Now’s the time to plant vegetables. Dan Gill explains how to get started.

Now is a great time for home gardeners to plant vegetables. If you have an existing vegetable garden, you should begin to plant warm-season vegetables now. If you are new to home vegetable gardens, here are some tips on how to get started.

SITE SELECTION: This is critical to success. The site should receive a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight. Full or all-day sun is preferable. That doesn’t mean you can’t plant a vegetable garden in a spot that only gets four or five hours of sun. But you must accept that vegetable plants that do not receive sufficient light will not be as productive.

The site must also be well-drained. Low-lying areas that hold water after it rains are not suitable. To improve drainage, we plant vegetables in raised rows or raised beds. Irrigation will occasionally be needed, so locate the garden near a water source.

WHAT ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR?: Next, decide what you want to grow. Plan to grow what you and your family like to eat. How much of a particular vegetable you plant depends on family preferences, available space and the productivity of a crop.

One or two jalapeño pepper plants will likely produce all the spicy peppers you need. One bush green bean plant, however, will only produce a few handfuls of green beans — it takes many bean plants to to have a decent harvest.

Preparing the garden bed

There are many variations when it comes to gardening in the ground, including traditional raised garden rows, wide raised garden rows and raised beds. Start relatively small. You should gain some experience before creating a large garden.

Wide raised garden rows are more productive than traditional garden rows.

DIG AND SPREAD: After removing any existing unwanted vegetation (such as lawn grass), the first step is tilling up the garden area to a depth of about 8 inches. Next, the rows and walkways are laid out. The rows are generally about 3 to 4 feet wide and walkways about a foot wide (basically, make the beds as wide as you can comfortably stand or squat in the walkway and reach into the middle of the row to plant, mulch weed and harvest).

Using a shovel or hoe, move soil out of the walkways up into the row area to form the raised rows. Use a rake to flatten the top to a width of 3 or 4 feet.

ADD ORGANICS: Next, the wide row is prepared for planting by spreading a 2- to 4-inch layer of organic matter over the soil. Homemade compost is free and an ideal amendment to improve the soil. If that is not available, use composted stable sweepings, or purchase bags of compost, bagged cow manure or bags of composted soil conditioner products.

Do not scrimp on this. Homegrown vegetables produce far better in soils enriched with generous amounts of organic matter. Organic matter improves the soil structure and encourages strong, healthy root systems. Organic matter also adds mineral nutrients to the soil and encourages beneficial microorganisms.

FERTILIZE: Additional nutrients are generally provided to the soil by applying some fertilizer. We expect our vegetable plants to live up their maximum potential and produce as much as possible. For this to happen, mineral nutrient levels, such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, need to be at optimal levels.

Fertilizers supplement the mineral nutrients naturally present in the soil. To have a clear idea of what the mineral levels are, have your soil tested through your local parish LSU AgCenter office.

If you soil is especially low in any of the major nutrients, choose fertilizers, whether commercial or organic, that provide those nutrients. Generally speaking, soils on the south shore are typically high in phosphorous, so gardeners can choose fertilizers with an analysis that has a higher first number, lower second number and third number somewhere in between.

Gardeners on the northshore, where soils are typically less fertile, may choose to use a fertilizer with an analysis that has three numbers that are about the same. You do not need a different fertilizer for each different vegetable. Gardeners on the northshore may also need to apply lime.

Scatter the fertilizer over the organic matter and thoroughly incorporate everything into the raised row and rake the top smooth. After the organic matter and fertilizer are incorporated into the raised rows they will be even higher. The height of the rows is important as it ensures proper drainage during heavy rains.

Creating raised beds

You may also choose to grow your vegetables in 12-inch-high, 3- to 4-foot-wide raised beds. Sides enclosing the soil are constructed of 2-by-12 boards, cinder blocks, landscape timbers or other materials, and filled with purchased garden soil or topsoil.

There are a variety of advantages to raised-bed gardening. Raised beds drain faster than typical garden beds due to their height — important during periods of heavy rain. Overall, they are easier to maintain than traditional in-ground gardens. Raised-bed gardens are also attractive. As a result, vegetable gardening in raised beds is becoming increasingly popular. Fertilize these beds as you would in-ground gardens.

There is so much more to say, so next week I’ll continue to discuss getting started with growing vegetables — including planting, mulching and maintenance.