Module 14: Maintaining The Vegetable Plants

Now that your vegetable plants are growing, you’ll need to maintain them until they are ready for harvest. There are many things you may need to do as part of maintaining plants as below.

Monitoring

I suggest monitoring your vegetable plants at least once daily. I prefer doing this in the morning as I’m watering the plants.

Monitoring means you check on the condition of the plants. You see if there are any pest or diseases problems that you need to take care of. You check if the potting soil is dry and needs watering.

You would check if the plants have grown much and need pruning of foliage to prevent humid conditions.

Watering

You’ll be monitoring your vegetables and herbs every day. One important part is to check the potting soil if it’s dried out and needs watering.

Stick your finger 1-2 inches into the potting soil and check if it comes out dry. There will be no soil sticking to your finger when it’s dry. That’s when you need to water it.

Use a watering can and give the potting soil a deep watering. This means you continue watering the soil until water drains out from the drainage holes.

Check the module on watering that gives more details on this.

Fertilizing

Once your vegetables are growing, they’ll need nutrients to grow healthy and give you a good harvest. You’ll need to feed such nutrients every few days.

You can add compost and/or organic fertilizer to provide such nutrients to the plants. Keep a schedule where you feed these nutrients every 15-20 days to the potting soil.

You can use compost, slow-release fertilizer, or liquid fertilizer to provide the nutrients. Check the module on adding nutrients for more details.

Pruning

As the vegetable plants are growing, the foliage will become dense and might encroach on other plants in the garden. That’s one of the reasons to prune the foliage and keep enough space. This prevents humid conditions that cause fungal diseases and invite pests.

You should also prune the foliage that is diseased or dying. This helps the plant focus its energy on producing new foliage and fruit.

Pruning is also useful to encourage the plant to grow dense foliage and spread uniformly.

Avoid using your fingers to pluck or break the foliage. Use a sterilized pair of pruners or scissors to trim the unwanted foliage.

Mulching

Mulching is the process where you add material on top of potting soil. I would recommend using organic material such as straw, wood chips, dried leaves or grass clippings.

The benefit of adding such material is it helps regulate the temperature of the potting soil. The moisture in the soil also lasts longer when it’s covered with mulch. So you don’t have to water as often.

Mulching helps smother weed seeds that might be present in the soil. It prevents sunlight reaching the weeds and does not allow them to germinate.

Using organic material as mulch is good because it slowly breaks down and adds the organic matter to the potting soil.

Weeding

Weeding is the process of removing weeds from the potting soil. One benefit of using container gardening is there are less weeds growing.

But some weeds might still grow because of seeds in the potting soil or dropped by birds and animals.

When you use mulch, it further reduces the problem of weeds growing in the potting soil. If the weeds are small, you can pull them out of the potting soil.

But if they have grown big, avoid pulling them from the soil as it can harm the roots of the vegetable plants. You can remove the weeds by cutting them off at the base instead.

Tying To Support

If the vegetable plant is a vining variety or it has a weak stem, you would have provided some form of support structure such as stake, cage, or trellis

As the plant grows, gently guide the main stem or vine towards the support structure. Use soft plant ties, garden twine, or strips of cloth to secure the plant to the support at regular intervals, avoiding tight constriction that may damage the stem.

Monitor the plant regularly and adjust the ties as necessary to accommodate growth and prevent constriction. Loosen or reposition ties to avoid restricting the plant’s natural movement while maintaining stability and support.

For vining plants like cucumbers or peas, encourage them to climb or weave around the support structure as they grow. Gently guide the tendrils or stems along the trellis or cage, promoting upward growth and optimizing space utilization.

Action Steps

• Monitor your vegetable and herb plants every morning for any issues.
• Water the plants if the potting soil has dried out.
• Add fertilizer or compost to the potting soil every 15 days.
• Prune any foliage that has disease or dying.
• Add mulch on top of potting soil.
• Remove any weeds you find in the potting soil.
• Tie vining plants to support and adjust as they grow.