Question by Wii_girl69: Tips on how to have the best vegetable garden?
I’ve been planning on having a vegetable garden this summer I had one last year and it turned out ok except for some veggies. I need some advice from someone who has had a veggie garden for a number of years, or even just a casual gardener. And what veggies or fruits are good for your health in that they fight off disease?
10 points for anyone that can give a good educated answer
Best answer:
Answer by Bandett
I grew okra last year. I liked it as it grew fast and up like a tree. And okra cost a lot in the store. Go look at this site”square foot garden” lots of info there. fun site.
Add your own answer in the comments!
Well, I don’t know too much, but I think I can help a bit.
1. Okay, well if you have any shady area you don’t know what to do with, try planting potatoes. AS long as you take care of them properly, they will flourish! I grew some very nice ones, and they tasted SO much better than the store bought potatoes.
2. Beans, beans, beans. Start off by sprouting them in window bags and then plant them in neat rows outside. They grow relatively fast, but you’ll need a good number of plants in order to get any amount worth the trouble.
3. Ahh, these aren’t vegetables, but you should really invest in either a miniature pomegranate tree or a blueberry bush. These are medically proven to be great for your heath, and I believe help ward off cancer.
4. Artichokes are a wonderful thing to grow, because you’ll get so many artichokes just from one little plant. But beware, if they aren’t watered regularly, you will get NO produce!!!
5. And finally corn! It is so much fun to grow, and so amazingly delicious compared to the stuff you get at stores. Really, I loved growing this plant.
I hope that helped!!!
if your a new gardener start simple.
grow a variety of peppers, tomatoes, beans, corn, onions, garlic.
nutrition and health varies on what your looking for.
this past summer i grew 3 types of peppers for pepper sauce and freezing, these will last a couple of years. we eat red and green tomatoes, i canned and froze them, they will last through winter.
onion and garlic can be dried or canned and they both are wonderful for blood pressure and cholesterol.
and herbs, they can be a little tricky, but they store for a good while and are the best when used fresh.
and compost like crazy, that is the best thing you can do for your garden, it’s cheap, clean and has no chemicals.
good luck on your upcoming garden.
There is a secret to growing the nicest veggies you’ll ever have: Soil prep!
Weed out the bed. Wait a week and weed again (hand weed because you don’t want chemicals on your food). Wait one more week and weed once more. Now head off to your local bulk soil seller (with a pickup truck) and buy a yard of fine compost. Spread at least a 3 inch layer of compost over your garden bed (a 2 inch layer of composted manure could go down now, but some people don’t like to use it). Dig in the compost nice and deep, about a foot down into your soil (it’s almost like digging in and flipping the soil over). Not only are you improving the soil fertility, but you’re making that soil nice and soft so the roots of the veggie plants can spread out easily. Smooth everything out and now you’re ready to plant (wait until all danger of frosty weather is gone).
The bed should have a good 6 hours of hot afternoon sun for the best vegetables and you need to keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Letting the plants wilt once or twice is one thing, constantly letting those plants get too dry will invite fungus and bugs to your sickly plants. So will weeds that get outta hand. So keep it watered and hand weeded, and then fertilizer with an organic vegetable fertilizer.
It would help to know where you live. I’m in central/northern Minnesota, so I have a short growing season.
For tomatoes, Early Girl is an easy one that is very reliable & disease free with good yields & decent flavor. It is a large tomato, though, as are most varieties. Don’t bother with those store bought cages, they are too small. Look for a very large, heavy duty cage, or go online for instructions on how to build a cage. My favorite tomato is brandywine, but it is a huge plant & the fruit do crack. But omg, it is the best tasting tomato ever!
Beans are great! If you keep them picked, they will yield for a long time.
I try to grow veggies that are more expensive to buy. In my area, potatoes are really cheap because there are farms all over the place, so I just buy those. Same thing with onions – no farms around here, but I can get them cheap. Carrots too. Expensive veggies are tomatoes, peppers, herbs, beans, snap peas etc. Also, home grown tomatoes taste sooo much better than store bought. A lot of people who aren’t really into gardening will grow tomatoes just because of that.
If your garden is small, skip corn, squash & pumpkins.They are space hogs.
Trellis your cukes – you won’t miss picking any, and they seem to yield a week earlier. We trellis our tomatoes too & our melons & beans & peas, but it does get to be a lot.
All veggies are good for you. When you pick them fresh, they have more vitamins than when you buy fresh at the store. Store bought frozen produce has more vitamins than their fresh stuff does, for the most part.
Check out:
http://www.geocities.com/mastergardener2k