Introduction to Growing Vegetables in South America and Vegetables Planting Calendar in South America: South America, the fourth largest of the world’s continents. It is the southern part of the landmass normally mention as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, or simply the Americas.
A Guide To Growing Vegetables In South America And Vegetables Planting Calendar In South America
Whether you hope to discover your green thumb or save a little green, growing your fruits and vegetables can be an advantageous period. When you are just getting to begin, gardening can be a menace. How do you even be informed where to start? These gardening resources will benefit you to learn the basics, with beginning the five-step process outlined in this article.
Step #1: Gather your gear
You should gather many gardening tools before getting your nails dirty. It is worth the investment to buy high-quality items, as broken or enough tools are not only frustrating but cost you more money and period in the long run. Proper tools supply more comfort and efficiency, which means less work for you. You can observe most of these items in home improvement stores, vegetable gardening produce stores or nurseries, and online retailers. Here’s what you will require to get started:
Trowel: Used for weeding and shoving small holes
Gardening gloves: As much as we like to obtain our hands dirty, we don’t like to obtain them that dirty. A very good pair of gloves can also prevent your hands from annoying if you are squeamish and complicated vegetable plants and weeds.
Sun hat: For protection, ensure this is large-brimmed and cinches.
Watering can and/or hose: What you require will differ depending on your garden’s water requirement and closeness to your water source.
Wheelbarrow: For larger gardens, you will require one transport mulch, dirt, and organic compost.
Roundhead shovel: This is for shoving wider holes.
Rake: Perfect for spreading mulch, and gathering or transporting debris that has collected around your garden ground and between other plants.
Shears: Used to prune away browning leaves or cut herbs.
Pitchfork: This is a necessary tool if you are designing a compost heap or pile.
Step #2: Select Where your garden will grow
There are three most common types of gardens, all of which have their own proficiency and trick that is traditional which means in-ground, container, and raised beds. Once you have picked out the sunny position where your garden will reside, then it’s period to decide on one or a combination of these three garden types, depending on your requirements.
Traditional Garden: An in-ground garden frequently provides limitless choices for what you can grow, while utilizing the natural ecosystem of nutrients, bacteria, and insects already present to benefit your plant’s growth. Ideally, you need to select a site that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight and faces south.
Container Garden: For those who can’t plant a traditional in-ground garden, because of well-drained soil or no soil at all apartment or city dwellers, container gardening is a fantastic alternative. There are several types of containers obtainable at nurseries and home improvement stores. Containers can differ in shape, size, and material to suit your gardening requirements and personality. Beyond terra cotta and clay pots, almost anything can work as a gardening container that is plastic bins, untreated wood barrels, galvanized metal buckets, a hanging planter, a vegetable planter box on a windowsill even a recycled yogurt container or an old propel.
Every container is different some lose moisture fastly and others retain heat, so research before you buy. Ensure the container has drainage enough and the appropriate depth to sustain the roots of your vegetable plants. A container garden is perfect for using store-bought organic potting soil, which is oxygenated, nutrient-rich, and weed-free. It is best to place plants with similar moisture and sun requirements in the same container. Not every plant is suitable for container gardening, and not every container matches up well with every vegetable plant. Remember that deep-rooted plants Carrots, for example, need a deep down container at least 10 to 12 inches. Perfect candidates for container gardens are leaf and head Lettuces, Spinach, Green Beans, Peppers that need staking.
Raised-Bed Garden: Raised beds are a happy medium range of a traditional garden and a container garden. The benefits of this garden include improving control over the well-drained soil, more manageable weed management, and very easier access for gardeners who experience pain from bending over too far or have limited mobility. Materials used to design raised beds to include cinder blocks, bricks, untreated wood, and even rocks.
A raised bed can be anywhere from six inches off the ground to the height of a standard table, and normally, these grounds are about three or four feet large with a depth of at least 16 inches. Ensure your grounds are not so large or so deep that you can’t reach the plants in the center. Fill in these grounds as you would a standard garden, using good well-drained soil enriched with compost. Carrots, cabbage, and other deep-rooted vegetables do especially well in raised beds because you keep away from compacted dirt that could be full of obstructions to their deep roots.
Step #3: Prepare your soil
Next, observe your soil. Poor-quality soil can seriously hurt a gardener’s best attempt. What characterizes good soil? A high-quality well-drained soil for vegetable gardening will be:
Well-oxygenated, which means air circulates through it well. Dense soil, like clay, is frequent too thick for roots to grow properly and doesn’t drain well. Free of stones and other impede. Soil shouldn’t be too sandy, either. Rich in organic manure, such as compost or aged manure. Organic manure supplies nutrients to plants. When a garden is rich in these resources, the well-drained soil itself will supply nutrients for the plants to grow, which means artificial fertilizers are frequently unnecessary.
Simple tests are obtainable from any garden center to check the quality of your well-drained soil, including its pH. Normally, most plants flourish in soil with a moderately acidic pH. If your well-drained soil is too acidic, try adding bone meal, dolomitic limestone, or wood ashes. To amend alkaline fertile soil, try substances such as peat moss, sawdust, or pine needles. Beyond that, the total permaculture of insects, bacteria, and microbes does better in well-drained soil.
Step #4: Decide the type of plants to grow
You can grow all plants from seeds, but several begins or seedlings are obtainable from your local nursery very small Tomato, Pepper, Onion, Broccoli, and Melon plants, which begin in a nursery greenhouse, are normally ready to plant directly into the well-drained soil. Buying seedlings is more expensive than buying a packet of seeds, but it’s a great choice if you are a fledgling gardener or want to save time as several seeds require to grow indoors for weeks before they are ready for the outdoors. If you are beginning from seeds, read the label on every packet. If a label reads direct sow, you can sow the seeds directly into the well-drained soil, while others require to be started indoors. Either way, the packet of seeds or starter plant will include directions about the spacing, watering, and decreasing practices that are most suitable for that certain vegetable.
Step #5: Ready, Set, Grow
Different plants have different requirements for sunlight. Sun worshippers such as Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, Eggplant, Sweet corn, and Peppers, while those less dependent on the sun are leafy vegetables, Potatoes, Carrots, and Turnips. You can sow plants that require less sun in early spring or late summer when the sun is less vibrant, too. When selecting what to put where remember to place taller plants on the north part of your plot to prevent shadows from forming and inhibiting the growth of shorter plants.
After your seeds or seedlings are in the well-drained soil, you can use additional organic compost as mulch to better water retention, help control mange, and retain the roots cool in hot weather. Other mulch choices include straw, grass cuttings, untreated wood chips, gravel, or stone.
Planting Season and Requirements Differ by South America Climate Zone
Vegetables are divide into either warm- or cool-season, depending on the weather they require for best growth.
Warm-season vegetables need both warm soil and high temperatures with a little cooling at night to grow steadily and produce plants. They include occasional summer plants such as Snap Beans, Sweet corn, Cucumbers, Melons, Peppers, Tomatoes, and Squash. Winter Squashes such as Corn, Hubbard, and banana are warm-season plants: the name refers not to the planting season, but to the fact that they can be kept for winter consumption. For almost all of these vegetables, the fruit rather than the roots or leaves is the edible side. Warm-season plants are killed by winter freezes, so don’t plant them until after the last frost in spring unless you give them cold protection.
Cool-season vegetables grow very best at temperatures averaging 15°C cooler than those required by warm-season types. Several have edible leaves or roots such as Lettuce, Spinach, Carrots, and Radishes, and other vegetables Artichokes, Broccoli, Cauliflower are grown for their unripe flowers. A few vegetables like Peas, Broad Beans supply edible seeds. Most can endure short times of frost. For the best results, you require to grow them to grown-up in cool weather otherwise, they can turn bitter tasting, or bolt to seed rather than producing edible parts. Except in the coldest climate condition, plant them in very early spring so the plant will grown-up before the summer heat settles in, or in late summer for a plant in fall in winter.
Vegetable Gardening Planting Calendar(Monthly) in South America
What to Plant in January: Spend this month preparing the well-drained soil and the space you have select for your garden. This can be out in the backyard, or you can grow vegetables in containers.
What to Plant in February: Beets
What to Plant in March: Cabbage, Carrots, Collards, Kale, Lettuce, Onions, Potatoes white, Radishes, Swiss Chard, and Turnips
What to Plant in April: Pole Beans, Broccoli, Cantaloupe, Sweet Corn, Spinach, Summer Squash, and winter Squash
What to Plant in May: Lima Beans, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Okra, Peppers, and Sweet Potatoes,
What to Plant in June: Tomatoes
What to Plant in July: Pole Beans, Lima Beans, Pumpkins, and Winter Squash
What to Plant in August: Kale, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, and Carrots
What to Plant in September: Kale, Onions, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, and Turnips
From October through December: Spend these months preparing your next year’s vegetable planting schedule.
Root Vegetables to Grow in South America
- Jicama
From the family Fabaceae, or legume family, Jicama is normally grown in warmer areas and south America. There are two main varieties are Pachyrhizus erosus and a wider rooted variety called P. tuberous, which are only differentiated by the confined size of their tubers. Normally planted from seeds, Jicama does best in warm climates with a medium quantity of rain. The Jicama plant is sensitive to frost. If planted from seed, the roots need about five to nine months of growth before harvest. When beginning from whole, small roots only three months are required to produce mature roots. Removal of the flowers has been shown to increase the bend of the jicama plant.
- Oca
Oca is also called an Oxalis tuberosa is a long-ignored South American tuber that is now starting to show up in markets that specialize in unconcerned Latin American ingredients. Oca also named ocha is a highly productive perennial plant with waxy, brightly colored tubers that are ideal as a season-extending plant they are best harvested from the garden or greenhouse in late December or early January. In its homegrown lands of Bolivia and Peru, oca is second only to the potato in gardening importance.
- Purple Potato
Mature like other potatoes, purple strains, start original South American strains, generally flourish in harsh conditions, and are frequently resistant to diseases. Potatoes require seven or eight hours of sunlight, well-drained moist soil, and good fertility. Apply an all-purpose fertilizer at planting and a little more when the Purple potato plants are about half grown. Plant potatoes from cool weather when there is no danger of a freeze but when temperatures remain below the mid 26°C which decreases tuber formation.
- Taro
Taro is also known as Dasheen is a perennial exotic or subtropical plant generally grown for its starchy but sweet flavored tuber. Taro is always served cooked, not raw. The taro tuber is cooked like a potato, has a doughy surface, and can be used to make flour. Young taro leaves and stems can be eaten after boiling twice to reduce the acrid flavor. Cook taro leaves like spinach.
- Onions
You may also check this: How To Grow Spinach In Greenhouse.

Onions are planted early in the spring and it is harvested in the fall when their roots die back. several varieties can be planted in the fall in South America. Planting shallots are very simple, does not require growing Onion from seed. If you have Onion, then chop the top onion and plant the bottom in the well-drained soil. After some days the onion gets germinated from the cutting. You just have patience time and a lot of water. You can onions grow in 90 to 120 days mature from the onion seeds.
Leafy Vegetables to Grow in South America
- Kale
All are very easy to grow, strong, nutritious, resistant to cold, and very easy to harvest and prepare. And the greeny vegetables even get sweeter after frost. They are ideal for juicing and a long-lasting green that keeps well, flavorful in crunchy salads. Direct sow the seeds in early spring to mid-summer for summer to winter harvests. Or begins indoors 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost, and transplants out as soon as the well-drained soil warms up. Normal soil temperature between 10 to 30°C. Seeds should sprout in 7 to 10 days. Perfect pH level 6.0-6.8. Add lime to the ground 3 weeks before sowing. Kale plant likes well-drained, fertile soil high in organic manure. This plant requires plentiful, frequent moisture.
- Swiss Chard
Swiss chard is so wonderful that it should be mature where it is easily seen. A great vegetable for edible traditional grounds. Sow the seeds directly into the garden ground in mid-spring, and again in late summer for a fall plant. Sow seeds 4 inches aside, and thin to proper spacing. Can begin indoors if the roots are not disturbed as seedlings are transplanted. Rich, well-drained soil that keeps moisture very well. They require sunlight or partial shade.
- Lettuce
Lettuce is an individual garden vegetable in that it requires cool weather and can even allow light frost. As a cool-season plant, it grows best in temperatures between 5 to 18°C during the spring and fall in most regions of South America. Most gardeners plant lettuce in early spring or late summer for the very best weather window. Plant lettuce in several varieties according to the weather in your area, to make sure that your plants will have the maximum temperature around its growing season how long it will take to come to harvest.
Most Common Vegetables to Grow in South America
- Pumpkin
In case if you miss this: Potato Seed Germination.

Pumpkins are heat-loving plants. As such, they should not be planted in the garden ground up to the well-drained soil is warm adequate and the risk of frost has ended. Normally, early June is the perfect time to plant Pumpkins in most locations. Pumpkins have a fast-growing season. If you live in an area where the well-drained soil will not be warm adequate to encourage the plants around their total growing season, you can start your Pumpkins indoors and transplant them when the garden ground has warmed adequate and the risk of frost has passed. It’s suggested that you start growing pumpkins indoors about 3 weeks before the weather outdoors is perfect for growing.
- Peppers

All Chilli Peppers do best when they are planted in warm and good fertile soil. If you are as substituting on planting them in the garden ground, wait up until the ambient temperature is higher than 10°C and the threat of frost has passed. Exposure to cold temperatures can prevent the plants from supplying flowers, which can late the production of the fruit. You can also begin your chilies indoors. The earlier their sown, the more period the plants will have to supply healthy fruits by the end of the growing season, which is the end of the summer.
- Tomato

Tomatoes are the most generally planted garden plants in South America, as evidenced by the large range of tomato plants obtainable every year in garden centers. So it safe to say that Americans grow plenty of tomatoes each year. Tomatoes belong to the genus Solanum within the wide and diverse Solanaceae family, also called the nightshade family.
Vegetables Harvesting Calendar, Chart, Vegetables Planting Calendar, Planting Season in South America
Vegetables | Planting Season | Harvesting |
Tomato | December to March | 90 to 140 days |
Lettuce | July to September | 50 to 65 days |
Turnips | October to December | 30 to 60 days |
Swiss Chard | April to June | 50 to 60 days |
Peppers | December to March | 60 to 90 days |
Broccoli | July to September | 50 to 60 days |
Kale | April to June | 70 to 95 days |
Pumpkin | December to March | 90 to 120 days |
Onions | July to September | 80 to 120 days |
Taro | October to December | 200 days |
Jicama | December to March | 150days |
Oca | October to December | 10 to 20 days |
Purple Potato | April to June | 70 to 90 days |
Lima Beans | April to June | 60 to 75 days |
Beets | December to March | 55 to 70 days |
Carrots | July to September | 70 to 90 days |
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