The past couple of gardening years have had their challenges. Hopefully, some of the product availability issues will be settled in the upcoming year. If not we will just have to make do. I sure would like everyone to spend their gardening dollars at Well Brothers. With that said, if you are looking for a specific crop to plant and you find it, do not hesitate to buy it.

Though it might seem uncommon to be talking veggie gardens in December, ready or not, it’s right around the corner. Onions typically show up the first two weeks of January with potatoes arriving mid to late January. Like Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” I think ole Ben (all his friends call him Ben) was talking about gardening.

The things you need to know are the square footage of the garden and what’s in the soil, nutritionally speaking. If you don’t know, do a soil test or have Texas A&M do it. For gardens, I recommend a soil test every 12 to 18 months. The reason is different crops use nutrition at different rates. Since most folks grow 2 to 4 crops a year, testing is critical. Wells Brothers sells soil test kits and provides nutritional soil testing. Once you have the results, picking amendments is easy.

Next, you need a good crop rotation plan. Farmers have been moving crops around their fields for more than a millennium. Even so, I still talk to folks that insist on planting the same crop in the same spot year after year and expect the same results. You might get lucky for two years, but not for three. In the past, I have had excellent crop rotation plans and then I have had some that really stunk up the garden. “You have to have a plan before it fails.” As the saying goes, plan your work and work your plan. The bottom line is that you have 30 days to prepare!