After thoughtful planning, it's time to establish your vegetable garden and reap the rewards. Whether you are starting from seed or buying transplants at the garden center, planting your vegetables well is the first step to harvesting an abundant and high-quality crop. Planting at the appropriate time ensures the crop matures at the best time. Harvesting at the right stage of maturity ensures you have delicious and nutritious vegetables that store well.
Starting Seeds Indoors | Direct Sowing | Planting Transplants | Planting & Harvesting Times | Harvesting | Storage | More Information
Planting
Vegetable crops can be started in two primary ways - direct seed or by transplants. Those transplants can be grown indoors from seed at home or purchased ready to plant from the garden center. Each vegetable crop has a preferred method for planting that ensures the most success.
Starting Seed Indoors
Growing from seed is one of the economical ways to grow your vegetable garden. Not only is seed relatively inexpensive, but there is also more variety available from retailers, allowing you to find the best cultivar or try many different or new cultivars.
Some vegetables need to be started indoors and transplanted into the garden to give them a "jump start" and allow them to reach maturity before the end of the growing season.
Starting vegetables indoors by seed can sometimes feel intimidating, but you can have great success by following these basic tips:
- Start with fresh seed and clean materials.
- Consult the package to determine how early to start the seed indoors - do not start the seed too early.
- Provide abundant light.
- Do not over or under water.
- Raise the humidity during germination.
- If possible, warm the germination mix/soil.
Learn more in this article: Guide to Starting Seeds Indoors.
Direct Seeding
Direct seeding is sowing seed directly into the vegetable garden bed. It can be used for crops that are quick to maturity, like radishes, or for those that are not easy to transplant, like carrots, beets, and turnips.
Before direct sowing in the garden, prepare a good seed bed that is weed free. The soil should be fine, without large clumps or clods, to allow for good seed-to-soil contact. Make sure the soil has sufficiently warmed to promote germination. Cool-season crops tend to tolerate cooler soil temperatures than warm-season crops. Seeds sown in soils that are too cold may rot or be eaten before they can germinate.
Seeds of warm-season vegetables, like green beans, melons, and sweet corn, are sown after the danger of frost has passed. These plants won't tolerate freezing temperatures. Cool-season vegetables, like lettuce, spinach, and peas, can be planted two to three weeks earlier as they will tolerate light freezes.
Sow the seeds in shallow furrows or hills (clumps), then cover them lightly with fine soil. The sowing depth will be outlined on the seed packet. Some species may not be covered at all, and some may be covered with a quarter inch or more of soil.
Keep the seedbed moist. After germination, thin the young seedlings to the appropriate plant spacing. The excess seedlings can either be discarded or transplanted to fill empty spaces in the row.
Transplants
Whether you grew them at home or purchased them from the garden center, planting transplants looks the same. Many vegetables should be planted outdoors when the danger of frost is past. A few frost-tolerant vegetables, such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, or kale, can be planted 2 to 3 weeks earlier. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons, and other warm-season vegetables should be planted after your area's average last frost date.
After hardening off the transplants, plant the small plants in the garden at the same depth as they are in the pot. Set the plants in the garden in the evening or on a cloudy day, if possible. Planting at these times lessens transplant shock and allows the plants to recover somewhat before exposure to direct sun. If transplants have blooms remove them to aid plant establishment. Vegetable transplants should not be pinched to promote branching, as this can potentially delay harvest by several weeks.
After transplanting, water the plants well, ensuring the entire original root ball and surrounding soil are wetted down several inches. Water plants deeply and infrequently anytime the original root ball or surrounding soil is dry to the touch an inch or two down. Check transplants frequently in the first 7 to 14 days, as the small root ball can quickly dry out before the surrounding soil.
Learn more in this article: Selecting, Hardening, and Planting Bedding Plants.
Planting and Harvesting Times
Appropriate planning and scheduling of planting allow you to use the space in your vegetable garden efficiently. Vegetable crops vary in the time it takes for them to reach maturity. Some crops, like watermelon or Brussels sprouts, are planted in spring and take all growing season to reach maturity. Others, like radish, reach maturity in only a few weeks. Some vegetables, like cabbage or cauliflower, produce their entire crop at one time, and others, like green beans, lettuce, or kale, can be harvested over several weeks or months. Certain species, like carrots and sweet corn, can be planted in succession, with new seeds or transplants being planted every 7 to 14 days to allow for a more spread-out harvest period.
Utilize this guide to help schedule the planting of vegetables in Iowa gardens and determine when a harvest is likely expected.
Planting and Harvesting Times for Garden Vegetables (PDF)
Harvesting
Harvesting vegetables at the right stage of maturity ensures the best taste and quality. Many vegetables should be picked throughout the summer to maintain plant productivity. The time, frequency, and method of harvesting vary depending on the species.
Vegetables, like standard sweet corn, have a very small harvest period. Others, like many of the root crops, can remain in the garden for several weeks with little effect on their taste. Some vegetables, like summer squash, have to be harvested almost daily. Other plants, such as tomatoes, can be harvested every week.
Information on the appropriate harvest time for each vegetable crop can be found in the Vegetable Growing Guides.
An easy-to-reference chart on harvesting can be found in this article: Vegetable Harvest Guide.
Storage
After harvest, proper storage ensures the vegetables can be enjoyed for as long as possible. Some vegetables, like lettuce, have a short shelf life and, even when stored appropriately, have to be consumed relatively quickly. Other crops, like sweet corn, reduce in quality quickly after harvested but can be processed (frozen, canned, pickled, etc.) to allow their consumption later. Several crops, like winter squash, onion, potatoes, and carrots, can be stored for months if provided the appropriate conditions - typically cool with moderate humidity.
Information on the appropriate storage of each vegetable crop can be found in the Vegetable Growing Guides.
More information can be found here:
- Spend Smart. Eat Smart. Produce Basics
- Harvesting and Storing Vegetables (pdf)
- Storing Winter Storage Vegetables
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