Take notes to improve your harvest every year

Q. For the first time last year, we planted a vegetable garden. Some things went well and others not so much. How can we improve the garden next year?

A. This is a great time of year to plan next summer's vegetable garden. Winter is a great time to curl up by the fire with some scratch paper and seed catalogs. I like to sketch an outline of the garden and keep a record each year of what crops were raised, what varieties and how things turned out.

This is important for several reasons. Over time I forget many of the details, especially the failures. So keeping good notes as the seasons progress helps to address things that need improvement the following year. Maybe you had bare spots where you could plant some quick maturing plants to improve production. Or you may have had a disease problem like powdery mildew. Your notes should help you remember to stake floppy plants and provide enough room around susceptible plants to allow for good air flow. Then watch for symptoms and take corrective action as soon as they appear.

The next consideration is crop rotation. Each plant has its own unique requirements and tends to deplete those nutrients in the soil if planted in the same place each year, which can lead to smaller and smaller yields. Also, some plants are susceptible to certain insects or diseases. If you don't rotate the location occasionally, the pests or diseases can overwinter and build up in the soil. Moving crops each year minimizes that risk.

You should consider plant families in planning this rotation as members of a plant family many times have similar nutrient needs or are affected by the same pests or diseases. The major plant families and common members of each are as follows:

Brassica: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, collards, mustard greens, turnips, rutabaga, radish.

Goosefoot: Beets, Swiss chard, spinach.

Sunflower: Artichoke, chicory, lettuce, endive, escarole, salsify.

Morning Glory: Sweet potato.

Curcubit: Cucumber, melons, summer and winter squash, pumpkins.

Grass: Corn.

Legume: Beans, peas, lentils, soybeans.

Lily: Asparagus, onion, garlic, shallots, chives, leeks.

Mallow: Okra.

Buckwheat: Rhubarb.

Nightshade: Eggplant, tomato, Irish potato, pepper, tomatillo.

Apiace: Carrots, parsnips, celery, parsley.

If you don't have space to rotate crops, you can raise that crop in a container of potting soil to give the garden a year to recover from any problems.

Group vegetables by family for efficiency in a rotation plan. I put all of my tomatoes and peppers in raised bed garden No. 1 in the first year, bed No. 2 in the second year, etc. After four years, they go back to bed No. 1 and start over.

The next consideration is the plant's needs. Some plants are quick maturing while others take three months or more to mature. Some plants need full sun while others will tolerate, or even appreciate, some shade (like lettuce and spinach). Cool season plants thrive in cool or even cold temperatures but wilt in summer heat, while some warm season crops may not even tolerate a few cool nights. Your plan should take all of this into account.

I plant cool season crops (lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, peas, broccoli and potatoes) in mid March to early April while I avoid planting warm loving crops (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, pumpkins and squash) until mid May or even Memorial Day. With quick maturing cool season crops, I plant a spring crop and a fall crop. You can interplant small, quick maturing crops like lettuce in between slow maturing crops to better utilize space. The former are harvested before the latter need the extra room.

A unique feature of legumes is they extract nitrogen out of the air to feed themselves and also fix nitrogen into the soil for future use. I like to precede heavy feeding crops like tomatoes with beans or peas the year before so the bean crop can provide fertilizer for two years.

By putting together a garden plan and keeping notes of successes, failures and ideas throughout the growing season, you can learn many things over the years. I have developed a list of some favorite varieties over the years and also keep a list of ones that, for whatever reason, have never done well for me. I have also learned to put tall plants on the North or West side of the garden to avoid shading sun loving shorter plans and to plant some cool season crops in the shade of taller plants to extend the season a little bit more. But the most important concept in planning a successful garden is to grow the crops you like the best. That is the secret for a successful garden year after year.

- Pete Landwehr

• Provided by Master Gardeners through the Master Gardener Answer Desk, Friendship Park Conservatory, Des Plaines. Call (847) 298-3502 or email northcookmg@gmail.com.