Tips For Growing Garden Vegetables

Here are tips for growing garden vegetables so that you have the hardiest plants and the best tasting vegetables.

Soil Improvement:

Your plants draw nutrients from the soil. So the better your soil is, the greater chance you’ll have of getting good tasting vegetables to bring to your table.

Adding organic matter is one of the best ways to improve the soil.

Mulching is also excellent for vegetable gardens. Apply mulch on a still day and water it well to weigh it down.

Plant The Right Crops For Your Region:

If you don’t do due diligence in finding out what grows best in your area, you’re probably wasting time and money.

You have to plant properly for your garden zone. Check the USDA Plant Hardiness Map to find out what zone you are in.

Check the info on the back of the seed packet to see if you have time for the plant to reach full maturity during your growing season.

You can also do what my great-grandmother did and read The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The Almanac is free and has lots of great tips each year on plant growing guides, the weather, and regional advice.

Watering Your Vegetables:

Vegetables need a consistent watering schedule. Some vegetables require more water than others.

If you’ve just planted seeds and seedlings water is essential for them to germinate.

A good general guideline is to water your plants an inch of water per week, either by rain or watering.

In drier climates you’ll need to double that amount. In hot weather, vegetables need even more water.

When To Water Your Vegetables:

According to the Almanac: Plants do best when watered about three times a week, factoring in the rain. If the plants are seedlings, water them twice a day until established.

If you want to use a rain gauge, this will let you know how much rain your garden is receiving. Thus, how much you will to water to make up the difference.

When you water, water deeply. Apply water 2-3 times a week and water deeply instead of watering every day.

Ideally, watering deeply means moistening the soil to a depth of 6 inches.

This encourages plants to send roots well into the ground. And deep roots help plants sustain stress caused by hot and dry weather.

Water Content Of Vegetables:

Vegetables, after all, are mostly water. Below is the water content for commonly grown vegetables:

• Cucumbers and and lettuce: 96 percent
• Zucchini, radish and celery: 95 percent
• Tomatoes: 94 percent
• Green cabbage: 93 percent
• Cauliflower, eggplant, red cabbage, peppers and spinach: 92 percent.
• Broccoli: 91 percent
• Carrots: 87 percent
• Green peas and white potatoes: 79 percent

The Right Sun Exposure For Vegetable Gardening:

Not many vegetables will grow properly with less than half a day of sun.

Before you plant your vegetables, keep an eye on areas of your yard to see which area gets the most sun.

When gardening in containers, you can move your plants around to get the proper sun exposure.

The vegetables you see in this post are ones I grew in containers on my patio.

Growing Vegetables Vertically:

A pest management solution is to garden vertically.

Gardening vertically makes fertilizing, watering, pruning and harvesting much more convenient. Plus it doesn’t strain your back.

Vertical planting also improves air circulation and takes up less space.

You can use a trellis to support tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and small melons.

Happy gardening!

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