Soil Prep for Vine Crops: A Guide

In all of the things that a gardener can choose to grow one popular choice is growing vine crops. Growing vine crops doesn't have to be hard and if you live an area where they do well you can get yourself a nice crop of such plants as pumpkins, squash, watermelons and cucumbers just to name a few. The first step that you need to take is preparing the soil for the vine crops. Getting off on the right foot is key with a successful garden growing anything and vine crops are not going to be an exception. The gardening tools that you will need for soil prep of vine crops are going to be fertilizer and/or organic matter like compost, a plow or till to mix it into the pre-existing soil and of course the seeds for the vine crops you intend on planting and a hose or watering can to properly water and care for the vine crops.

The first step to preparing the soil is to choose the area you intend on planting in. Since vine crops take up a lot of space when they grow you will want to train them to grow on to a trellis if you have limited space. In the space that you have set aside for your vine crops you will want to prepare the soil just for the specific vine crops that you will be growing. The next step is very important and often something that eager gardeners want to skip, and that is testing the soil to determine what and how much fertilizer it needs. It is important to look at the phosphorus rating, if it is high you'll want to choose either a low phosphorus or no phosphorus fertilizer when you are preparing the soil for the vine crops. Getting a wrong fertilizer that is high in phosphorus when your soil is also can result in a phosphorus buildup in the soil and even can pollute rivers, streams and lakes nearby. Also don't choose a fertilizer that is designed to kill weeds in your soil prep because it will harm the vine crops.

In addition to choosing the proper fertilizer for when you are preparing the soil for your vine crops you can use compost. Adding this organic matter to lighter sandy soils or heavier clay soils can help improve the soil structure of the soils even more. This will be very good for the vine crops as well. Anytime that you use fertilizer or organic matter when preparing soil it is very important that it all gets tilled or plowed into the soil really well before any planting of any of the vine crops is done. If you are planning on planting watermelon a sandy loam soil will be the best choice but other vine crops can stand a heavier soil. Now that you have done the soil prep for your vine crops, they can be planted directly into the new prepped soil. Since the vine crops take a lot of space it is a good idea to space cucumbers a foot a part, watermelon two feet apart and plant pumpkins and squash two to three feet apart from one another. Properly spacing them is just as important as the soil prep.

There are many components that make a vine crop do well. They are sensitive crops and that is why preparing the soil properly and planting them to their best potential is so important. Equally important is the care that they receive while they are growing. In general vine crops thrive in hot weather. On average they require a minimum of one inch of water from either irrigation or rainfall each week of their growing season. It is important to soak their soil thoroughly when you water them. If you are watering sandy soil you will want to water more often but each time that you water you should lessen the amount of water used. In addition to watering them with care because you didn't use weed killing fertilizers when you prepped the soil you will need to take care in keeping up with weed control. Since vine crops' roots are so close to the top of the soil whenever you cultivate to remove weeds you must be very careful and keep your cultivation shallow. When this proves to be too difficult remove large weeds by hand. Although vine crops take some unique care the payoff of wonderful fresh foods is well worth the effort. If you live in an area where they do well and have always wanted to grow them, you should give it a try. The care that you put into vine crops can be very, very rewarding.