I decided that this year I am going to add celery to my garden. I am glad I researched it first, because I found out I needed to start celery early. I also discovered that celery seeds that are 2-3 years old work better than younger seeds, they are best put in the fridge for awhile then soaked before planting, and require lots of mulch.
Had I not studied up on it, this year's crop would have been a failure and I may not have attempted it again. So, research what you are planting. It will save you time, money, and frustration, and reward you with a better crop!
By mom-from-missouri from NW MO
It is always preferable to prevent problems than to have to remedy them after they occur. This is also true of a vegetable garden. Proper care and maintenance, such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, and pest elimination can help keep your garden growing and producing well throughout the season. This is a page about preventative medicine for your vegetable garden.
While typically a vegetable garden is placed in a nice sunny location, there are a good number of veggies, herbs, and fruits (namely berries) that can be grown in partial shade. This is a page about growing vegetables in the shade.
This is a page about maintaining your vegetable garden. While waiting for your crops to grow there are many maintenance activities that need to be attended to such as watering, weeding, staking, and more depending on the veggies you have planted.
Most small vegetables are not really miniatures, and are grown like other vegetables, but possibly closer together. Of course there are also dwarf varieties that easily lend themselves to growing miniature veggies.
Contaminates such as pet feces can make a garden plot temporarily unsuitable for growing vegetables. Some plants such as sunflowers are known to remove contaminants. You can also cover the area with black plastic to heat the soil up and destroy certain contaminants. Then test before planting to ensure safety. This is a page about decontaminating soil before growing vegetables.
The tops and root ends of many fresh vegetables can be sprouted in your kitchen, giving you fresh greens and leaves to use in cooking. This is a page about growing food from waste.
This is a page about harvesting common garden vegetables. Successful gardening includes soil preparation, planting, caring for your crops, and finally harvesting.
This is a page about vegetables that taste better after frost. Some vegetables actually taste better after a touch of frost, a bitter flavor becomes more sweet.
This is a page about growing drought tolerant vegetables. When you live where your soil tends to be dry, you want to find vegetables that will produce the best.
This is a page about growing food in the fall and winter. When the summer growing season ends, it does not necessarily mean an end to your vegetable gardening.
We planted a garden Mother's Day weekend so mid May, and we planted according to tag spacing guidelines etc. Some plants died, (most of the strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry plants). We lost 2 cucumbers due to bunnies, and the others are doing great getting big, etc. (squash, tomato, corn, peppers, and eggplant.) My question is the tomatoes are small and the others haven't produced yet.
Is something wrong? I weed and water and even put Miracle Gro soil and plant food. The plum tomatoes are brown at the bottom; the only ones doing great are the cherry tomatoes and the Big Boy ones are the size of a Clementine. So what am I doing wrong? Any tips would be helpful.By Michelle
This page is about planning a vegetable garden. A well thought out plan will give you a head start on a successful garden.