Veggie Garden Primer

GGrroowwiinngg OOrrggaanniicc:: AA VVeeggggiiee GGaarrddeenn PPrriimmee rr

Don’t Make the Mistake of Starting a New Garden… Without Reading this Book First!

By Kenny Point

Growing Organic: A Veggie Garden Primer

2 http://veggiegardeningtips.com

Copyright

Copyright 2011 by Kenneth E. Point. All text and photographs are copyrighted and may not be used in any context without the express permission of the author. This ebook in its PDF file format may be freely shared in the entirety, provided that no unauthorized changes or deletions are made to the content or the links contained within. The Veggie Gardening Primer is published together with a companion email series both of which can be obtained at: http://veggiegardeningtips.com/primer. It is recommended that you follow along with the supplemental material and exercises provided in the accompanying email series as you read through the Veggie Garden Primer ebook.

http://veggiegardeningtips.com/primer



Dedication

This eBook is dedicated to my mother, Marlene Point who encouraged and inspired my first vegetable garden. I was hooked from the very start and the intense fascination with plants and all things related to gardening has grown, flourished, and directed me in many rewarding directions!



Table of Contents

Copyright ................................................................................................................ 2

Dedication............................................................................................................... 3

Table of Contents ................................................................................................... 4

1. Perfect Times for an Organic Vegetable Garden! ......................................... 6 Welcoming Invitation to Begin Growing Your Own ........................................................ 6 Compelling Reasons to Raise a Backyard Veggie Garden ............................................ 7 Simple Investments that Guarantee Compound Returns.............................................. 9 Reaping the Rewards of Your New Ornamental Edible Garden ...............................12

2. Avoid these 7 Deadly Gardening Sins or Suffer the Consequences.......... 15 Slipping into Careless Habits that Encourage Weed Growth.....................................15 Stressing Needlessly over Insects Visiting the Garden.................................................17 Relying on a Yardstick to Organize the Vegetable Plot ...............................................20 Treating the Precious Soil in Your Garden like Dirt........................................................22 Wasting Water, Wasting Time: Failed Irrigation Techniques .....................................24 Growing the Right Plants – at All the Wrong Times ......................................................25 Falling Prey to the Hidden Hazards of Tilling the Garden...........................................28

3. Charting a Garden Strategy before Breaking Ground................................ 31 Location, Location, Location....................................................................................................31 Basic Garden Organization and Record Keeping............................................................34 Fencing Out the Nightmares that Prey Upon the Garden ..........................................38 Raised Beds; the Only Way to Grow.....................................................................................41

4. Popular Myths that Bamboozle New Gardeners......................................... 44 Vegetables are the Ugly Stepchildren of the Landscape.............................................44 It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature....................................................................................45 The Only Good Weed is a Dead Weed ...............................................................................47 You Can Spray Your Way to a Healthy Harvest ...............................................................48 Summer is When All the Action Takes Place in the Garden .......................................49 Hybrid Seeds are the Best Option for the Home Gardener........................................51 Tomatoes Reign in the Backyard Vegetable Garden.....................................................52



5. Productive Edible Crops for the Home Gardener........................................ 54 Choosing Vegetable Plants and Seeds Wisely .................................................................54 Low Maintenance Crops for the Beginner Veggie Gardener .....................................56 Finicky and Challenging Vegetables for Beginners to Grow......................................57 The Spice of Variety is the Best Seasoning for the Kitchen Garden........................59 A Selection of Incredible Edibles for the Home Garden ..............................................60

6. Following a New Path to Gardening Expertise............................................ 62 Soiled Fingers and Green Thumbs; One Always Leads to the Other ......................62 More Ideas for Creating and Enjoying a Bountiful Veggie Garden.........................63 Digging Deeper to Discover Hidden Garden Treasures...............................................65



1. Perfect Times for an Organic Vegetable Garden!

Your future veggie garden in early spring

Welcoming Invitation to Begin Growing Your Own

Maybe you always thought that gardening and raising home grown vegetables just wasn’t your thing. The griping included; “it takes too much time and effort, I don’t know how, there’s no place for me to put a garden, I hate bugs and pulling weeds, everything I’ve ever tried to grow has died…” you get the picture! Well forget about the past, and what you’ve heard or believed that it’s like to grow a vegetable garden. I’m betting it will become a fun and rewarding experience for your entire family. It can be a little challenging at times, down



right frustrating at others, but through it all you will grow right along with your garden. This eBook is your invitation and a quick introduction to the basics needed to begin your journey into the fascinating world of organic vegetable gardening. Good luck, enjoy the trip, and all the best of gardening to you!

Compelling Reasons to Raise a Backyard Veggie Garden

We all eat, but for most there is a disconnection between the earth and the food that shows up on the table at dinnertime. Food production is a chore that’s outsourced and entrusted to others while we go about our daily grind. For something as indispensable to our health and well-being you would think that we would take more of an interest, but that hasn’t been the case. Little thought or concern is given to where our food comes from or how it’s produced. Well things have an odd way of changing, and changing quickly…

Serious Threats to the Safety of Our Food Supply

Rising oil prices, environmental concerns, quality and safety issues, drought, food shortages, pesticide and chemical abuses, bacterial contaminations, and the increasing demand for higher quality produce are just some of the reasons driving consumers to take closer scrutiny of their food supply. Just as we regained confidence enough to start eating packaged spinach again, what did we hear but news of health risks and recalls associated with tomatoes distributed across the entire country. What’s coming next? And to make matters worse, the governmental watchdog agencies never seem to be able to locate or identify with certainty the cause or source of these contaminations! It’s not just the mysterious contaminants that are a cause of worry, there are also toxins introduced in the form of pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides that are an essential part of the commercial agriculture system. Growing your own food enables you to control and manage everything that is applied to the fruits and vegetables that find their way into your family’s meals.



Rising Food Prices and Declining Food Quality

And if the news reports of the latest food scare or poisoning don’t provide enough incentive to consider growing your own, just take a trip to your local grocer. There you’ll find a quart of strawberries selling for as much as a gallon of gasoline. Oranges costing over a dollar apiece, and melons priced by the pound as if we could eat the rind and all. Talk about sticker shock, that’s just what I received when I recently placed a few fresh apricots into a bag and watched in dismay as the scale raced right past five dollars! Those attractive fruits took on a different blush and began to suddenly look a lot less appetizing. At these prices you would expect to receive the highest quality, fresh, delicious, and organically grown produce available, but that just isn’t the case. All too often what you find at market is far beyond its prime. The produce very likely has been harvested green, shipped over thousands of miles, and then kept on a grocer’s shelves until it’s wilting, flavorless, and suffering nutritional losses.

Hopping Aboard the Local and Organically Grown Bandwagons

The benefits of locally and organically grown produce provide another reason why this is a perfect time to discover how simple it can be to raise superior quality fruits, vegetables, and herbs in your own home garden! If you’re ready to climb aboard the organically-grown bandwagon, there’s no better place to start then right out in your own backyard. With the increased attention being placed on organics, higher demand leads to higher prices in the marketplace, but the reverse is true in the garden’s economy. Growing organically may require a little more time and hands on effort; but it won’t cost the gardener more money. In fact, in the long run I would expect that gardening organically and sustainably would be less expensive and could turn into a self sufficient affair that is less dependent on outside resources.



A homegrown vegetable garden can go a long way towards saving money and improving the quality and safety of the food that is placed before your family at mealtime. Just imagine indulging in your own:

• Strawberries picked ripe and bursting with sweet flavor. • Heirloom tomatoes just like your great grandparents used to grow. • Tender, juicy melons, homegrown and slipped from the vine at harvest. • Sweet corn that is fresh and tender enough to eat without even cooking it. • Pungent herbs for seasoning that will truly stimulate your taste buds. • And it doesn’t get any more convenient than strolling out the back door to

pick the ingredients that you’ll use that same evening for dinner! Yes, a back yard garden will open up all sorts of possibilities for you and your family to prosper from a world of fresh produce unlike anything that you will find at the grocer. You’ll save money and insulate yourself from rising food prices during these fluctuating economic climates. Today is a great time to try your hand at raising produce. The talent to grow a backyard vegetable garden is an increasingly valuable asset to possess. And creating a bountiful vegetable garden is far easier and more affordable than many imagine.

Simple Investments that Guarantee Compound Returns

Beginner gardeners often wonder; “What’s it all going to cost for me to create and grow this brand new vegetable garden?” Following is a summary of the basic gardening expenses that a new gardener should budget for as they prepare to plant their first organically grown garden. Tiller Rental… $75 Sure, hand dug garden beds are an expense free option to renting a tiller, and may even produce better immediate results if you have the time, muscles, and desire. But using a tiller or hiring a contractor to custom till that new garden area is faster, easier, and over time your garden beds will look and produce as well as one that was painstakingly double dug from the start.



Seventy-five dollars should take you from a grass lawn to a smoothly cultivated seed bed in an average sized garden. Using a quality, professional rear-tine tiller will help make the job painless and result in a better-prepared planting area. But don’t go out and spend money to purchase a new tiller because if you follow my suggestions for implementing a raised bed garden you’ll find that the machine will spend more time collecting dust in the garage than it will in kicking up dust out in the garden. So save the cash and put it towards gardening tools that will see a lot more dirt time on a regular basis. Garden Tools… $85 The recommended list of basic gardening tools includes: a sturdy digging fork, bow-style rake, hand trowels, and a watering can or hose. Your garden tools are an investment and good equipment, if taken care of properly, will provide you with many years of service and make tending to the garden less of a chore. I spent fifty dollars for a Spear and Jackson style digging fork, but after twenty years of heavy use I’m still working with that same durable and indispensible gardening implement. A digging fork is the tool that I reach for more often than any other on a day-to-day basis out in the garden. There are other tools and gardening equipment that you may want to purchase in the future but the ones listed above will get you off to a great start. Compost or Mushroom Soil… $30 A load of finished compost or mushroom soil will add valuable organic matter, nutrients, and beneficial soil organisms to support the growth and health of your new vegetable garden. Compost would be my first choice but it’s not as easy to locate and may be a little more expensive than mushroom soil, which is readily available for bulk purchase in most areas. Spread half of the compost over the growing area after making one pass with the tiller, and then finish tilling to mix the amendment into the soil. The remaining compost or mushroom soil can be spread and raked into the upper inch or two of soil after the garden beds have been tilled, arranged, and shaped.



If you want to splurge pick up a bale or two of clean straw. It around $4 a bale and will find many uses in the garden, from mulching plants to lining the garden’s pathways to keep them weed free and easy to navigate. If there is a leaf collection/recycling center in your area you may be able to obtain free mulch and leaf mold, but beware of the possibility that it may contain unwanted weed seeds that can become a problem in the garden. Seeds and Vegetable Plants… $40 The amount of your gardening budget devoted to seeds will depend on the size of your growing area and the types of plants you wish to grow. If you’re looking to trim the overall garden budget this is a category where you can obtain low cost alternatives but don’t skimp on quality. One way to reduce expenses is by starting your plants from seeds instead of purchasing transplants. New gardeners may find it easier to buy transplants for crops such as tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, which are best started indoors under lights. Growing heirloom seeds will also enable you to save your own seeds for future plantings. You can also shop around for the best prices on seeds or purchase them in smaller sized packets. Then there are groups such as the Seed Savers Organization and local garden clubs that are devoted to preserving seeds and sharing them with others. Liquid Kelp/Fish Fertilizer… $10 Apply as an organic spray throughout the growing season to provide maturing vegetable plants with an extra boost of nutrients to support growth and fruit production. You’ll get better mileage by adding this fishy solution to water and spraying it directly onto the leaves of vegetation rather than applying it to the garden’s soil. Insecticidal Soap Spray… $15 Just in case a few aphids, mites, or thrips invite themselves to dinner in your new garden, you’ll be prepared for them with this safe pesticide. Sprays, even organic ones like this soap spray are a last resort and shouldn’t be used indiscriminately or as a quick cure all for every garden woe.



So there you have it, about $250 max to get that new vegetable garden planted and growing. If you have a friend with a tiller and already have a few garden tools then you can get growing for the cost of a few measly packets of seed. With a little luck, good weather, and the tips I’ll share, you can possibly recoup your investment through savings on the fresh produce you’ll be harvesting in your very first year of raising a garden! After that your returns and savings will only compound and multiply with each succeeding year.

Reaping the Rewards of Your New Ornamental Edible Garden

As great as it is to enjoy and share a bountiful harvest from the home garden, the benefits of growing your own go far beyond actual food production to include perks that are easily overlooked.

If You Think You Eat Good Now, Just Wait Until the Harvest Is In

You may pride yourself in eating well because you frequent farmer’s markets, gourmet shops, and the new mega supermarkets, but they all pale in comparison to what a backyard garden can supply to you and your family. That produce at your local market won’t look nearly as appealing after you’ve been spoiled by your own fresh, homegrown, fruits and vegetables. While there is an improved selection and better quality produce available in some areas for the discriminating shopper, it won’t come cheaply or anywhere near as conveniently as it can from a home garden. And there are many varieties and types of produce that I’d wager will never become commercially available. A backyard garden will open the doors for your family to enjoy all types of fresh and gourmet produce including: flavorful herbs, ethnic varieties, delicate fruits, exotic mushrooms, uncommon vegetables, heirlooms that have been favored for generations, and other rare culinary delights that are inaccessible or unknown to the general public.

There’s also the advantage of having the options to harvest produce at its peak of ripening perfection, or at an undeveloped stage when it is still a tender baby



vegetable if you prefer. You’ll have your fill of new-fangled garden delights such as pea shoots, edible flowers, alpine strawberries, and other hard to find delicacies that are seldom enjoyed outside of exclusive gourmet circles.

Beautiful Organic Produce Fresh from the Garden

Harvesting Fresh Produce, Sunshine, Clean Air, and Majesty

In terms of freshness it’s impossible to lose much during the short journey from garden to kitchen counter. Add in the fact that your homegrown produce will develop the ultimate levels of nutrients, flavor, and complex sugars by ripening on the vine, unlike the commercial produce that is often picked green, shipped long distances, and ripened by artificial means. As much as I believe in and promote organic fruits and vegetables, I’m even more convinced of the importance and benefit eating local and fresh. Being organically grown just isn’t good enough if the produce has lost significant quality due to



shipping and storage issues. With a garden in your backyard you can be assured that the food you are eating is as vital and “alive” as it could possibly be. Other added perks received from gardening include: fresh air, sunshine, healthy exercise, the satisfaction of safeguarding the environment, pride from creating a beautiful edible landscape that’s a joy to behold, and the peace and harmony that come with seeing what can be accomplished as you work hand-in-hand with the Creator! There’s something very empowering and rewarding about eating food that you’ve grown with your own hands, and harvested fresh from your own small piece of the earth. Whether you’re into gardening to improve your health by raising nutritious organic produce, for the financial rewards of saving money on the family’s food bill, to enjoy the attractive sights and unique flavors of gourmet varieties, or for the unmatched quality and freshness… you just can’t go wrong by learning how to raise a little produce in your own vegetable garden.



2. Avoid these 7 Deadly Gardening Sins or Suffer the Consequences

I’ve learned some gardening lessons the hard way; by making mistakes and suffering through until I finally realized what was wrong and fixed the problem. Others lessons came a lot easier and were handed down or stumbled onto. But none of the lessons were fully appreciated until I began to observe things much closer and from a broader perspective. This chapter offers food for thought and a few gardening ideas that may seem contrary to the normal wisdom and practices of raising a vegetable garden. Hopefully in the end it will make your time spent in the garden more enjoyable and less of a burden!

Slipping into Careless Habits that Encourage Weed Growth

No one would knowingly send out an invitation for weeds to come plague the garden, but many gardeners unwittingly do just that by practicing a few bad cultural habits. The worst part is that some of these practices are considered to be routine and normal gardening techniques rather than the weed perpetuating mistakes that they really are! Some view weeds from the perspective that the only way to handle them is through the ordeal and effort of physically removing them from the garden. One thing that surprises visitors about my garden is the absence of weeds and many just assume that I put a lot of effort into eliminating them… well they’re wrong about that one.

Weed Free Gardening Secrets

I don’t devote much time pulling weeds and think the secret to that relates to a healthy soil, shallow cultivation techniques, early weed identification, not leaving the soil exposed, and preventing weeds from setting seeds or spreading in the garden.



I’ll delve deeper into these techniques in more detail in a future Growing Organic eBook but following are a few common gardening mistakes that allow weeds to quickly take control and overrun a garden. The biggest mistake is to allow weeds to become established in the first place. I realize that’s not much help if you’re already struggling with a weed problem. The point is that many gardeners neglect to maintain the garden as the season progresses, and by the end of the summer allow anything and everything to grow unchecked in their gardens.

Keeping It Covered to Reduce Weed Growth

If you don’t replant new crops as the mature growth is harvested and removed, then at least sow a cover crop to deny weeds the opportunity to grow and multiply freely in the vegetable plot. Bare soil and empty growing beds invite and encourage weed growth, so if you have to leave your beds vacant for a length of time, lightly cultivate the soil with a weed weasel or rake to disrupt the weed seeds that are in the process of germinating, and cover the soil with a mulch of shredded leaves until you are ready to replant. Weeds are much easier to control if you attack them while they are young or before they even have a chance to emerge from the earth. If you wait until they’re mature and reproducing, they can become almost impossible to control. In addition, you’ve given them the opportunity to consume moisture, nutrients, and sunlight that should be reserved for your cultivated plants.

Are You the Source of Your Serious Weed Problems?

Another major blunder is to allow weeds to flower and ripen their seeds within or around the gardening area. Permitting this is no different than going out and planting weeds in the garden yourself, so don’t be surprised by the results.

http://www.mygardeningsecrets.com/

http://www.mygardeningsecrets.com/



Simply uprooting mature weeds isn’t good enough. Some weeds go into survival mode after being uprooted and will hang on just long enough to produce a crop of seeds right under your nose. So once you’ve pulled the weeds, get rid of them. Be careful about the plants that you include in the compost pile. Leaves are okay but avoid placing flowers or seed stalks from weeds in your compost piles. The same rule applies to the roots of persistent grasses that spread by sending out runners. Don’t take a chance on propagating them through your compost. Keep an eye on your finished compost piles to make sure weeds don’t turn them into breeding grounds. It’s best to keep the piles cultivated or covered. I’m even cautious of using compost, leaf mold, worm castings, or other soil amendments from sources that may have allowed exposure to contamination from weed seeds. Weed seeds are always present in the garden, but fortunately they require a favorable combination of temperature, soil depth, moisture, and even light in order to germinate. If they’re stuck deep within the ground they’re not likely to germinate, but when you till the garden fresh weed seeds are brought to the surface where they find the ideal conditions needed in order to germinate.

Stressing Needlessly over Insects Visiting the Garden

The first thing that comes to mind when many people think about gardening and growing vegetables is that they are going to have a fierce battle on their hands to prevent the onslaught of legions of destructive insects. Well here’s a little tidbit to consider; the vast majority of the insects that you’ll encounter out in the garden are actually there to help and assist in your efforts to create a beautiful and productive garden!

Eliminating Bugs isn’t the Key to Gardening Success

You may regard wiping out insects as a goal for growing a successful vegetable plot, but if you do you’re heading down the wrong track. Don’t get me wrong,



I’ve destroyed my share of bugs, but it’s an error to view all insects as the enemy and set out on a seek and destroy mission to eliminate everything that walks, crawls, flies, or otherwise moves through the garden.

A Lady Bug Patrolling the Garden Following that type of a strategy of annihilation will actually do more harm than good for the garden and will eventually lead to even larger issues with destructive insects. The problem with killing bugs at random is that you wind up destroying the good ones right along with the bad.

Beneficial Pollinating Insects

You’re probably familiar with the first group of beneficial insects, which is made up of the pollinators. The most common and well known of the pollinators is the hard working honeybee who continues to play a vital role in food production despite Colony Collapse Disorder, mites, viruses, and other woes that have made life difficult for them.



In addition to honeybees, there are countless other crawling and flying beneficial insects that contribute to the pollination of our crops and are essential to maintaining the productivity of our gardens. They quietly go about their work never causing a problem and do nothing but good for the sake of the gardener. Other pollinators include mason bees, various types of flies, wasps, and even butterflies. Without the visiting pollinators the plants that we grow would be incapable of reproducing or bearing the delicious vegetables and fruits that we enjoy. The plants themselves understand the importance of attracting pollinating insects, which is part of the reason they display the colorful and fragrant blossoms to attract the good bugs that some gardeners take for granted and recklessly destroy.

Beneficial Predatory Insects

The second group of beneficial insects, which are not as widely recognized, consists of the predator bugs. These are the garden’s assassins that target and hunt down the harmful insects that want to destroy our plants. Beneficial predator insects include: ladybugs, green lacewings, pirate bugs, trichogrammas, praying mantis, ambush bugs, tachinid flies, wasps, spiders, and certain nematodes. Perfect examples are the parasitic wasps that patrol the garden and feast upon those hard to locate and control leaf miners. In most cases a healthy population of tiny parasitic wasps is your best bet to control leaf miners which find refuge from sprays inside of a plant’s leaves and have also been developing resistance to the pesticides commonly used against them. There are hundreds or thousands of beneficial insects present in our gardens, and their main purpose is to control the populations of destructive insect pests such as aphids, caterpillars, grubs, and beetles. One problem with the use of chemical pesticides in the garden is that they blindly wipe out all of the insects and the good ones die alongside the destructive ones.



Garden Pest Solution: Protect Your Beneficial Insects

Unfortunately, it can take the beneficial insects a longer time to reestablish themselves and return to the job of controlling destructive insects. This results in a void during which the harmful pests take advantage and wreak havoc in our gardens. This in turn causes the gardener to create a vicious circle by resorting to more and even stronger chemical pest controls. Beneficial insects should be protected and made welcome in your garden, and even their eggs should be sheltered from harm. It’s best to positively identify destructive bugs, and apply natural controls that only affect the offending pest. There are biological insect controls such as Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that are safe and employ bug viruses to sicken and kill specific varieties of insects. Other natural insect controls are available to safeguard your harvest by trapping the pests, or by creating a physical barrier between your plants and the insects. So rather than applying harsh pesticides that are an equally deadly hazard to good bugs and bad, recognize that insects are a natural part of the equation and that the presence of a limited number of bad bugs can be tolerated in the garden!

Relying on a Yardstick to Organize the Vegetable Plot

Sometimes a little chaos and confusion can be a good thing when it comes to design aspects of the vegetable garden. Just consider the randomness and variety that you discover when you observe the way plants grow in nature; you won’t find plants lined up in perfect rows or growing in all-exclusive communities. Following nature’s example offers certain advantages to the backyard vegetable garden as well. And a measure of disarray and confusion can actually enhance the overall appearance and growth of the veggie patch.

What’s Your Logic for Planting the Garden in Rows?

Many gardeners arrange their plants in nice, orderly rows that are separated by swaths of empty, non-productive space. This common practice of planting in



rows is a carryover from commercial agriculture where it’s required in order to allow room for large farm machinery to plant, cultivate, and harvest the crops. The assumption made is that what’s good for professional growers must also be in the best interest for the home gardener… nothing could be further from the truth. The heavy equipment that’s a necessity when farming hundreds of acres isn’t a factor in the backyard garden, and there’s no need to space your plants as though you intended to drive a tractor through them. Instead you can plant in a fashion that will enhance plant vigor, suppress weed growth, and increase productivity. Simply modifying your plant spacing can effectively double or triple the amount of area available for vegetable growing. This will allow you to plant a smaller garden, or raise more produce than you would if growing in rows.

It’s all a Matter of the Spacing Technique and Strategy

There’s nothing magical about planting your garden in rows. In the case of the home garden, planting in this manner results in reduced vegetable harvests and forces you to spend more time and labor tending to the garden. Not to mention the wasted water, fertilizer, and soil amendments that are applied to bare ground that isn’t being used to actually grow any vegetables. A better option is to use wide row or raised bed plant spacing where crops will grow closer together but still have adequate room to mature and bear fruit. Whether you’re growing vegetables, herbs, or even a flower garden, efficient spacing provides many benefits and will save you time and effort, and make for easier gardening. Ignore the spacing distances printed on the back of that seed packet; they’re better suited to the farmer than the back yard gardener. You can get away with planting things a little closer so that the plants are an equal distance apart in all directions and you’ll realize big gains in production and efficiency. The trick is to devise a spacing that allows the leaves of your plants to just barely touch each other when they reach a mature size. Start with the recommended in-



row spacing’s and then modify them slightly. For example if the usual spacing is eight inches apart in rows that are twelve inches apart, you will just sow your seeds eight inches apart in each direction. If you’re wondering about what happened to the rows and how we’re going to maneuver around without them then you’ll just have to wait until the next chapter to see how all the techniques you are learning tie together perfectly in a way that saves time and resources while increasing production and reducing weed growth.

Treating the Precious Soil in Your Garden like Dirt

There are significantly different philosophies when it comes to fertilizing the vegetable garden. One focuses on the more is better school of thought and looks to the fertilizer gods of N-P-K (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous) to supply a plant’s every need. The other school of thought doesn’t put as much faith in N-P-K, but instead probes deeper into plant fertilization and puts more emphasis on a balance of all nutrients rather than overwhelming quantities of the major players. This school also recognizes the vitality of the soil itself, and the capacity that it has to provide for the needs of growing plants.

Feeding the Garden’s Plants vs. Feeding the Garden’s Soil

Some gardeners view fertilization as the cure all when it comes to caring for their plants. They grab a bag of fertilizer with the highest numbers that they can find, till it into the garden each spring and assume that it will provide their plants with everything needed to bear a productive harvest of fresh fruits and vegetables. This practice sometimes results in the disappointment of leggy tomato vines with no fruit, plants that are more susceptible to insect infestations, or a garden soil that is deficient in micronutrients and trace elements and is way out of kilter in supplying what plants really need to grow and bear fruit.



What’s been overlooked is the critical importance of the soil itself in the entire growing process. Garden soil is much more than simply dirt, or a foundation for the plants to grow out of. In fact, a healthy garden soil is as alive as the plants that are grown in it.

The Life of Ordinary Garden Soil

The soil in the garden breathes, takes up and processes nutrients, supports many life forms, and can actually grow in a manner similar to the plants themselves. It’s the soil, containing millions of microorganisms and organic compounds that actually feeds and supplies nutrients in a form that plants can utilize. We frequently take the soil for granted and do little to enrich or improve it. You can improve your garden and enjoy healthier plants by focusing more attention on the condition of the soil and worrying less about fertilizing the plants. Feed the soil and the soil will feed the plants. Maintaining a fertile soil that’s active and full of life will help ensure that your plants are receiving everything, including the unidentified elements needed to support their health and productivity. Unfortunately many of the practices that we employ in the garden such as; frequent tilling, applying chemicals to the soil, and leaving the ground exposed to the elements, destroys the vitality of the soil and eventually leads to problems that are made evident in poor plant growth. A better approach begins with a lab soil test to determine exactly what excesses and deficiencies are present.

Healthy Growth is Tied to a Vibrant, Healthy Soil

On a positive note it’s possible to restore health and vitality to even poor soils by following simple techniques and practices such as crop rotation, composting, and growing cover crops, which increase the amount of organic matter, improve the texture of the soil, and encourage the presence of beneficial soil microorganisms.



If there literally was a Mother Earth what better representation could be made than the “dust of the earth” that brings forth life, yields nourishment for all, and reclaims organic matter from previous plant, animal, and human life. Take time to explore the soil as you cultivate your garden. Examine it, smell it’s earthly aroma, sink your fingers deep into it, and recline on it instead of a chair; there’s more there than a quick glance could ever reveal. And a healthy vibrant soil is essential to the growth of our gardens and our selves!

Wasting Water, Wasting Time: Failed Irrigation Techniques

For optimal growth your plants may need more moisture than most areas will receive in rainfall. And even if drought isn’t an issue in your garden there may still be periods when you need to supply some form of irrigation. It’s not enough to simply walk through the garden with a hose or watering can whenever the soil looks dry or your plants begin to wilt. If you’re going to take the time and effort to water your garden be sure to do it the right manner or you could waste precious water resources and at the same time do more harm than good to your plants without even realizing it.

Getting to the Root of Inefficient Irrigation Practices

A consistent supply of moisture is important to maintaining your plant’s growth and health. Many beginner gardeners provide frequent but shallow irrigation to their vegetable gardens, which is a big mistake. Shallow irrigation encourages plants to develop shallow root systems, rather than promoting strong root growth. For the best results in your vegetable garden, you should follow cultural practices that aid your plants in developing deep, expansive root systems. Shallow rooting harms your garden in a number of ways: Shallow rooted plants will become dependent on frequent irrigation and will not be capable of reaching moisture that is deeper within your garden’s soil levels. These plants will therefore be more susceptible to stress during drought conditions.



Shallow root systems will also lazily deplete nutrients in the upper soil levels, rather than mine nutrients from deep within your garden’s soil. What’s just as bad is that your garden won’t benefit from the soil loosening and conditioning that is created by deep growing root systems penetrating, and then later decaying within the deeper subsoil levels.

Good Watering: Less Frequent and Deeper Irrigation

Your garden will benefit more from receiving a deep and thorough watering a couple times a week than if you provided a shallow, surface watering each and every day. Yes, it will take some time to water the entire garden, especially if you do it as I do, by hand with a watering wand. Just think of it as a form of garden meditation and an opportunity to spend some quiet, relaxing, quality time with plant friends. If you prefer, a sprinkler will also get the watering job done without requiring your presence. But avoid watering the garden during midday when the sun is beaming down and stealing moisture through rapid evaporation. Instead, water during early morning, or in the evening, allowing time for the foliage to dry before sunset.

Growing the Right Plants – at All the Wrong Times So, you’re discouraged and frustrated because you followed all the rules of fertilizing, planting, watering, and caring for the garden and you still wound up with bolted lettuce plants, headless cauliflowers, plum-sized melons, and Brussels Sprout plants with no sprouts! Before you start blaming yourself or swear off gardening altogether, there’s another important concept of vegetable gardening that you need to take into consideration and this one is all about timing!



You Planted the Correct Way, but was it the Wrong Time?

It’s important that you time your seed sowing so that your plants mature under their optimum growing conditions; otherwise you make things difficult for yourself and your vegetable garden. You can’t just plant all your crops at one convenient time if you want to see the best results from your garden. More consideration should be given to the specific needs of your plants and the ideal seed starting or transplanting dates.

Broccoli Plants Approaching Harvest Time Sometimes gardeners struggle in their attempts to grow a particular plant and can’t understand why a vegetable variety won’t grow successfully in their garden. If you find yourself in this situation, one of the first things to consider is whether you are growing the plant at the proper time and during the proper season.



Some Vegetable Crops Love the Bite of Cold Weather

Take lettuce for example, this is a relatively easy plant to grow, but it prefers to grow and mature during the cooler periods of spring or fall. Growing lettuce during the wrong season affects not only its growth, but also the taste of these tender salad greens. If you try to force lettuce plants to grow during warmer weather, many varieties will develop a bitter taste, then bolt and send up a tall slender seed stalk rather than produce the sweet, full heads of leaves that we are after. So the timing of when you plant your seeds is critical to a successful harvest. Other vegetable crops that really perform better under cooler growing conditions include; broccoli, cauliflower, kale, arugula, peas, turnips and rutabagas, spinach, cabbage, globe artichokes, leeks, and kohlrabi. Aim to plant these crops so that they can grow and mature during the cool periods of the spring and autumn seasons.

And Other Plants Need to Turn Up the Heat in Order to Thrive

Melons are the exact opposite of lettuce; they like it hot and prefer warm soil temperatures. If you plant them before the soil has thoroughly warmed they won’t grow, but will sit and sulk until the weather is more to their liking. Melons planted later in the season will usually catch up with and eventually outperform melons that were planted when the soil temperatures were too cool. Eggplants are another example of a plant that will struggle if planted out before the soil and air temperatures have warmed up. So you defeat your purpose by rushing and planting heat loving crops before weather conditions are right, and you also run the risk of permanently stunting those sensitive young seedlings. Vegetables that thrive under warm growing conditions include tomatoes, squash, muskmelons, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, okra, watermelons, and many herb plants. Don’t rush these crops out into the garden unless you have no choice because of an extremely short growing season.



Matching Crops to their Proper Growing Season

Finally there are versatile crops such as collard greens which are adaptable and can be planted to grow through extremes of either hot or cold weather and aren’t as particular about when they are seeded or transplanted to the garden. The timing of your plantings can also have a major impact on matters such as insect infestations, fruit ripening, irrigation requirements, the flavor of your produce, and the amount of time it takes a crop to reach maturity. It’s extremely important to consider and understand your plant’s desires, and to then time your plantings so that they can enjoy the favorable conditions and grow during the seasons that best suit them. You also can’t be tied strictly to a date on the calendar, as seasons change and weather conditions can vary significantly from one year to the next. I like to play it safe by getting cold loving plants out early in their seasons, but I take my time in setting out heat loving crops out into the garden until after I’m sure things have warmed up fully.

Falling Prey to the Hidden Hazards of Tilling the Garden

Everyone knows that tilling the garden is an important ritual that is required of every vegetable garden at least once a year… Right? Well let me begin by saying that my garden hasn’t seen a tiller in over eight years and I’d bet that my soil is looser, with a better texture, and easier to work than that of my neighbors who routinely till their gardens on a regular basis. Are you one of the many gardeners who till their gardens each spring, and sometimes again in the fall, unaware of the disadvantages created by frequent garden tilling?



Limitations and Liabilities of Tilling the Garden

One disadvantage of tilling is that it can prevent you from planting at the proper time in spring. That’s because you have to wait until the ground has thawed and is dry enough to be tilled, otherwise you risk ruining the structure and texture of your soil. Depending on your location, the amount of precipitation, and other weather considerations you may not be able to till your garden until much later in the spring than you and your plants would prefer. This is an even greater problem if your garden is located in a low-lying area and takes longer to dry out. I don’t till my gardens to prepare them for planting and can start growing much sooner than I would if I waited until the ground was tillable. This provides a big jump on the growing season and allows hardy plants to receive an earlier start. Another disadvantage of tilling is that you really don’t loosen the soil to a depth of more than six inches, maybe eight if you’re lucky. Just look at the length of the tines on your tiller, there’s no way that they can loosen the soil as deeply as the plants would like you to.

Other Problems Resulting from Tilling the Garden

Tilling can even cause soil compaction by creating a hardpan, which is a layer of compacted soil just below the level of soil loosened by tilling. Soil compaction also occurs during the process of tilling as you walk through the garden while wrestling with your tiller. Other pitfalls from tilling your garden are the disruption of the soil’s structure, damage to the population of earthworms, and the fact that tilling can encourage excessive weed growth by distributing a fresh crop of weed seeds near the soil’s surface where they a free to germinate. Finally, there’s the expense and hassle of using and maintaining the machine itself. It sits around idle and rusting except for the couple of hours a year when



you need to use it. If you hire someone to perform the annual chore for you, well then you’re dependent on the weather and their schedule before you can start gardening.

The Tilling Alternative: Raised Bed Gardening

There are better alternatives to prepare the garden for planting that will make your efforts easier and more productive. Raised bed gardening techniques offer an effective strategy that enables you to do away with that big bulky machine. Once your raised beds are established you’ll never need to till again, but will have a garden that resists compaction and is ready for planting whenever the time is right. In the next chapter we’ll take a quick look at raised beds and the reasons why they are finding their way into more backyard gardens.



3. Charting a Garden Strategy before Breaking Ground

Summer Mix of Melons, Squash, and Companion Flowers

Location, Location, Location

Once you’ve decided to grow that veggie garden, a big decision is choosing just where to place it. Maybe you already have a spot in mind, but before you go any further, let’s take a few minutes to make sure that it’s the ideal location for you. There are a few simple but crucial evaluations to make before you start doing any digging or planting. After all, you would hate to have to move the garden after you’ve invested time and effort into developing it due to a bad location that hinders plant growth and can’t be remedied.

Selecting the Perfect Spot for a Backyard Garden



Your garden location should be based on the following considerations: Sunshine – The garden needs at least six hours of direct sunlight each day, and eight hours is even better. You can’t overdo the sunlight unless you live in the desert. Survey the potential garden location at different times of the day in order to ensure that the area receives plenty of sunshine throughout the day. If you’re making this decision during late fall, winter, or early spring, bear in mind that the position of the sun will be different during the later spring and summer growing seasons. What seems like a great location now may not be so fabulous during your primary growing season. Also verify that you won’t have a problem with trees shading the garden when the leaves return, or from shadows cast by your home or other nearby buildings. Trees that don’t impact your garden today may grow tall enough to create a problem in the future, so take that into consideration as well. Water – Some people prefer to situate their vegetable plot in a remote section of their property for aesthetic reasons. The garden that we’re creating won’t be an eyesore, but rather will enhance the appearance of your landscape, so don’t worry over the garden being in a visible location or even close to your home. A bigger concern should be making sure there is an adequate water supply close to the garden. There will be times when you will need to irrigate your crops, and you’ll quickly tire of long lengths of garden hoses or hauling water out to the garden. So make sure your garden is situated near a good water supply that is easily accessible. In some areas clean ponds, streams, or creeks can also be tapped to serve as a source for irrigation. Soil Conditions – Parts of your yard may contain better soil than other sections. Check around and avoid areas where the ground is excessively rocky, shallow, or hard packed. If the soil throughout your yard is consistently poor, don’t worry,



you’ll learn how to improve it, but you want to start out using the best that your yard has to offer. Also, be cautious of underground utilities and other obstructions, such as tree roots or buried boulders that may not be visible or expected. If there are any doubts call your local municipality to come out and check for utilities lines prior to sighting or digging any new garden beds. Convenience and Security – Again, your garden will not become an unattractive eyesore, but more like a backyard sanctuary, so locate it where you can quickly and conveniently gain access to it. That way, if you’re cooking dinner and realize that you forgot an herb that you need, it’s not a big deal to step out and promptly gather it from the garden. It’s great to locate your garden in a place that provides a nice view of it from the patio, deck, or from the windows of your home. This will also help reduce the opportunities for both four and two-legged invaders that may be enticed to raid the vegetable plot. Landscape Features – Another important consideration has to do with how you blend your garden around permanent features of your home and yard. You may have outbuildings, fences, walls, posts, hills, and other features that can be used to provide advantages to the garden. An old playhouse or storage building can be converted into a structure to support gardening activities, providing a loft for drying, a composting area underneath, or a wall to vertically train climbing plants. Look around your property with a creative eye and you’ll be surprised at what you can devise, and the ingenious ways that you can merge the garden into your landscape. Existing hedges and fences are additional features that may be of service to your garden. If you have any critters running around, a fenced area may help keep some of them out, and a slope, hedge, or building can turn into a protective windbreak to shelter the garden from harsh winds.



Take time to think through your garden’s location very carefully. Evaluate all the pros and cons before you grab the tiller and start cultivating. Sure, you could move your site in the future, but you’re going to be making an investment in time and resources to build your garden, so it’s best to pick the ideal location.

Basic Garden Organization and Record Keeping

I tend to be spontaneous when planning the vegetable garden and don’t follow any set layout or blueprints to determine what gets planted where. But there are general principles that I abide by, and a few plant combinations that I tend to maintain from season to season based on past experiences and preferences. Rather than use pen and paper, I usually just visualize the general layout of the vegetable garden and picture what I want to see at various stages of the growing seasons. If you want to plot the garden on paper before you start planting it’s easy to draw up your selection of crops and their planned location on a sheet of graph paper or on an Excel spreadsheet. Four Things to Keep in Mind When Planning a Vegetable Garden When planning the layout of your vegetable garden’s beds here are four major considerations to bear in mind to guide your planting and growing strategy:

• Crop Location and Rotation • Size, Height, and Growth Habit of the Plants • Growing Seasons and Length of Time to Maturity • Companion Plants and Ornamental Considerations

Crop rotation doesn’t have to be an overly complicated or formal process. If you plant a particular crop or a family of related crops in one raised bed this season, it goes in a different area or garden bed the next time around. For example, I usually plant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the same bed because I use cages to support them all and they usually occupy the garden about the same time. Even without a garden log it’s easy to remember where this



group of vegetables was located in the previous season and to move them to a different growing bed during the following season. In situations where I mix and interplant various veggies, herbs, and flowers together in the same area I don’t worry too much about rotating the plants. Crop rotation helps to avoid nutrient deficiencies and prevent the buildup of diseases in the soil. Sizing Up Your Garden Plan and Crop Layout A very important consideration is to consider the size, height, and growth habits of your crops and to plant according to these characteristics. The orientation of your garden and the direction that the sun tracks across your landscape will also play a part in deciding where to place your plants. Avoid positioning tall plants where they will shade shorter plants that are growing nearby. Or planting a large bushy plant like a summer squash in a spot where it will spread and crowd neighboring crops. You will want climbers and runners like cucumbers and pumpkins to occupy a place to themselves where they will have plenty of room or vertical support to stay organized and growing within their boundaries. Give your plants the space they need to mature but don’t overdo it and waste valuable garden space by neglecting intensive gardening. Just because those tomato plants need to be spaced four feet apart from each other doesn’t mean that fast maturing plants like lettuce, spring onions, or kohlrabi can’t be planted in between after setting out the tomato transplants. Planning the Garden for Multiple Harvests In order to maximize your garden’s production the most important consideration during the planning stage is to factor in how long your crops will occupy their space in the garden. Getting this right will enable you to employ succession planting techniques to grow two or three separate harvests in the same space that many gardeners use to grow a single vegetable crop.



When I plan and plant my spring garden I’m always thinking forward to the end of summer and the fall vegetable garden. This means that I’ll be sure to group plants with similar growing seasons and times to maturity in the same bed or growing area. For example, by planting fast growing spring crops like spinach, lettuce, spring turnips, and radishes in the same area of the garden, once these plants have all matured a section of the garden will be free to be replanted with green beans, summer squash, and other vegetables that will enjoy the warmer season. Garlic, multiplier onions, and shallots are another example of crops that you can plan to grow in the same area to take advantage of their similar growing season and time to maturity. When the bulbs are harvested in mid-summer the bed can then be used to plant fall crops such as kale, mustard greens, cabbage, broccoli, and other cool weather vegetables. By thinking and planning ahead the garden area used to grow tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants can later be replanted with a crop of fall garlic. In September after the tomatoes have slowed production, pull the vines, add a layer of compost to the bed and use the area to plant garlic to over-winter, or sow transplants of other fall and winter vegetables. Planning for an Ornamental and Edible Garden The final consideration when planning the garden is to think about the garden’s appearance and arrange the plants to provide the best ornamental display. Many vegetable growers don’t worry much about the ornamental appeal of the garden, but with a little thought you can enjoy an edible garden that just as attractive as your favorite flower bed. There are many unique vegetable varieties available that are not only tasty, but can also add an ornamental flair to the vegetable garden with their unusual shapes, textures, and colors. A little forethought and planning will go a long way towards creating a vegetable garden that’s overflowing with healthy, productive, and attractive fruits, herbs,



flowers, and vegetables, and keep them growing continuously from spring right through the fall season. Documenting Your Garden for Future Reference I highly recommend garden journaling, or keeping a simple gardening log as a great way for home gardeners to improve their gardening expertise, and to track subtle cues and changes that take place over time in the garden. Your garden log will prove to be a more valuable resource than any gardening book on the market because it will offer guidance related to your specific climate and growing conditions that are unique to your own backyard A complete and accurate garden log can’t be recreated after the fact, and time left undocumented is lost forever. By starting a log or garden journal today, you will soon hold an invaluable gardening resource at your fingertips that couldn’t be reproduced or purchased at any price. Want to avoid repeating the same old mistakes over and over? A good place to start is by recording precisely what took place in your current garden. Next spring you may recall that you planted a crop too late, but will you remember the exact date that the seedlings were started so that you can adjust your planting times? A log gives you a tool to do exactly that and so much more. Track your favorite varieties, report crop production levels, record the dates and severity of insect infestations to help identify and control them in the future. Schedule planting dates and crop rotations, and track your gardening successes, as well as the failures, to help repeat what you do well and change the things that need to be improved on from one season to the next. Gardening Logs and Journaling Your garden log can be as simple or as detailed as you choose to make it. At a bare minimum you will want to track the types of crops that were grown in the garden, along with the planting dates and their specific locations within your growing beds.



From there you can add information related to crop performance, fertilization programs, number of days from planting to maturity or harvest, amounts of produce harvested, plant disease issues and solutions, and other relevant facts or statistics. The most detailed gardening journals will even include information regarding weather conditions such as frost dates, precipitation levels, temperature readings and humidity. It’s up to you to decide the level of detail for your garden log. You can also create more of a journal like document by including personal notes, photos, and general observations from the garden. Another great way to document and preserve your garden is by publishing a gardening blog on the Internet for all to see.

Fencing Out the Nightmares that Prey Upon the Garden

The Garden’s Public Enemy #1: The Woodchuck (aka Groundhog)



Creeping, hopping, climbing, burrowing, and flying garden invaders aren’t a problem only for gardeners located in rural areas. “If you plant it, we will come” is the motto of many critters that will be irresistibly attracted to your garden and then proceed to make life difficult for the tormented vegetable grower. A Field of Dreams Plagued by Nightmares If you’re a wildlife lover then maybe you’ll be pleased to discover animals visiting that you didn’t even realize lived nearby. But for the gardener this increased popularity can become the source of extreme frustration and aggravation. One summer I spent the entire season in a battle against an extended family of groundhogs that were intent on using the garden as their personal buffet table. In the end I trapped and relocated eight or nine of the greedy beasts, but not before they decimated numerous crops of my precious fruits and veggies. You can avoid much heartache by simply designing and installing a suitable fence in advance of planting the first crops. By suitable I’m referring to a fence that can screen out the majority of the four-legged critters that will come calling in your neighborhood. Providing Adequate Safekeeping from the Very Start Don’t make the mistake of assuming that an existing chain link or picket style fence is going to be sufficient to keep animals such as rabbits, groundhogs, raccoons, and deer out of the garden. Groundhogs go under, deer leap over, and rabbits jump right through ordinary fences, and even some of the fencing designed specifically to keep them at bay. No fence is 100% effective but often if you make it more trouble than it’s worth to get in and out, the animals will go searching for easier pickings. The ideal time to install that garden fence is prior to starting the garden. Why run the risk of divulging how special that garden area is to the animals when you can mark it as off limits from day one?



If you intend to use a tiller to initially break ground, or if you need to use any heavy equipment for purposes such as grinding out tree stumps, definitely get those tasks taken care of and then erect your fence before any critters become wise to what is in store for the garden space. Creating a Secure Perimeter around the Vegetable Garden You may have to special order it, but a roll of five foot tall, wire fencing material with a one-inch by two-inch mesh pattern will work great as an effective barrier to deter many of the common garden pests. Ordinary metal fence posts are all that is needed to support your fence and they won’t rot or wear out any time in the near future. The bottom twelve inches of the fence can be bent outward to form a ninety-degree angle and be allowed to rest on the ground outside of the fence’s perimeter. This will discourage burrowing and prevent smaller animals from squeezing underneath of the fence. So what if your garden happens to be right in the middle of deer country? A friend who shared the fence setup described above adds a simple twist to prevent deer from becoming a nuisance. Taking Things a Step Further to Discourage Deer He uses longer fence posts that extend a couple of feet above the top of wire fencing material. A single strand of wire is then strung along the tops of the fence posts all the way around the garden. Yellow ribbons or strips of plastic are then tied to the strand of wire at five or six foot intervals and allowed to dangle down. The theory is that the ribbons or plastic strips will flutter and constantly move with even the slightest breeze causing a distraction that serves to unnerve and spook any deer that drop by. Deer don’t frequent my garden, but my friend swears that this little trick has kept neighboring deer out of his veggie patch! You can add a fence in the future after you discover that four legged critters are enjoying the garden more than you and your family. But why not take my word for it and invest the time and resources into setting up a permanent fencing



solution from the very start and avoid the frustrations that pillaging animals are sure to cause?

Raised Beds; the Only Way to Grow

I’m convinced that there’s nothing better for the home gardener than to grow your plants in raised beds rather than the traditional row format. There are so many advantages that there’s really no comparison between the two options. Raised beds lend themselves perfectly to the strategies and cultivation techniques that you can learn more about and see examples of on the “Veggie Gardening Tips” website. The genius of raised beds is that they provide you with a lot of flexibility and enable you to connect and easily implement all of your gardening techniques. Raised Bed Advantages for the Backyard Gardener The many advantages of using raised bed growing areas in the backyard vegetable garden include the following benefits:

• Ability to grow much more produce in less space • Reduced soil compaction; you never step on growing areas • Affords better weed suppression as plants cover entire bed • Garden soil will dry out and warm up quicker in the spring • Eliminates the need for tilling the garden each season • Allows you to start planting and gardening earlier • Conserves moisture and provides better drainage • Saves money and resources by reducing non productive areas • Results in less fertilizer and water consumption • Makes it easier to implement the advanced techniques that you will be

learning, such as inter-planting and succession planting These are just some of the benefits that you will enjoy by growing your veggies in raised beds. All of my gardens employ the use of raised beds, rather than the traditional garden layout featuring rows of plants. Another perk is that raised bed gardens are more attractive and look better than the traditional vegetable plot.

http://veggiegardeningtips.com/




A Raised Bed by any Other Name So what exactly is a “raised bed garden?” Some people are thrown off by the title and picture a raised table top garden, or a garden in which the soil is so high that it needs to be contained by boards or some type of border. In reality the distinguishing features of a raised bed have less to do with height and more to do with its shape, size, and the growing methods that are used in it. The soil in my raised beds is only a few inches higher than ground level and there are no frames at all surrounding them. The thick straw mulch applied between the beds also disguises the fact that there is any actual elevation to the vegetable beds. Don’t get hung up on the idea that the key factor is to “raise” your soil level or that height is the source of the benefits from raised bed gardening. Maybe a better term would be to describe the system as an intensive garden bed rather than a raised garden bed. An Intense Vegetable Gardening Experience The intensive aspect is a result of several factors. First there’s the slightly closer plant spacing that was covered in Chapter Two, and allows you to grow more produce per square foot than you would if the garden was planted with traditional row spacing in mind. Then there is the additional loft or slightly raised appearance which is actually a sign that the soil is looser, with better texture, and contains more tiny pockets for air, water, and nutrients to reside. This will also encourage stronger root development to help compensate for the closer plant spacing. There are no wasted, unproductive areas in an intensively grown raised bed. Plants eventually spread to cover the entire surface of the growing bed. Narrow pathways separating the four to five foot raised gardening beds are used for walking and tending the garden. Closely set plants with strong root systems result in fast growing vegetation that leaves little room for weeds to take hold and compete against your cultivated



crops. Once established your vegetable plants will form a living mulch over the raised bed that shades the soil and makes it very difficult for weeds to germinate and grow. Building a Raised Bed Garden from the Ground Up “Biodynamic French Intensive Raised Bed Gardening” purists subscribe to a technique called double digging to construct and prepare their beds for planting. Double digging involves the use of a shovel, digging fork, and lots of labor to loosen the soil to a depth of at least eighteen inches without disrupting the soil layers. While double digging is effective and does loosen the soil deeper than any tiller could cultivate, it isn’t mandatory and even using the assistance of a tiller to construct your beds will provide you with the same raised bed advantages in time. A simpler option to start your raised bed garden is to just till the garden area and stake out your beds afterward. Make the beds no wider than the distance that you can comfortably reach the middle of the bed from either side because you never want to step onto the growing areas of your new garden. Four to five feet wide is the width that most are comfortable with, and leave at least eighteen inches between each raised bed to serve as a walkway. You can rake the soil from the designated pathways onto the top of the raised beds to add additional depth to your growing areas. You can also add a load of good quality mushroom soil, leaf mold, or compost and incorporate it into the top layer of the finished beds. Taper the edges of the bed to a gradual slope and apply a layer of straw to the paths to keep them clean and weed free. I believe that switching to raised beds is the single best improvement that you can make to any garden. It will not only make your life easier by saving time and effort, it will also help your plants to grow better and produce more than they ever could in a traditional garden.



4. Popular Myths that Bamboozle New Gardeners

Tropical Looking Okra Plant Ready to Fruit and Blossom

Vegetables are the Ugly Stepchildren of the Landscape

A common refrain that you may have heard as an objection to raising a backyard veggie garden is that “vegetable plants are ugly” and that a vegetable garden will automatically turn your landscape into an unattractive eyesore… Well that just isn’t so, as many of the photos in this eBook demonstrate! I’ve never agreed with the opinion that vegetable gardens are unattractive and have always been able to appreciate the beauty of a well tended vegetable



garden no matter how basic, and regardless of what was growing in it. Maybe it’s a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder, but I’ve also found that visitors to my gardens are usually impressed by the attractiveness of a raised bed vegetable plot. So what’s the secret to creating a beautifully ornamental edible garden that you won’t be embarrassed to have in full view for all to see from the comfort of your deck or patio? For one thing timely maintenance is required to keep the scene in order. It’s not that you have to become a slave to the garden, but performing routine gardening tasks at regular intervals will save effort and prevent the garden from turning into an unmanageable jungle wilderness. Aside from the planting and harvesting periods, if you can consistently devote twenty or thirty minutes a few times per week to your home garden you will be able to maintain a productive and attractive backyard veggie garden. And you will never be faced with an overgrown and weed filled garden, or have to spend hours toiling away in a futile attempt to get things back under control. Another thing that you can do to really display the beauty of vegetable plants is to seek out and grow varieties that qualify as ornamentals. There are many edible plants offering shapes, colors, textures, and interesting growth habits that are seldom seen in the typical home garden, but are only a seed catalog away from making a flashy appearance in your own ornamental edible garden! Finally, if you want your vegetable plants to really shine, there’s nothing better that you can do than to make their presentation in a raised vegetable bed. There’s just something special about the eye-pleasing patterns, intensity, and flow of plants grown in a raised bed that forces visitors to really take notice.

It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature

I don’t know who came up with the saying that “it isn’t nice to fool Mother Nature,” but one thing’s for sure, they don’t know her very well. I’ve come to



realize that Mother Nature has a terrific sense of humor and enjoys the adventure and challenge when we set out to do something new or creative out there in the garden. Ever hear of the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon? The legendary, incredibly lush and prolific gardens that were supposedly planted right in the middle of a sandy, dry, barren, and drought plagued country. How many gardeners would have even attempted to raise a garden in such a naturally hostile environment? No, I don’t think that Mother Nature would have been offended at all, but rather would have been impressed by the effort being put forth. At some point she obviously relented and began to provide support and assistance to the efforts of the master gardeners of Babylon. I’ve seen smaller wonders appear in areas where you would imagine that it would be impossible to grow anything, let alone a productive vegetable garden. When we learn and work with the simple laws of nature gardening will become easier, even under difficult conditions, and regardless of natural obstacles. The same principles will apply in your backyard garden. The deck may seem to be stacked against you in the form of a rocky soil, invasive weeds, large insect populations, frequent droughts, hard packed clay subsoil, shady growing areas, and poor soil fertility levels. But with determination, ingenuity, and some elbow grease you’ll be amazed by what you can accomplish to overcome the hurdles that Mother Nature sends your way. How many would have simply not attempted to grow vegetables indoors, cultivate globe artichokes in northern climates, extend the season for harvesting vegetables into the winter months, raise plants without soil, or many of the other incredible gardening feats that at one time must have seemed just as impossible as growing a lush garden in the middle of a desert? Sure, Mother Nature can be harsh, demanding, and controlling at times, but she is also forgiving and quick to turn around and spread lush greenery where previously there was only barrenness. She also favors and smiles upon the



gardener who is determined to succeed in spite of challenges. So go ahead, it’s perfectly okay to fool around with Mother Nature!

The Only Good Weed is a Dead Weed

Maybe I’m way off base and in the minority of all the gardeners out there, but I love weeds! Don’t get the wrong idea; you won’t find weeds growing at will in my vegetable beds and I do take pride in a relatively weed free garden. But I do make exceptions for the occasional dandelion, purslane, or lambs quarter that I allow to grow as salad greens. There is a lot of good that can be said for weeds and an understanding and appreciation of them will do nothing but improve your gardening experience. To start with, many weeds are not just edible; they are absolutely delicious and more nutritious than many of the cultivated crops that we raise in our gardens. Weeds can also provide clues to what is going right and wrong with your gardening techniques. Weeds will offer information regarding soil quality and imbalances, whether you’re cultivating too deeply, moisture levels, proper plant spacing, and other hints that will tell you when it is time to make some changes. Then there are certain weeds that have earned a reputation among growers who subscribe to the concept of companion gardening, that are considered to help improve the growth of certain plants or the health of the garden in general. Tansy, stinging nettles, and comfrey come to mind, just be sure they are in an area where they can be contained and not spread wildly. Weeds can be useful in attracting and encouraging beneficial insects to hang around the garden. They can serve as a diversion or trap crop to keep destructive insects out of the garden, they fix nitrogen for use by other plants, mine nutrients from deep soil levels, and non-invasive weeds can even be added to the compost pile when they aren’t flowering or producing seed. I will never tell anyone that weeds are a good feature for a vegetable garden, and there are some species that I wouldn’t want nearby under any conditions. But I



will admit that there is a lot to be learned from them and about them, and no matter what we do to discourage their growth, the weeds will survive and still be around so we may as well discover ways to enjoy and not just curse them.

You Can Spray Your Way to a Healthy Harvest

I received a question recently from a new gardener inquiring; “What spray or pesticide should I use in the garden; I would prefer something organic that is safe for the environment.” The answer depends on a number of factors, but you shouldn’t automatically assume that a spray or pesticide, even an organic one is the solution to all your insect woes. We already noted that most insects are actually beneficial for the garden. In addition, it’s always a good idea to choose the most natural and least toxic option when addressing any insect pest. A great advantage that the home gardener has in the battle against insects and plant diseases is the ability to closely monitor and observe what is going on in the garden plot. The small scale of the backyard garden also makes it easier to implement alternative controls to foil insect attacks without resorting to toxic chemical sprays. Large insects that appear in small numbers such as the tomato hornworm can often be kept in check by simply patrolling the garden to hand pick and remove them as they appear. Small pests that appear in large numbers can sometimes be disrupted by making subtle changes to their habitat or through the introduction of row covers to provide a physical barrier to your plants. You can purchase and introduce beneficial insects to target specific pests that are causing damage in the vegetable garden. Or better yet, avoid using sprays that are toxic to your native beneficials, and grow a wide variety flowering plants which will help attract good bugs to the garden and provide the shelter and food they need in order to stick around.



Then there are biological controls such as bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that only affect a particular species of insect, in this case caterpillars. Bt is a virus that will only kill caterpillar-like insects that ingest even a small amount of the bacteria that it is made up of. Biological controls such as soap sprays, diatomaceous earth, and oil sprays are less toxic controls but still may impact non-targeted insects including beneficials. Finally, organic pesticides such as pyrethrum, neem, and rotenone are a last resort that should be applied with caution or avoided altogether if possible. You may discover that low-tech solutions such as inter-planting your crops, improving soil fertility and plant health, crop rotation, use of specific cover crops, varying your planting dates, and the addition of assorted flowers and herbs will reduce insect infestations by helping to maintain the garden’s natural balance! So resist the temptation to blanket the garden in a cloud of spray at the first sign of trouble, and if you do have to intervene to manage a serious insect infestation, begin with the least invasive control or one that is as specifically targeted to the pest in question as possible.

Summer is When All the Action Takes Place in the Garden

Even many long-time gardening fanatics view their relationship with the garden as strictly an off-and-on summertime affair. In my case the passion is perpetual and I don’t allow interruptions such as changing seasons to come between the garden and myself. Fall and winter don’t necessarily signal that it is time to abandon the garden in favor of other hobbies and non-gardening related interests. In fact if you give it a try you may discover that fall vegetable growing is just as productive and enjoyable as gardening during the spring and summer months. Cooler temperatures mean you’ll spend less time roasting under the hot sun or hauling water out to parched plants. The fall season also delivers fewer challenges in the way of excessive weed growth and insect invaders. It’s a



pleasant time that allows the gardener to enjoy a less demanding pace but still harvest loads of fresh, homegrown produce during autumn and even early winter.

A Productive Fall Vegetable Garden So if you’re a little late arriving at the game, don’t think that you have to postpone your participation simply because it isn’t early spring or summer when the urge to get growing strikes you. And you’re not limited to the cultivation of a fall vegetable garden outdoors to keep your hands in the dirt, as there are many gardening tasks to keep you occupied and fed on a year round basis if that is what you desire. Here’s a sampling of gardening activities for the frustrated gardener that can’t take advantage of sunny, warm, growing weather 365 days of the year:

• Plant a Fall/Winter Vegetable Garden • Discover Vermiculture or Indoor Worm Farming



• Learn to Propagate and Force Vegetable Plants • Grow Sprouts and Micro-Greens Indoors • Try Your Hand at Indoor Herb Gardening • Create Hypertufa Containers and Garden Crafts • Enjoy the Sport of Winter Seed Catalog Browsing • Cultivate Gourmet Mushrooms with Kits or Logs • Gather Leaves and Organic Matter for Composting • Sow Cover Crops to Build Soil Texture and Fertility • Explore Container Gardening with Vegetables • Sow Seeds Indoors to Raise Spring Transplants

Hybrid Seeds are the Best Option for the Home Gardener

I’m not going to bash hybrid seeds, even grow a couple stable ones myself, but too many gardeners buy into the hype and believe that hybrid seeds are the greatest creations to come along in the gardening world and that they will automatically make everything better out in the garden. Faster, bigger, stronger, and more beautiful are just a few of the claims that are touted to convince growers that hybrid seeds are the only choices to plant in their backyard gardens. I’ll admit that hybrids do offer a share of benefits; some have been bred with improved disease resistance, while others are more productive or possess ornamental qualities that set them apart from standard varieties. But nothing comes without a price, and what you won’t find mentioned by the hybrid seed companies is what qualities were sacrificed or lost during the development of these new and improved hybrid varieties. It’s all fine and dandy to enhance the size and color of a particular plant or its fruit; but is it worth it if the trade off is less flavor, or a plant that has lost the toughness to survive during a drought or under less than ideal growing conditions? It may be easy to identify the improvements provided through hybridizing a plant; you can see and feel a difference in size or shape, but if the downside was a significant decrease in the plant’s nutritional values, how would you know? You



may note that a hybrid is more vigorous and faster growing, but how will that tree or perennial plant hold up ten years from now? I personally prefer to grow the standard open pollinated and heirloom varieties in my garden. Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans, Four Seasons Lettuce, Bloomsdale Savoy Spinach, Brandywine Tomatoes, and Summer Crookneck Squash. There’s nothing modern or high-tech about these cultivars, but they have all been tried and proven by many generations of gardeners. The terms “heirloom” or “open pollinated” shouldn’t be associated with boring or underachieving when considering the plants’ appearance or performance out in the garden. Looking for disease resistance or high yields? You can find varieties that will meet these needs on the pages of an heirloom seed catalog. Are you more interested in something decorative? Again, open pollinated varieties will offer exactly what you’re seeking in the way of ornamental edible selections!

Tomatoes Reign in the Backyard Vegetable Garden

Please don’t take this the wrong way because I love a homegrown tomato just as much as anyone else, and never get enough of the vine-ripened summer harvest of delicious tomatoes! But my gripe is with the perception that many hold of the tomato as the ultimate vegetable for the home garden. If you really think about it there are other vegetables that are easier to grow (try sweet corn), more productive (as in bushels of beans), faster growing (just think of zucchini), and better looking (like say a palm tree kale plant) than the garden’s pampered pet… the tomato. Okay, so what if I raise a dozen different heirloom tomatoes in my garden each season, but it’s still a struggle deciding whether to grow as many tomatoes, or to devote more garden area to the other interesting fruits, vegetables, and herbs that I enjoy growing. In all honesty, tomatoes were my first and only vegetable that was planted in that beginning garden back when I was just ten years old, so they do get some of the



credit for getting me hooked into gardening. They are a great crop for beginners because they aren’t too demanding, don’t attract many insect pests, bear lots of fruit, and who doesn’t like to eat a juicy, home grown, tomato? Also, even with little or no space to set aside for a full-sized garden, everyone can find room to grow a tomato plant or two, even if you resort to using containers on the patio. So tomatoes are a very worthy crop to plant in any vegetable garden but there are other candidates that are just as deserving. Don’t look at tomatoes as the one and only fruit for the home garden. If you have the inclination and ability to grow tomato plants then you can also grow a variety of other vegetables with no more effort or space than what was required to cultivate and harvest that All-American tomato plant.



5. Productive Edible Crops for the Home Gardener

Mixture of Delicious Wild Garden Kales

Choosing Vegetable Plants and Seeds Wisely

Some gardeners are doomed from the start by something as simple as the seeds and plants that they attempt to grow in their gardens. Obtaining seeds and plants doesn’t have to be a costly venture, but no one wants to waste time and effort or become discouraged over bad seeds or worthless transplants that have no chance of yielding a single fruit out in the garden. Sure, you can find seeds at your local garden center, or even get a bargain from that bin at the discount store, and I often do, but I prefer to shop for seeds and



plants through mail order and over the Internet. Where you may find a few different varieties of a particular vegetable at a greenhouse if you’re lucky, you’ll easily find several dozen varieties by researching and locating vegetable seeds and plants for sale with the help of your computer. You’ve probably heard of Burpee’s and Park’s Seeds, but how about Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Pinetree Garden Seeds, Grow Italian, Bountiful Garden Seeds, and a multitude of other seed suppliers that specialize in everything from heirlooms, to ornamental edibles, ethnic vegetables, and unusual or rare plants for the home garden. Likewise there are incredible fruit tree, berry brambles, and herb plant suppliers that offer a wide selection of planting stock for the backyard gardener. Money really is no excuse for not exploring the world of heirloom and open pollinated vegetable seed varieties since there are groups, gardening clubs, and organizations established to freely share all manner of seeds and plants among their members. Find a group in your area or join the world wide roster of gardeners that participate in the Seed Savers Exchange Organization. A little homework may help decide that an heirloom will perform just as well or better in your garden than that hybrid variety that is popular out on the farm. And just because a plant is sold at a garden center or greenhouse doesn’t guarantee that it is the best variety for your particular garden. Then there’s the matter of how and when those transplants were raised that are on display and ready for sale at your local home and garden center. Were they stressed from being allowed to severely wilt between watering? Are their roots bound, matted, and tangled like a ball of yarn? Are they stunted from weeks of containment in a small container and nothing more than a bonsai veggie? There’s nothing wrong with buying seedlings to transplant into the garden, just be alert to avoid purchasing plants from business that don’t properly care for their seedlings or assure that their plants are made available at the proper season and planting time for your growing region.



Low Maintenance Crops for the Beginner Veggie Gardener

Here’s a list of edible plants that offer the new gardener a very good chance at a successful harvest regardless of their experience or gardening background:

• Summer Squash – Maybe they aren’t the most popular vegetable around, but part of that zucchini’s bad reputation is due to the fact that it is so reliable and productive in the garden that there is always too much of this good thing to go around. Look out for squash bugs, plant an early and late crop, and try growing winter squash varieties for a change of pace.

• Leafy Greens – Probably the most undervalued plant in the garden. Easy

to grow, nutritious, productive, can be grown in containers and at almost any time of the year… what’s not to like about leafy green vegetables? If you think the answer is flavor then it’s time to try some home grown kale that’s harvested when young, tender, and after it’s been sweetened by a couple fall frosts!

• Homegrown Tomatoes – Okay, we’ve covered this one already, but if you

think that you know tomatoes just wait until you’ve been properly introduced to a few heirloom varieties… Big Rainbow, Pineapple, Black Cherry, German Johnson Pink, Cherokee Chocolate, Mortgage Lifter, Yellow Pear, Black Krim, and many, many, other unusual and tasty varieties.

• Root Crops – Carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, and salsify are all

pretty easy to grow but do require a little more attention when it come to preparing the soil to accommodate these deep rooting crops. You will also need to take special care when sowing the seeds to make sure that the seedlings don’t germinate too thickly and crowd each other out.

• Assorted Beans – A snap to grow, a chore to harvest, and a pleasure to

eat! And they’re not just green, you can grow pods that are purple, yellow, pale green, red, and even striped. There are lima beans, runner beans, soya beans, long beans, fava beans, winged beans, and others that will cover a raised bed, trellis, or teepee and not make a fuss about it.



• Gourmet Garlic – Another underappreciated plant for the home garden. If you like garlic now, you’ll love it once you discover how easy it is to grow and how much better tasting it is than the store bought variety. The secret is to start with good quality gourmet garlic seed and plant it in the fall if you garden in a cold weather climate.

• Herb Plants – Whether you’re raising annual herbs like basil, dill, cilantro,

and borage, or perennials such as chives, oregano, rosemary, sweet bay, and tarragon, you’re not going to be happy when you compare how much was spent in the past on those tiny jars of dried herbs when it is so easy to harvest your own fresh herbs right from your own yard or patio.

Finicky and Challenging Vegetables for Beginners to Grow

Eventually every gardener wants to branch out and experiment with growing some of the unusual, uncommon, and more challenging crops for the home garden. Maybe your confidence has been inspired by the successes of growing the crops listed above, or maybe you just have a few personal favorites that you’d like to see growing in your back yard. Don’t be deterred from planting and trying new or demanding crops; just be prepared to encounter a few trials and errors along the way. Here is a list of slightly more challenging veggies for the home gardener along with a few suggestions to get them off and growing in the backyard garden.

• Broccoli – Requires a relatively rich soil and proper timing at seeding and transplanting to ensure that they mature during the cool periods of your growing season. Broccoli can be grown as a spring or fall crop but I typically see the best results from plants that are planned as a fall crop.

• Cauliflower – Similar growth requirements to broccoli, but cauliflowers

are more temperamental and it can be difficult to coax a quality head out of them. Some varieties also require the additional effort of tying the leaves to blanch the heads. Vivid colors such as purple and orange



cauliflowers are now finding their way back into gardens and markets. Grow as a fall vegetable.

• Sweet Corn – It’s not that sweet corn is all that difficult to grow, but it

does require a wide block of territory that may be at a premium in the backyard garden setting. Unless you have plenty of growing space you may want to purchase sweet corn at the market and put your garden to other uses.

• Globe Artichokes – They said you couldn’t grow globe artichokes in

northern climates; well I proved to myself that they were wrong about that one. I admit it wasn’t easy and that artichokes can be frustrating to grow and difficult to over-winter through northern winters. But they are such an unusual and attractive plant; that helps make it worth the effort.

• Brussels Sprouts – A long season crop that is at its best when allowed to

mature during cool autumn days. Timing is critical for the successful cultivation of this vegetable. Get it wrong and you’ll raise a fine, tall plant without a single sprout to show for your efforts.

• Melons – Both cantaloupes and watermelons can be a challenge to grow

in the home garden, especially in the North. Melons love long hot days and soil that is on the sandy side. They’re also space hogs, but home grown melons are just so superb that eventually you are going to want to try your hand at growing your own!

• Lettuce – If you plant lettuce and wind up with tall, bitter stalks instead of

heads of sweet tender leaves don’t take it personally. A poor germinator, this plant is capable of giving even experienced gardeners a headache. They are spoiled brats and a dry spell or brief heat wave will send lettuce running to seed long before it has a chance to mature. Keep it watered and grow during cool seasons, or stick to planting the loose-leaf varieties.



The Spice of Variety is the Best Seasoning for the Kitchen Garden

An Unusual Red Tinged Gourmet Spinach Variety I love to mix things up in the garden. You won’t find boring, monotonous, row after row of the same plants growing here. Instead you’ll find a group of broccoli plants growing next to a few fall cabbages, with some fast maturing lettuce, mustard, or arugula nestled in between until the cabbage and broccoli fill out. A little further down is a huge cardoon plant in the center of a bed with beet and carrot seedlings surrounding it. An adjacent raised bed contains heirloom tomatoes, sweet peppers, and eggplants all sharing one bed since they have similar growth habits and seasons.



A square perennial vegetable growing bed plays host to ferny asparagus plants, gigantic leaves of red rhubarb, blackberries, horseradish, seakale, angelica, and other permanent residents of the garden. You’ll discover similar patterns throughout the garden with compatible plants growing elbow to elbow with each other. As long as they are close to the same height and have comparable care requirements and growth patterns, assorted plants can mingle and be safely grown in the same vicinity. To finish off this ornamental and edible smorgasbord there are interesting textures and splashes of color courtesy of herbs such as dark opal basil, lemongrass, and Tricolor Sage, along with edible flowers like nasturtiums, borage and calendulas sprinkled throughout each and every raised bed. In addition to enhancing the overall appearance of the garden there are other benefits to mixing things up in the garden. Some plants are classified as good companions and reputed to improve the growth, health, or flavor of neighboring plants. Intermixed plantings are also thought to offer some benefit in reducing insect damage by making it more difficult for bugs to locate their intended targets. Another place where the pursuit of variety and diversity will pay off is at the dinner table where the wide assortment of fruits and vegetables available to the home gardener will spice up and enliven your family’s meals. There’s also new information coming to light showing recently discovered nutritional elements associated with uncommon plants and with the unusually colored varieties of common garden vegetables.

A Selection of Incredible Edibles for the Home Garden

Here is a listing of some of my favorite edible garden varieties. You probably won’t find them growing in the average vegetable plot, but these spectacular, colorful, and delicious heirlooms and gourmet cultivars are anxious to make an appearance in your next garden:



o Royalty Purple Pod Beans o Heirloom Fish Peppers o Giant Red Celery o Genovese Basil o Rainbow Swiss Chard o Even Star Ice Bred Arugula o Christmas Pole Lima Beans o Georgian Crystal Garlic o Imperial Star Globe Artichoke o Magentaspreen Goosefoot o Lacinato Kale o Alaska Mix Nasturtium o Purple de Milpa Tomatillo o Hollow Crown Parsnips o Taiwan Black Long Bean o Romanesco Italia Broccoli o Black Krim Tomato o Purple of Sicily Cauliflower o Kuroda Japanese Carrots o Yellow Scallop Squash o Lutz Green Leaf Beets o Red Giant Mustard o Purple Hull Pinkeye Cowpeas o Japanese Climbing Cucumber o Pink Petiole Mustard o Thai Long Green Eggplant

o Golden Pineapple Tomato o Amber Globe Turnips o Purple Dragon Carrot o Vit Sweet Mache o Rembrandt Red Spinach o Wild Kale Mix o Reine de Glaces Lettuce o Mizuna Japanese Mustard o Spring Mesclun Mix o French Red Shallots o Bronze Arrow Lettuce o Tatsoi Asian Greens o Rubine Brussels Sprouts o January King Cabbage o Scarlet Runner Beans o Zucchino Rampicante Squash o Red Marconi Peppers o Yellow Potato Onion o Cajun Jewel Okra o Purple Vienna Kohlrabi o Georgia Green Collards o Northern White Garlic o Rosa Bianca Eggplant o Pirat Lettuce o Epazote Herb o Jersey Wakefield Cabbage

This is just a small sampling of the interesting, colorful, unique, and scrumptious vegetable varieties that are available from heirloom and gourmet seed suppliers. Each one may not suit your taste or growing conditions, but the point is that there are hundreds of different vegetable varieties that you will never find at the market or the garden center that you can easily grow right in your own backyard!



6. Following a New Path to Gardening Expertise

Colorful Swiss Chard Growing in the Garden Bed

Soiled Fingers and Green Thumbs; One Always Leads to the Other As the title implies, this Veggie Garden Primer eBook is intended to serve as an introduction offering the information, ideas, and inspiration to get you well on your way to growing an incredible garden. It does not attempt to cover every aspect or each specific detail that you will need to cultivate and maintain that home garden. There are plenty of great resources that you can turn to for additional advice at the library, bookstore, and the Web. But you will also need dirt time spent putting



the ideas and techniques into practice. The best lessons will be learned through trial and error, and by assessing your experiences and those of other gardeners. Even master gardeners and professional growers have their share of mistakes and failures. Some are the gardeners fault, while others are due too conditions that are unavoidable. Regardless of the cause of the problem there are lessons to be learned and improvements to be made as a result. Accept the schooling that nature provides, address the problems, and embrace the next growing season without doubting your ability to get things right the next time around. We’re never alone in the garden or in the pursuit to improve our gardening skills! I’ve never met a backyard gardener who wasn’t eager to lend a helping hand, offer a tour of their garden, share a cutting from a prized plant, or provide advice and tips in their special areas of expertise. There are bound to be individuals, groups, and organizations nearby that will share their experience and provide additional guidance when you are in need of assistance or encounter a problem. Neighbors, gardening clubs, master gardener programs, and local Cooperative Extension Services are a few of the hands on resources that are just around the corner. Add to that your own personal experiences which will multiply with each passing growing season. Over time the gardening will become easier and the successes and productivity of your garden will continue to increase. Your skills will improve and your garden will grow better as you build the soil over time and increase its fertility and health.

More Ideas for Creating and Enjoying a Bountiful Veggie Garden Local counties certify master gardeners but no one ever truly masters the art of gardening, as there are always new lessons to be learned and additional aspects of gardening to be explored.



I started out with a couple of common tomato plants and they quickly grew into a passion for cultivating a variety of vegetables, and later an interest in culinary herbs and edible flowers.

A Simple but Attractive Leafy Green Kale Plant

After college I discovered and adopted organic gardening techniques and spent a few years on an organic farm where I delved into raising orchard and cane fruits, beekeeping, the identification of edible wild plants, and living self-sufficiently. My recent discoveries and interests have included; cultivating gourmet mushrooms, composting with earthworms, investigating the medicinal properties of foods, home-grown nut crops, and foraging for seaweeds and sea vegetables. There are many new gardening exploits and curiosities on my to-do list, some of which you may also find yourself pursuing in exotic locations and in ways that you would never have imagined.



You’re invited to explore the journal of my gardening experiences and those of others from various parts of the U.S. and areas around the globe that are published at http://VeggieGardeningTips.com. There you will find continuously updated tips and ideas for creating a beautiful vegetable garden and much more. Stop by to read an article, leave a comment, ask a question, or share your own tips, photos, and experiences with us. My latest project consists of an organic gardening mentoring site that will offer special content and features including more eBooks such as this one, a detailed lesson plan to develop your gardening skills step-by-step, forums where you can correspond and share ideas with other gardeners, and other exclusive resources to help your garden grow. If you enjoyed reading the Veggie Garden Primer ebook and companion email series and would like to follow a similar path to delve deeper into the vegetable gardening, I would encourage you to explore the benefits that having your own mentor can offer to the future success of your garden. To learn more about this new membership program click on the following link: http://COREgardening.com.

Digging Deeper to Discover Hidden Garden Treasures

There are so many fascinating discoveries ready to be unearthed out in the vegetable garden. Dig deep and look closely to discover the Joy, Wonders, Beauty, and the Hidden Treasures that are waiting for you to explore. All Good Gardening to You!

Kenny Point


http://coregardening.com/

Documents

Veggie Garden Primer