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Vegetable Gardening

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It's hard to match the flavor of vegetables fresh from the garden and you can pick your own varieties to grow. Even a small garden can be a worthwhile effort. Food just tastes better if you've grown it yourself and it is cheaper to grow your own vegetables than to purchase them at the store.

Location

You need an area with:

good drainage
plenty of sunlight
a supply of water
at least 6 hours of sunlight

NOTE: If you have an area that gets a little less sunlight than this, you're still in good shape. Leaf crops and root vegetables will still do well.

Avoid areas:

near large trees with wide-spreading roots
that could flood or tend to retain too much water

Stay at least 2 feet away from the foundation of your house. These areas tend to have high concentrations of lime that has leeched out the foundation. Gentle slopes are fine especially if they face south.

Map out your garden on paper first.

Pole Beans

The Advantages of Growing Pole Beans

Takes up less space.
Can be grown up:
- Wire netting
- trellises
- single stakes
- tripods made out of stakes
- twine that you stretch between a top and bottom wire.
Easy to grow
Easy to pick
Produces longer than bush beans (till the first frost stops them)

Planting Pole Beans

Plant 2 or 3 seeds at the base of each pole (just about all of them germinate)
thin to two plants per pole

Pole Beans will start to produce in about 9 weeks after planting.

Harvesting Pole Beans

Harvest Pole Beans regularly. Once their seed pods start to mature the plant will become unproductive.

Varieties of Pole Beans

Blue Lake
- highly productive
- tastes great
- doesn't grow as tall as some of the others.
Kentucky Wonder will produce over a long season.
Goldstar, a good producing yellow bean

Growing Tomatoes

Technically tomatoes are fruit; however most people couldn’t image having a vegetable garden without tomatoes in it. Tomatoes are the most common plant found in vegetable gardens in the United States. Oh the taste of a tomato picked fresh from the vine!

Types of Tomatoes

Tomato plants can be broken down into two categories, determinate and indeterminate. Determinates have vines that grow to a determined point and stop. Generally this makes them more compact and bushy. Sometimes you’ll see determinates listed as bush tomatoes. Determinates are great for small gardens. They’re also better for container gardening.

Indeterminates are have more vines than determinates. The vines on indeterminates continue to grow and need support. Indeterminates generally bare fruit later than determinates.

Growing Tomatoes in Pots

When growing tomatoes in pots, it’s important to know if your plants are determinates or indeterminates. Determinates are the best types for pots.

Tomatoes for Sauce

Many people use Roma tomatoes for making sauce.

Blossom End Rot

Many times blossom end rot is caused by the Ph of your soil not being right. If you get blossom end rot, try mixing some lime into your soil. A Ph around 6 or 7 is best for most vegetables. Ph testers are fairly cheap and can be purchased at most garden supply stores.

To prevent blossom end rot, you can purchase calcium spray and spray your tomatoes. This should prevent rot. Some people spray their tomatoes with milk. Mix one cup of milk in 1 gallon of water and spray it right on. This mixture will work with a lot of low level fungi.