Vegetable Gardens - Guide to Vegetable Gardening and Organic Vegetable Garden Tips

There is a lot of planning that goes into the design of your garden. Careful consideration needs to be put into decisions about the size and shape of your garden. If you want to grow dozens of different varieties of vegetables, you may find that this is initially more than you planned for. It may be better to start your first summer with just some basic vegetables and determine if you want to expand the following year. It's better to decide you can handle more the next year rather than being totally overwhelmed your first season as a beginner gardener.

Start by making a list of all the vegetables you would like to plant. At the beginning, don't worry about whether or not you'll have all the time to take care of everything; write down everything that enters your mind because you can narrow your list down to the vegetables you can both handle and afford the time and starting money for. After your initial list is complete, you can read it over and erase anything you can buy at a reasonable price locally. While potatoes, corn, and cabbage may be fun to grow, they are often quite reasonably priced in most areas.

After getting rid of any locally affordable vegetables, you can move on by eliminating any items that you will not see a significant improvement in flavor in by growing them yourself. From the above examples, cabbage and potatoes will likely not see any improved taste, but you might find home-grown corn to be quite delicious. Basically, you want your final list to include produce that: you cannot easily find locally, is usually expensive to purchase, or that will taste quite a lot better if you grew it yourself. Based on this list, you may end up deciding to grow your own fresh herbs because they can be expensive in grocery stores. Alternatively, you might find you want to grow a variety of tomato that you can't find locally at a reasonable price.

Whatever fruits and vegetables you finally decide to grow yourself, you will find your effort will be both fun and satisfying. At the same time, once your initial costs of setting up your garden are incurred, you will find you are saving a nice amount of money compared to when you bought all your gardens at the local grocery store. Share the work with your family, and you will also notice you have found a great way to enjoy the outdoors while you bond with your kids at the same time!

Home gardening has rebounded and is becoming more and more popular in recent years. Home gardening has been shown to be at an all time high in the United States right now. Up to 8 in 10 homes are involved in some type of gardening or another. With that many people doing home gardening, it is perhaps one of the more popular recreational activities in the country.

Many people that start gardening will start with flowers, and roses are often the first flower that comes into any gardener's mind. However, edible plants are another popular choice for new gardeners. Some of the most common edible plants are potatoes, corn, peas, carrots, cucumbers, and squash. Popular home grown fruits include tomatoes, peaches, watermelons, and strawberries. Other vegetable gardeners like to grow herbs including thyme, gasil, oregano, cilantro, and parsley.

Whether you're a seasoned flower gardener or someone just becoming interesed in vegetable gardening, now is a perfect chance to see what kind of crops you are able to successfully grow this year. A guide to organic food gardening is a great way to quickly beocme an expert home gardener.

I recommended earlier that you avoid growing veggies that are always available at your local grocery store. If you can find good quality, inexpensive vegetables, maybe you should skip growing it and just buy it instead. Sometimes though, it's not easy to find good quality vegetables for purchase. If there is a big difference between the quality you could grow versus the vegetables you could buy, this creates the perfect chance to save some money while eating tastier home grown vegetables.

Here's a list of some of my favourite vegetables to grow in my own garden:

Tomatoes - According to the poll above, tomatoes are the most popular fruit/vegetable to grow at home. Although technically a fruit, its savory nature leads to this little beauty being considered a vegetable by most people. Tomatoes found in stores are usually picked nearly green and then ripened artificially. Commercial gardeners do this to ensure they are tough enough to survive shipping without being smashed, and so they last longer on the shelves. As you probably know, store bought tomato quality can be very poor, making this is a very good choice for growing at home. Tomatoes are the most popular choice for vegetable gardeners, because they probably have the most noticeable difference over store bought.

Lettuce - You likely won't notice much of a difference between iceberg lettuce you buy at a store compared to what you can grow at home. However, if you grow leaf lettuce (or other fancy lettuces) at home, they are usually sweeter and crispier. Plus, exotic lettuces can often be very expensive - but not if you grow them yourself.

Peas - Fresh peas can be very hard to find. You will usually find that canned peas are mushy, frozen peas are slightly better, but fresh peas are by far the best! Tiny baby peas are delicate, delicious, and sweet. They are well worth the effort to grow in your own garden.

Carrots - I have always thought that store bought carrots can be bitter, woody, and tough. I don't usually buy organic carrots, but have heard that that they can still be bitter since they are kept too cool for too long. However, I have never tasted a home grown carrot that I did not thoroughly enjoy! Your own fresh carrots are very sweet and tasty.

Peppers - Whether red, yellow, or green, peppers from the store can be shriveled, soft, or even rotten. If you want non-standard varieties, you'll pay even more money! My local grocery store usually charges more than $3 each for regular red peppers. Now, I grow my own and save money while having fresher tasting peppers.

Radishes - Radishes are cheap and easy to find in stores, but most store bought radishes are already turning pithy. You'll know you've bitten into a pithy radish if you find it's dry and spongy inside, and you can understand how bad pithy radishes can be. On the flip side, fresh radishes are delightful!

Green Beans - Green beans are usually readily available in stores. Unfortunately though, they are often yellowing or wilted by the time you buy them. By growing your own green beans, you can have fresh ones whenever you want!

Asparagus - I love fresh asparagus, but hate spending up to $5 per pound at the supermarket; canned asparagus is still pricy and you get a mushy, horrible product. The best way to have fresh asparagus that isn't mushy or bland is to grow it yourself.

Cucumbers - Store bought cucumbers can be bitter, dry, and wrinkly. If you've ever bitten into a hollowed-out, dry cucumber, you'll know the importance of growing your own!

Corn - Sweet corn is a delight to eat when it's freshly picked. Corn is extremely sensitive to being off the stalk. Once it's been off the stalk for 6 hours, it starts to deteriorate rapidly. You've never had good corn until you've eaten it from your own garden.

Gardening can be hard work if you're not used to it. Try not to spend a lot of time out in extreme heat. You don't want to be dealing with dirt, heat, bugs, and weeding when it's unbearably hot outside.

Remember not to make a garden that is bigger than you are ready to handle. If you try to grow too many veggies, this fun hobby can easily turn into your worst nightmare. Make sure you only choose varieties you will have fun with and truly benefit from. If you do this, you'll be more likely to enjoy gardening.

Only grow what you can and will actually eat. For example, don't plant a whole row of peas if you only eat them a few times every summer. Don't grow tomatoes if you absolutely hate them - you'll be wasting your valuable time on something you won't get any satisfaction from.

Seed catalogs are beautiful, but keep it realistic! Try not to be tempted into planting one of each variety that looks interesting in the catalog.

Most of all, have fun. If some aspect of vegetable gardening is bothering you, find a way to change it so you'll start to enjoy that aspect too!