| I live in Southern California and I am ready to plant some rows of vegetables, including tomatoes, eggplant, and squash. I have a pretty good sized open yard for sunlight. What would be my best bet for the positioning of the rows? |
| Most vegetable plants will grow well with 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Try not to shade the lower growing plants with tall plants, and give plants enough space to allow sunshine to fall directly on the leaves of the plants. You can place your rows so they run east to west, plant the shortest growing veggies in the front rows and finish up with tall plants, like indeterminate tomatoes and corn. Squash plants will need lots of room to sprawl, so why not give them their own area? You can mound soil up into a hill, plant your squash seeds, and allow the vines to spread out over the mounds. Mounding will keep the roots of the plants contained, making it easier to apply water and fertilizer to individual plants. More detailed information on vegetable gardening can be found in Sunset Western Garden Book, ISBN#0-376-03851-9, and Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, ISBN#0-87596-599-7. |
