Secrets to a successful organic vegetable garden

by Willi Galloway

Planting a small kitchen garden takes some work, but it comes with a delicious reward—sweet little strawberries glistening with dew, tender baby beans dangling from their vines, and tomatoes still warm from the afternoon sun.

With incentives like these, it is no wonder that vegetable gardening is experiencing an unprecedented revival. The economy and interest in local food are also certainly playing a role, but most people digging into the edible gardening trend are doing so for a simple reason: homegrown, organic vegetables just taste better. They also happens to be pretty easy grow, especially if you follow these simple principles:

Choose the Right Site
All vegetables and culinary herbs grow best in a spot that gets 6 to 8 hours of bright, direct sunlight each day. These crops might survive in less light, but they will not thrive. If you have a really shady yard, check out UrbanGardenShare.org—a local online tool that matches would-be kitchen gardeners with people who have enough space and sun to grow vegetables. 

Build Raised Beds
Raised beds make perfect vegetable gardens because their soil is nice and loose, warms up earlier in spring, and drains better than adjacent soil. The most flexible and budget-friendly route is to simply build up 6-inch tall, level mounds of topsoil. Or, frame out raised beds with naturally rot-resistant cedar, brick, or landscaping blocks. Skip using railroad ties and treated wood because these materials can leach heavy metals and other toxins into the soil.

Care for the Soil
Building good soil is the key to creating a healthy garden because plants get all their water, nutrients, and oxygen from the soil. When building framed or unframed raise beds, use a high-quality topsoil, such as the Vegetable Garden Mix from Cedar Grove Composting. Adding compost to soil is the easiest way to keep it healthy, supply nutrients, and encourage worms and beneficial soil microorganisms. In spring, spread a 2-inch layer of compost over each bed and dig it in. In fall, do the same and then cover the beds with burlap bags to prevent weeds and erosion over the winter.

Plant Varieties Suited to the Pacific Northwest
Buying seed from companies that are based on the West Coast, including Territorial Seed Company, Nichols Garden Nursery, Ed Hume, and Renee’s Garden, is a good bet because they specialize in offering seeds that perform well in our mild climate. When choosing varieties, check plant tags and seed packets for the variety’s days to maturity—the approximate length of time from planting to harvest—and avoid ones that take more than 80 days. Greens, including lettuce, spinach, arugula, and kale, peas, cherry tomatoes, skinny, Asian-style eggplants, and small sweet and hot peppers are all good bets in the Puget Sound Region (see Best Vegetable Varieties for the Pacific Northwest for specific recommendations).

Water Smart
Inconsistent watering causes all sorts of problems, including cracked tomatoes, tipburn in lettuce, and bitter tasting carrots, but watering every day is not the best way to ensure consistently moist soil. Instead, encourage your vegetables to develop robust root systems by watering deeply, not frequently. Soak the soil to a depth of 8 to 12 inches each time you water. Then, test the soil moisture level every few days by sticking your finger into it. When the soil dries down to your second knuckle, water deeply again. Irrigating by hand tends to waste water and it is time consuming.  Using soaker hoses—special hoses that slowly weep water—is a good alternative, because these hoses deliver water directly to your plants’ roots, which prevents evaporation, and they can easily be hooked up to a timer.

On her blog DigginFood.com, Willi shares organic vegetable gardening advice, seasonal recipes, DIY garden projects and videos, and more. She is also the West Coast Editor of Organic Gardening magazine and the vegetable gardening expert on the popular KUOW 94.9 vegetable gardening call-in show, Greendays.