cases, using several methods together will produce the best results. These methods can be considered "organic" except those that utilize synthetic herbicides.

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Insect Pests

At some point any vegetable gardener is going to deal with insect pests. Every crop has certain insects that can cause problems - tomato hornworm on tomatoes, flea beetles on eggplant, Colorado potato beetles on potatoes, and squash vine borer on pumpkins and squash are just a few common examples.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is the best way for the home gardener to address these problem insects. IPM is the combination of actions and decisions gardeners make to protect the garden from unacceptable damage. IPM is not one specific action or tactic; it is the combination of all actions that reduce the impact of pests while minimizing adverse effects on the environment.

It includes tactics for prevention, mechanical controls, biological controls, and the use of pesticides (typically as a last resort).

Learn more about IPM in this publication: Integrated Pest Management for Home Gardens and Landscapes. (PDF)

Common Insect Pests

While all vegetable crops have unique insect pests (which you can learn more about in the growing guides), some pests are more commonly encountered than others!

Squash Vine Borer Colorado Potato Beetle Cucumber Beetle Tomato Hornworm Squash Bug Flea Beetle Cabbageworm

Learn more about insect control in your vegetable garden in these articles:

Diseases

Most vegetable crops have diseases that will impact growth and yields. They can include issues that arise from fungi, bacteria, and viruses. For diseases to become an issue, three things must be present: the problem-causing microorganism, a compatible host, and the right environmental conditions. It is best to work to disrupt or eliminate at least one of these things to manage diseases.

septoria leaf spot on tomato — Septoria leaf spot on tomato ⁽⁸⁾

Often, it is most challenging to eliminate the host as there are usually specific vegetables we want to grow (what's a garden without tomatoes?!). However, good crop rotation or taking a year off can effectively eliminate the host. Another highly effective tactic is to select disease-resistant cultivars.

It is also possible to keep the microorganism away from the plant. This can be accomplished by using pesticides, such as fungicides, to prevent the microorganism from infecting the plant. It can also involve excluding insect vectors that can carry disease-causing agents from plant to plant. This may be done by mechanical exclusion (with screens, for example) or using insecticides.

For home gardeners, some of the most straightforward tactics to prevent disease is not providing the proper environmental conditions for the disease to infect. This can include keeping foliage dry when watering to prevent fungi from infecting, applying mulch to prevent splashing, and keeping plants off the ground, among other things.

The use of integrated pest management (IPM) practices, such as scouting, is highly beneficial for managing diseases.

Common Diseases

While all vegetable crops have unique disease issues (which you can learn more about in the growing guides), some diseases are more commonly encountered than others!

Verticillium Wilt Powdery Mildew Damping Off Bacterial Spot on Pepper and Tomatoes Cucurbit Bacterial Wilt Septoria Leaf Spot

Learn more in this article: Managing Diseases in the Vegetable Garden

Animal Pests

eastern cottontail rabbit By _ _ AdobeStock — Rabbits can be very destructive in vegetable gardens ⁽⁹⁾

Animal pests can be challenging to manage in vegetable gardens. Deer chomping on your peas, rabbits eating your cabbage, ground squirrels biting your tomatoes, birds snipping off flowers, raccoons stealing sweet corn, or moles disturbing young transplants - animals can be pretty destructive!

The best way to manage animal pests is through exclusion. Utilize fencing or netting to keep animals away. Plant your garden in areas that are inaccessible or inhospitable to the animals. Scare devices and scent repellents can occasionally work but often lose effectiveness over time. Trapping can be an option, but doing it ethically and legally is important.

Learn how to manage the troublesome pests in your garden in this article: Managing Problem Wildlife.

Weather and Environmental Issues

sunscald on pepper — Sunscald on pepper ⁽¹⁰⁾

We cannot control the weather, but it can impact the vegetable garden. Drought, high winds, and flooding are just some issues that can reduce quality, decrease yields, or kill plants.

Many issues caused by environmental issues can look like diseases. For example, wilting from drought can resemble a vascular disease. Other environmental issues can cause disease issues. Consistently wet soils can lead to root rot, and inconsistent water supply can reduce the movement of calcium to growing fruit, causing blossom end rot. Environmental issues also result from gardener activity, as is the case with unintentional drift from a nearby herbicide application.

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Extending the Seasons

Growing vegetables does not have to be reserved exclusively for the summer months. There are many techniques the gardener can use to start earlier in the spring and continue to grow later in the fall. Doing this results in earlier harvests that extend later in the year.

Cold frames, low tunnels, black plastic mulch, and hot tents are all techniques that can be used to protect plants from below-freezing temperatures and warm soils earlier.

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More Information

Photo credits: 1: diyanadimitrova/AdobeStock; 2: Microgen/AdobeStock; 3: Luca Pape/AdobeStock; 4: bepsphoto/AdobeStock; 5: encierro/AdobeStock; 6: Aaron Steil; 7: Laura Jesse; 8: Iowa State University Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic; 9: _ _/AdobeStock; 10: Cindy Haynes

Authors:

Aaron Steil

Last reviewed:

January 2025